I think Johnny [Marr] always knew he wanted to be a musician, whereas I didn't even have a record player until I was 16. He's got natural talent. He can play guitar well and knows that it's his role in life. Whereas I'm still pretty clueless. I mean, I'm quite a successful musician but I'm not sure if it's my vocation.

He doesn't know this, but I first heard Johnny [Marr] playing in a multi-studio complex in 1982. At that time pop music was all synthesisers and electronics, guitar music was considered old-fashioned. So when I heard The Smiths' music coming down the hall I thought "What the fuck is that?" But I knew it was great. And then later on I was producing a record for the DJ Mike Pickering and he decided we needed a guitar, so I looked under G for Guitarist in the Yellow Pages and Johnny's was the first name in there. By then I was pretty familiar with The Smiths - or "the S-word" as Johnny calls them. It was a while before I got to know him properly. New Order and The Smiths played a couple of concerts together and we moved in similar circles - we had a mutual hairdresser friend and he kept me up to date about what Johnny was up to - but all in all, our paths didn't cross too often. In fact, I never met Morrissey.

I can be a bit morose at times and when I occasionally get down Johnny's [Johnny Marr] my perfect antidote. But it can be hard to synchronise or keep up with him. He'll be really into something, a book or a piece of music, and he'll really enthuse me, get me into his trip. Then the next time I see him, he says he's not into that anymore. Johnny gets bored with things quickly and he's hard to predict. You can't hold on to his shirt tails for very long.

I used to be a party monster, very into Acid House, which I saw as my weekend reward for working hard all week. But Johnny [Marr] was never really into that. I had a great time doing all that but I don't want to do it any more and now Johnny probably goes out more than I do. Also, he smokes which I absolutely hate because my step-dad died from smoking and when you see that happen you won't go in a mile of a cigarette. He's very gracious with it, though - he always smokes away from you.

It's hard to remember what I first thought of John [Johnny Marr], and it's all mixed up with what I think of him as a musician. But I knew straight off he was a nice guy; twitchy, but pleasant. There were certain things I couldn't do with New Order without upsetting the rest of the band so I started to write some solo stuff. But music is a social thing so I was looking for someone else to work with. Johnny came along to a gig and we bumped into each other in the toilet. The Smiths had split and I asked if he fancied doing some stuff together.

I think they (U2) were Joy Division fans. I have said some bitchy things about Bono since then, but the truth is, if I'm honest, I'm a little bit jealous of them. They were our peers, but things seemed to go smoothly for them, whereas things seemed to go disastrously wrong for us at every turn.