On the contrary. I have no chip on my shoulder concerning Johnny Marr. I love the guy. I loved his guitar playing before I loved Morrissey's vocals or had even tried to listen to his lyrics. It's as integral a part of the Smiths as anything else, maybe even more so. He is clearly the reason why the Smiths were so very superior to Morrissey's solo work. I'm not out to put him down. But, however much you'd like to say otherwise,
you can't get away from the fact that he really has not accomplished anything over the past two decades that seems significant in remotely the same way as what Morrissey has done.
I used to believe that Marr was the music side of the Smiths, but I simply don't anymore. For that, Morrissey's solo output is too rich in the qualities present in the Smiths, and the same qualities are too absent in Marr's work. I just don't buy it. Morrissey must have affected more than just the words and the singing. Worm's admirable description above is broadly how I understand it too, but in the end it's a symbiotic thing. Who knows how things affect each other. Mark E Smith coaxes brilliant music out of semi-proficient strangers he met down the pub, and he doesn't claim to write
any music. But The Fall still sound like The Fall, despite a revolving door of musicians and songwriters.
If you think the vocal melodies are unimportant, I invite you to reflect on how exciting Oscillate Wildly or The Draize Train is compared to the rest of the Smiths output. And if anything's weak here, it's the seemingly widespread notion that Johnny Marr could have made brilliant music, but just chose not to because he wanted to enjoy himself and have fun instead.
cheers