Mark E. Smith passes away

[Skummy]

Mark E. Smith, lead singer of The Fall, has passed away, aged 60.

Quote

Mark E. Smith, prolific, abrasive mastermind of post-punk legends The Fall has died. He was 60 years old. While an exact cause of death has not been revealed, Smith was forced to cancel the Fall’s 2017 tour dates in the United States after being hospitalized for what was referred to at the time as “bizarre and rare medical issues... connected to his throat, mouth/dental & respiratory system,” according to the band's manager, Pamela Vander. Last autumn, he performed on stage in the UK in a wheelchair. Vander announced the news via a statement tweeted by a fan Twitter account and confirmed by Pitchfork.

 

One of the best.

[Colly]

Given my background it's almost criminal to admit that I've never gotten into the Fall, or even knowingly heard a song. Any recommendation on where to start? 

[Skummy]

I'd start here;

 

Albums-wise, doesn't hurt to get a greatest hits, as there's a huge amount of material to get through. I'm fond of Your Future Is Our Clutter, The Wonderful & Frightening World Of The Fall, This Nation's Saving Grace and Imperial Wax Solvent, but it depends what of their stuff catches your fancy. Code: Selfish is a bit more Britpop-y in a way, so might be a decent way in for you.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

With regards to my own musical direction with the band I joined and stuff I like, Mark E Smith is the most immediately affecting death in my lifetime.

 

[METALMAN]

When I worked at HMV we used to put Eat Y'Self Fitter on five minutes before closing time to scare the customers away so we could all get home on time. I owe him so much for that.

I like the Infotainment Scan too. Would recommend that to someone new to their music too - I've always found that to be their most accessible one, I made the mistake of making Imperial Wax Solvent my first Fall meeting and it took me quite a while to get over that.

[Moses Julep]

Just one less awesome person on earth, really. 

[Skummy]

I really liked Imperial Wax Solvent, but it's not an entry level Fall record. I started with the "50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong" compilation, which I think does a decent job of easing you into what they're about, while focusing on their poppier output.

First song of theirs I ever heard was their cover of "Mr. Pharmacist", long before I knew it was a cover, on an old compilation called "Dark Side Of The '80s", bought during my 15-16 year old goth phase. I put it on at the youth club I used to go to, and later helped out at (which doubled as a recording studio and music venue), and the manager immediately starting singing along to it, and told me how much he loved The Fall. He had a background in tour management in Liverpool, and we'd spoken music a lot, and I respected his opinion, so suddenly this went from one weird song that hadn't quite clicked with me yet, to me thinking, "well, there must be something more going on here", and paying more attention to it, then seeking out what I could find of their music.

They weren't a band I got into instantly, but they were a band that always seemed to reward the persistence of trying to get into. When I finally got to see them live for the first time, in 2012, they were one of the best live acts I'd ever seen.

 

Similar to Hammy, while I wouldn't say it hit me that hard, as I knew he was quite seriously unwell, and as soon as I saw his name trending on Twitter last night I had no doubt what it was about, a lot of the reasons it hit me were because The Fall provided the blueprint for 90% of what I've always wanted to do musically. I remember hearing the Peel Session version of "Blindness" for the first time, and thinking there was no point me even trying any more, because the sound I wanted to make had just been done, perfectly.

 

When I worked in a petrol station, I was working the closing shift one night, had just bought "Code:Selfish", so had that playing while I was working. A bloke came in, and immediately recognised it, and we got chatting. Turned out he was a Fall super-fan, seen them live a hundred times, had every bootleg he could get his hands on, all of Mark E Smith's weird solo projects - basically, to him, it was The Fall and Elvis. No other bands mattered. And that was always stuck with me, because so few other bands inspire that kind of devotion, but The Fall absolutely did for a lot of people. I only saw that guy twice after that - another time he came into the garage again, specifically to give me a copy of a Mark E. Smith solo spoken word project, and then many years later, at a John Cooper Clarke gig, when I actually happened to be wearing a Fall T-shirt.

[VerbalPuke]

I remember listening to Live at the Witch Trials but haven’t dug deeper. I always liked starting at the beginning of a bands discography. Perhaps today I’ll listen to itcin depth as I’ll have a lot of driving to do. 

Always been wanting to as obviously I see the name constantly in the post punk world. I’m sorry to see him pass on, especially at 60, that’s pretty young these days. 

[Skummy]

10 minutes ago, VocalVomit said:

I’m sorry to see him pass on, especially at 60, that’s pretty young these days. 

My brother sent me a message saying, "I can't believe he was outlived by Shane MacGowan. But that's true of everyone who has ever died younger than Shane MacGowan".

Live At The Witch Trials is great for them still having a bit of a punkier edge, but they get more interesting to me when they start moving away from that. Mileage may vary on them getting a little poppier (a lot of diehard fans hate stuff like their cover of "Victoria" by The Kinks, and other stuff around that era when they were perceived as trying to smarten up and make it big, and there's a lot of mixed feelings on the '90s stuff that's more influenced by Britpop and dance music at the time), but it's all worth listening to. My favourites fall later in their career, when they start focusing on repetition, on basslines, and on just gritty, sometimes ugly music.

John Peel famously said of them, "always the same, but always different" - I've always held that up as the benchmark of a great band, if you can always instantly tell it's them, even if the sound drastically changes between albums or songs. A lot of that was Mark E. Smith's voice, both literally and figuratively.

 

For me, this is The Fall at their absolute best. Just about everything I want from them - great bassline, incomprehensible stream of consciousness lyrics, and barely bridled aggression. This was the song I heard and realised that I would never, ever write or play anything as good as this, and that was okay, because someone had already done it.

 

And, just for a laugh, here's their cover of Sister Sledge's Lost In Music;

 

And, finally, Mark E Smith reads the football results. This provided me with many a text message tone over the years;

 

[VerbalPuke]

Somebody posted that on my Facebook feed. I liked it. I’ll check those links you posted. 

Looking at their “similar artists” thing on spotify has a pretty interesting mix. Perhaps I like “post-punk” more than I ever realized. 

[Skummy]

@K - given your interests in combining band member timelines and cross-stitching, here's one for The Fall;

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Dave Spurr is an absolute beast of a bassist.

 

Post-punk in all its guises is wonderful and led into the noise rock, noise pop, alternative and no-wave music I know and love.

[Skummy]

This is great;

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jan/24/final-interview-with-mark-e-smith-the-fall-people-still-cross-the-road-from-me

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

On 1/25/2018 at 16:36, Skummy said:

@K - given your interests in combining band member timelines and cross-stitching, here's one for The Fall;

 

@Skummy I JUST NOTICED THAT IT HAS MY GRANNY ON BONGOS! <3 <3 <3

[Skummy]

His family have stated that he died from lung and kidney cancer. That he was still touring and performing as late as November while going through that is fucking mental.