Why does anyone like the Fall?

yeah, but they talk back!

-- Ned Raggett (ne...), June 17th, 2003.

HOORAY FOR WISHES THAT COME TRUE!

Is it just me or would this sound really great delievered as a "Sonic Attack"-style hilariously overblown super-serious spoken word track? And having some other guy deliver certain lines in that high sleazy evil voice? You know..."upon a coyote's head!"

I don't think that's true, really. The initial transformation from the early punk band into the more avant-garde band that made Room to Live and Perverted by Language was gradual and every record, in retrospect, represents some type of interesting step. The transformation into a pop band with The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall was surely unexpected, and I find their stylistic evolution-- album to album -- through the eighties and the first half of the nineties to be fairly continual.

----

July 2, 1994
REBELLIOUS JUKEBOX

Check the guy's track record-ah! Mark E Smith of the Fall picks the discs that he lugs around in his carrier bag.

1. THE WALKING SEEDS, "Tantric Wipeout"

"It's five years old now, this. The Walking Seeds were great until they went all f***ing grunge. One of 'em went on to be in the La's, you know. I don't like that many Liverpool bands, cos...well, it's Liverpool, innit? I never went for Julian Cope, Ian McCulloch, all that stuff. Walking Seeds were all right, though. What's that you say -- tantric sex is where you have it off in stages? You kiss the first day, fondle the second, gradually get more intimate? You're getting very prurient, you, aren't you? Stick to writing about music!"

2. BONEY M, "Rasputin"

"I like the way they tackled all the big issues, Boney M. The fall of the Russian tsarist system, and stuff like that. Did you know they even had a song about Belfast? What was it called? It was called 'Belfast.' No, they didn't really suggest any new solutions. Somebody told me Boney M are dead popular in Russia. I've just been to Lithuania and it was really strange. It's just full of drunken unemployed soldiers. Mind you, they were all concentration camp guards, weren't they, the Lithuanians? Anyway, Boney M, I think 2 Unlimited are a lot like them."

3. I LUDICROUS, "Preposterous Tales"

"They're very funny, I Ludicrous, and I like a lot of their stuff. They rip off the Fall a lot, ripping off riffs and everything, but I don't mind that because they make me laugh. If it makes me laugh, it's OK. That's a good basic rule. Pavement don't make me laugh. They don't make me angry, though. I can't get angry anymore about people copying the Fall because there's just been so many. We've been ripped off so many times. I Ludicrous are a good funny Northern band. Like the Macc Lads? Well, it's not quite the same thing, is it?"

4. VISNADI, "Hunt is Up"

"This is an Italian rave record which is around at the moment. Yeah, that's right, a rave record. Why shouldn't I like a rave record? I've been getting into loads of Italian stuff lately. I'm not normally into rave music, though. I mean, it just sort of plods, doesn't it? I don't do a lot of clubbing, but I have been doing a bit of DJin lately, around Manchester. People just keep asking me to do it. F*** knows why. I just turn up and start playing Italian rave records and rockabilly! Ha! That does their f***ing heads in!"

5. LEE HAZELWOOD AND NANCY SINATRA, "Sundown"

"I think Lee Hazelwood was really, really good. I love the way this song's got this big, dead camp cinematic production. Nancy Sinatra was all right, as well. She'd got a bit of talent. She didn't just sponge off her dad's name. I couldn't stand that f***ing 'Boots are Made for Walkin' nonsense, though. Lee Hazelwood always sounds to me like a really wired, wiped-out Johnny Cash. Yeah, I always liked him as well. He's back and he's hip now? Is he really? F***ing hell!"

6. THE MOVE, "Night of Fear"

"I like this one because I think it sounds just like Birmingham. What do you mean, that's no reason to like a record? No, I think Birmingham's very underrated, me. I liked the Move and early Electric Light Orchestra as well, before they turned totally rockist and crap. I even liked Wizzard. Actually, Roy Wood has been playing around my way lately, with some new band he's just knocked together. I've not seen them myself, but the rest of the Fall went down the other night and said they were great, really good. They've got a cello section and everything. Here, why are you laughing?"

7. LINK WRAY, "Jack the Ripper"

"Yeah, he's one of the real rock grandads, isn't he? I think he's brilliant. He's a Red Indian, and he makes all his own guitars. He lives in Denmark now, apparently. No, I don't know why -- why should I? I've met him. Was he mad? No, not at all, show some respect! He was a dead nice bloke. He used to make instrumental records that got banned for being too un-record player friendly, because they were too full of distortion and shit like that, hahaha! Link Wray is the only man who can get records banned without even writing f***ing lyrics! He's a hero, a really great man!"

8. MARVIN RAINWATER, "My Brand of Blues"

"This is an old country and western rockabilly song and it's brilliant. He just plays one chord all the way through. Yeah, I know a lot of country and western is totally trite, sentimental slop, but it depends what kind of country and western you listen to, doesn't it, cock? I know 90 percent of country music is shit, but 90 percent of any kind of music is shit, isn't it? I haven't even got that many records. I throw a lot of stuff away. I mean, you've got to, haven't you?"

9. THE DRIVING STUPIDS, "The Reality of Air-Fried Borscht"

"What do you mean, it's a Fall record title? No it's not, it doesn't mean anything! What's borscht -- some kind of Russian stew, isn't it? The Driving Stupids are an early seventies psychedelic band, and this is the most over the top record I've ever heard in my entire life. Did I ever see them live? No, I think they were probably dead before I ever left school, you cheeky get. So how did I first hear about them? John Peel? No, I educate myself, mate. Always have."

10. THE FALL, "Rebellious Jukebox"

"For obvious reasons, really. This is the first song I ever wrote on guitar. I'd never let the Fall play it live now, mind. And no, I don't mind you naming your Melody Maker features after a Fall song and ripping us off week after week? Why not? Everybody else does it..."

i prefer the race marbles (both of them), or the nightcrawlers though

of course, cosmic michael is better than all of them

I'm hungry for something all of a sudden. I don't know what.

yeah...North Croydon!

too late.

My friend said the Fall are playing here in May. Now do you think I am not going? Because of course I bloody well am. Even if it's crap I'm still going.

Tues. / May 2nd Austin, TX Stubb's Small Room
Thurs. / May 4th Dallas, TX Gypsy Tea Room
Fri. / May 5th El Paso , TX Devil Bar
Sat. / May 6th Tucson, AZ Rialto Theatre
Sun. / May 7th Phoenix, AZ Scene is Dead Concerts
Tues. / May 9th San Diego, CA House of Blues
Thurs. / May 11th Anaheim, CA House of Blues
Sat. / May 13th Los Angeles, CA Knitting Factory
Sun. / May 14th San Francisco, CA The Independent
Tues. / May 16th Portland, OR True West
Thurs. / May 18th Seattle, WA El Corazon
Sat. / May 20th Vancouver, BC Richards @ Richards
Mon. / May 22nd Edmonton, Alberta Starlite Room
Tues. / May 23rd Calgary, Alberta Warhouse
Thurs. / May 25th Salt Lake City, UT The Depot
Sat. / May 27th Denver, CO Bender's Tavern
Tues. / May 30th Chicago, IL House of Blues
Thurs. / Jun. 1st NY, NY Knitting Factory

I'll be at Dallas for sure.

For confirmation that Will and John are indeed southern softies.

I've just spent 86 of my 90 emusic downloads this month on The Fall.

"I just like that he says "-ah" at the end of every line.
And the drummer goes whomp-a-whomp-a-whommmp-a."

These appraisals of thee mighty Fall made me laugh out loud at my desk at work...a rare and usually discouraged action, need I say.

Even so, my favorite description of their sound - at least during the 80's - has to be courtesy the disgustingly brill online rockcrit Mark Prindle:
"'Dang dang dang'...that's Brix Smith's guitar sound. Might like it, might hate it - 'sup to you."
Hehe...