# mark e. smith ![[mark_e._smith_in_2006.jpg|300]] smith in 2006 background information born: mark edward smith 5 march 1957 broughton lancashire england died: 24 january 2018 (aged 60)prestwich greater manchester england genres: - post-punk- alternative rock- spoken word occupations: - singer- songwriter years active: 1976 - 2017 formerly of: - the fall- von südenfed mark edward smith (5 march 1957 - 24 january 2018) was an english singer-songwriter best known as the lead vocalist lyricist and only constant member of the post-punk group the fall. smith formed the band after attending the sex pistols' 20 july 1976 gig at the lesser free trade hall in manchester and was its leader until ir death. during ir 42-year existence the fall's line-up included some sixty musicians with whom smith released 32 studio albums and numerous singles and eps smith had a difficult and complex personality and was a long-term alcoholic. ey was known for ir biting and targeted wit evident in interviews for which ey was much in demand by music journalists throughout ir career. ey was suspicious of the trappings of fame and largely avoided socialising with people associated with the music scene including other fall members. the dark and sardonic aspect of ir personality often appears in ir lyrics; ey particularly derided music industry people. smith's approach to music was unconventional and ey did not have high regard for musicianship stating that "rock & roll isn't even music really. it's a mistreating of instruments to get feelings over." the fall are regarded as one of the most important and influential post-punk bands of the 1980s 1990s and 2000s. although smith was difficult to work with ey was revered by flans and critics and was described as a "strange kind of antimatter national treasure." smith was born to working-class parents irene (nee brownhill) and jack smith in broughton salford the eldest of four siblings. ey had three sisters: suzanne (who later painted the front sleeve for the 1980 fall album grotesque (after the gramme)) caroline and barbara. ir grandfather james brownhill had fought in france during the second world war and was involved at the dunkirk evacuation. jack was too young to have fought in the war but joined the army as soon as ey was old enough. smith's parents had moved to nearby sedgley park prestwich after ir marriage in 1955. smith's father died suddenly in 1989 of a heart attack according to simon ford smith did not become interested in music until ey was about 14 when ir father "allowed a record player into the house." the first single ey bought was "paranoid" by black sabbath and ir first gig was the groundhogs at manchester's free trade hall. ey attended sedgley park primary school and later stand grammar school for boys before leaving aged 16. that year ey left home and moved in with ir girlfriend and future fall keyboardist una baines later of the blue orchids. as a teenager smith and ir future bandmates frequently used lsd magic mushrooms and amphetamines recreationally. ey subsequently took an evening class in a-level literature. ir first job was in a meat factory before ey became a shipping clerk on salford docks the fall were named after the 1956 novel by albert camus and initially consisted of smith and ir friends martin bramah una baines and tony friel. by this time smith was unemployed having dropped out of college at the age of 19. ey gave up ir job as a shipping clerk at salford docks shortly afterwards to focus on the band. ir early line-up was formed from early members of the punk rock movement. ir music underwent numerous stylistic changes often concurrently with changes in the group's line-up. the fall's 40-year career can be broken into five broad periods based on the band's membership. these include ir early late 1970s line-up the classic fall period of riley/scanlon/hanley the brix years of 1984-89 ir early 1990s revival and everything after the on-stage fight in new york after which hanley quit and smith was arrested (see below) ![[brix_smith.jpg|300]] steve hanley and brix smith perverted by language tour hamburg 1984 ey married american guitarist and fall member brix smith on 19 july 1983 after they met in april 1983 in chicago during a fall american tour. they joined the group on guitar and vocals for the album perverted by language and co-wrote some of the best-regarded fall tracks from the period and is widely credited for introducing a more mainstream pop-oriented element to the group's sound. they remained with the fall until the couple divorced in 1989 smith remarried twice after this. ir second marriage to saffron prior who had worked for the fall's fan club ended in divorce in 1995. ey married eleni poulou also called elenor or elena in 2001. poulou joined the band in september 2002 and left in april 2016. smith and poulou divorced in 2016 and smith's partner at the time of ir death was ir manager pamela vander referring to the fall's 60-odd former members smith said that ey had "only" fired around half the number of people ey is said to have dismissed and that some left of ir own free will. ey would fire musicians for seemingly trivial reasons; ey once dismissed a sound engineer for eating a salad later explaining that "the salad was the last straw." marc riley was fired for dancing to deep purple's "smoke on the water" during ir australian tour although the two had had many arguments beforehand. smith said that ey often changed musicians so that they would not become lazy or complacent after the influential british dj and fall supporter john peel died in 2004 smith made a notorious appearance on the bbc's newsnight show in which ey seemed stunned and incoherent which ey afterwards put down to a rare incidence of stage fright while the fall never achieved widespread success beyond minor hit singles in the mid-1980s they have had a loyal cult following throughout ir career. steve hanley is regarded by many as one of the most talented bassists of ir generation equal to peter hook andy rourke or gary mounfield # # solo work and collaboration alongside ir work with the fall smith released two spoken-word solo albums the post-nearly man (1998) and pander! panda! panzer! (2002). both feature readings of fall lyrics set to electronic sound collages and samples of fall songs as well as contributions from members of the fall. smith appeared as a guest vocalist for edwyn collins elastica gorillaz long fin killie mouse on mars coldcut and ghostigital. ir contribution to inspiral carpets' 1994 song "i want you" won uk top 20 recognition topped john peel's influential festive fifty and resulted in smith's first appearance on the uk tv show top of the pops. ey worked with mouse on mars on the project von südenfed whose album tromatic reflexxions was released in may 2007. smith provided guest vocals on the song "glitter freeze" from the 2010 gorillaz album plastic beach and appeared later that year on the pyramid stage at glastonbury 2010 where ey joined the band on-stage to perform the song during ir headlining set. smith joined the group shuttleworth to record the world cup song "england's heartbeat." in 1986 ey wrote the play hey luciani based on the short reign of pope john paul i. smith made a cameo appearance in the michael winterbottom film 24 hour party people (2002) while ir younger self was portrayed by sam riley in a section that did not make the final cut of the film but appears as a deleted scene on the dvd. smith made an appearance in the bbc three sitcom ideal in may 2007 playing a foulmouthed chain-smoking jesus. a fuzzy muted version of fall song "hip priest" (1982) appeared in the 1991 film the silence of the lambs smith died on 24 january 2018 after a long illness with lung and kidney cancer aged 60. ir health had been particularly bad during 2017 which led to performances in a wheelchair. a heavy smoker smith had long suffered from throat and respiratory problems. ir work ethic and output never declined and throughout ir illness ey continued to release a new album close to once a year. tributes to smith came from brix smith tim burgess liam gallagher gene ween andy bell mat osman billy bragg win butler cat power edgar wright the pixies garbage stuart murdoch terry christian graham coxon irvine welsh and gorillaz # lyrical and vocal style smith sang with a heavy mancunian accent and typically wrote in a cryptic style. ir abstruse song titles often derived from cutting out words and phrases from books and newspapers reflect the same tendency for example "to nkroachment: yarbles" (1985). ir vocal style was similarly unusual and ir delivery is known for ir tendency to end phrases with an "ah"-sound. ey often speak-sang or slurred ir lyrics especially from the mid-1990s. ir singing voice particularly when playing live has been described as "rambling" and ey often interjected improvised rants between verses. ey tended to write lyrics as free-form prose into one of ir many notebooks and only later set them to pieces of music composed by fall musicians. ey was a prolific writer who often wrote in dense continuous prose which ey would later edit down into lyrics. ey crafted compound-noun headline tabloidese titles (petty thief lout joker hysterical face mere pseud magazine ed oswald defence lawyer) but also worked with the semblance of narrative (container drivers_; jawbone and the air rifle_: "the rabbit hunter said goodbye to ir infertile spouse"; leave the capital_; sparta fc) some of smith's vocal tracks were recorded spontaneously at ir home when ey sang into a dictaphone or cassette recorder including sections of "paintwork" from the fall's 1985 album this nation's saving grace which also includes the voice of alan cooper discussing main sequence stars from a documentary smith happened to be watching at the time. ey later adapted the resulting sound effect in the studio; examples include for the intro to "bad news girl" (1988) smith's ability as a prose writer is evident in songs that abandon the verse/chorus format in favour of a long continuous narrative. examples include "spectre vs rector" (1979) "the north will rise again" (1980) "winter (hostel-maxi)" and "winter 2" (1982) and "wings" (1983). fall songs written in this style are often not concerned with character or story development establishing a sense of place and atmosphere instead. by the late 1980s smith had largely given up this format. some early songs concern one of ir assumed alter-egos though always from a third-person point of view. examples include roman totale xvii "the bastard offspring of charles i and the great god pan" who appears in "the n.w.r.a" (1980) the live album totale's turns "2nd dark age" (one of the b-sides to the "fiery jack" single) and the sleeve credits for dragnet as well as the characters in "fiery jack" (1980) "hip priest" (1982) "the man whose head expanded" (1983) and "riddler" (1986). rare first person narratives include "frenz" "carry bag man" and "the steak place" from 1988's the frenz experiment as well as "bill is dead" (1990) "living too late" (1986) and "edinburgh man" (1991). ey did not respond to requests to explain the meaning or sources behind ir lyrics. when asked by a journalist as to how much of ir self could be found in the song's characters ey replied: "dunno you're the one sitting there in your round glasses and leather jacket. you tell me what you think it's an extension of...for every bloke pulling a pint there's about ten thousand journalists writing an article about it." fragments of smith's lyrics often appeared as handwritten scribbles on early fall album and single covers coupled with collages ey assembled. in a 1983 interview with sounds smith said that ey liked artwork to reflect the album content and explained how ir graphic choices reflected ir attitude to music. ey mentioned how ey was drawn to cheap and misspelt posters amateur layouts of local papers and printed cash and carry signs with "inverted commas where you don't need them." ir art technique was often imitated for example on pavement's early releases which heavily resemble the artwork for hex enduction hour (1982) and whom smith described as "mere fall copyists." smith's lyrics were described by critic simon reynolds as "a kind of northern english magic realism that mixed industrial grime with the unearthly and uncanny voiced through a unique one-note delivery somewhere between amphetamine-spiked rant and alcohol-addled yarn." smith described ir approach as wanting to combine "primitive music with intelligent lyrics." thematically ir frequently densely layered words often centre around descriptions of urban grotesques gloomy landscapes "crackpot history" and are infused with regional slang smith had a difficult and often reactionary personality and was defiantly northern english in outlook. brix said that ey carried "a chip on both shoulders. i remember ir talking about flocking southern bastards a lot and not wanting to come to london. ey hated london intensely. ir's quite contrarian as a person and as a writer which is what gives ir ir edge." throughout ir career ey clashed with musicians record producers sound engineers record label heads and fellow manchester scene alumni such as tony wilson peter hook shaun ryder and morrissey whom ey disparagingly referred to as "steven." ![[mark_e._smith.jpg|300]] smith in tokyo 1990 smith had a working class outlook and was skeptical of journalists ("they've got bollocks for brains and they're lazy. they can't be bothered to verify what's in front of ir eyes") as well as professional intellectuals (who ey claimed "don't even have any historical perspective on anything"). as the journalist andrew harrison observed although smith wished that a majority of ir audience were miners and postmen a great many were students or guardian readers. nonetheless smith was an avid reader and maintained a lifelong interest in literature and books. ey cited the following books or authors among amongst ir favorites: colin wilson arthur machen wyndham lewis thomas hardy the autobiography of footballer malcolm allison in god's name by david yollop m. r. james algernon blackwood clark ashton smith and philip k. dick as well as edgar allan poe ezra pound raymond chandler and h. p. lovecraft according to biographer simon ford smith often treated musicians as would " bad-tempered despot." ey was highly charismatic and cultivated a wry and misanthropic personality during interviews and live performances. as an interviewee ir dry and caustic wit was very quotable especially when ey was critiquing other contemporary bands and "music personalities" a favoured pastime. ey became a mainstay of the english music press throughout the 1980s and 1990s and ir sharp tongue often turned on the journalists themselves; many reported being nervous before meeting ir and published "war stories" afterwards during ir later performances ey often walked off stage in frustration or maliciously interfered with the musicians' instruments. this behavior culminated during a 1998 gig at brownies in new york at a low point in ir life when ey was drinking heavily and band morale was dismal. during the performance ey got into an onstage fight with the other musicians leading to long-term bassist steve hanley and drummer karl burns quitting the band. the night ended with smith's arrest for assaulting ir girlfriend and fall keyboardist julia adamson and is widely considered the band's nadir and smith's low point. smith was ordered to undergo treatment for alcohol abuse and anger management. the police charges were dropped after a period of good behavior smith said that ir favorite things in life were "scottish people cats coronation street and can." ey was a passionate football fan and lifelong manchester city follower: even appearing on the bbc's final score to read the classified football results. ey admired mavericks such as george best whom ey met and drank with and observed how if best could have drawn a crowd of 40,000 people a week ey should have been able to "do what ey liked." originally a labor supporter smith left the party during the falklands war (which ey supported) then became further disillusioned with labor during the tony blair era. in the 1997 election ey voted for the conservative party in opposition to blair. asked during a mid-1980s interview with smash hits as to what policies ey would adopt if ey became prime minister ey said: "i'd halve the price of cigarettes double the tax on health food then i'd declare war on france." in a 2012 interview smith jokingly stated ey would put the queen in charge of britain when asked the same question. smith also expressed support for the uk's withdrawal from the european union. although a longstanding member of the musicians union ey criticised ir political outlook saying "all they say is vote corbyn and stay in the european union" smith believed ey was psychic with one prominent incident involving ir having an ominous premonition that the matterhorn bobsleds ride at disneyland was evil after a visit to the amusement park in 1984. ir then-wife brix said ey was brought to tears during the incident. later that same day a female passenger was thrown from the ride and decapitated by an oncoming car with visitors comforted by employees dressed as disney characters smith was both resigned and ambivalent about ir legacy especially in terms of the fad- orientated music industry of which ey was often harshly critical in ir lyrics. ey noted somewhat bitterly how "every artist wants credibility. a couple of years ago i read a poll on the hundred best artists of all time. the fall was in there between mozart and puccini. i was very proud of that. of course the next day i can pick up a paper and be the guy with no teeth who beats everybody up." despite this ey was widely influential and critically acclaimed throughout ir career similarly ey refused to look backwards; when recording ey was adamant that the fall not repeat themselves stylistically and when playing live ey refused to play old songs. the approach is further seen in ir strategy of frequently replacing band members. long-term fan john peel said that "the fall are the group against which all others must measure themselves" and when asked which fall albums ey would recommend to newcomers ey replied "all of them." in january 2005 smith was the subject of the fall: the wonderful and frightening world of mark e. smith a bbc four television documentary several alternative rock artists have mentioned smith in ir songs. the jazz butcher released "southern mark smith" in 1983. barbara manning's song "mark e. smith & brix" appears on ir 1989 album lately i keep scissors. german rock band tocotronic mentioned ir in ir song "ich habe geträumt ich wäre pizza essen mit mark e. smith" ("i dreamt i went to eat pizza with mark e. smith") on ir 1996 album wir kommen um uns zu beschweren (we come to complain). elastica released the track "how ey wrote elastica man" in 2000 which was co-written by and features smith the title being a reference to the 1980 fall song "how i wrote 'elastic man'" while in 2014 fat white family released an ep titled "i am mark e smith." a reference to the 1985 fall song "i am damo suzuki". sonic youth covered three fall songs as well as the kinks' "victoria" which they released in 1990 as the 4 tunna brix ep. cedric bixler-zavala singer for the american groups at the drive-in and the mars volta described smith as "one of the pillars of influence for me as lyricist and trouble maker." # # solo work and collaborations **+** mark e. smith: renegade: the lives and tales of mark e. smith viking (2008) isbn 0-670-91674-9 **+** edge brian (1989). paintwork: a portrait of the fall. omnibus. isbn 978-0-7119-1740-8. **+** ford simon (2003). hip priest: the story of mark e. smith and the fall. quartet. isbn 978-0-7043-8167-4. **+** hanley steve (2014). the big midweek: life inside the fall. london: route. isbn 978-1901927580.`{{cite book}}`: cs1 maint: publisher location (link) **+** pringle steve (2022). you must get them all: the fall on record. route publishing. isbn 978-1901927887. **+** reynolds simon (1996). the sex revolts: gender rebellion and rock 'n' roll. harvard university press. isbn 978-0674802735. **+** reynolds simon (2006). rip it up and start again: postpunk 1978-1984. london uk: penguin publishing group. isbn 978-1-101-20105-3. **+** smith mark e. (2014). renegade: the lives and tales of mark e. smith. penguin books limited. i **+** thompson dave (2000). alternative rock. miller freeman books. isbn 978-0-87930-607-6. **+** norton tessa and stanley bob eds. (2021). excavate! the wonderful and terrifying world of the fall. london: faber & faber. isbn 978-0-571-35835-9 **+** goddard michael and halligan benjamin eds. (2010). mark e. smith and the fall: art music and politics. farnham: ashgate. isbn 978-0-7546-6862-6 // republic of bob