The Fall (band)
The Fall were an English post-punk group, formed in 1976 in Prestwich, Greater Manchester. They underwent many line-up changes, with vocalist and founder Mark E. Smith as the only constant member.[1][2] The Fall's long-term musicians included drummers Paul Hanley, Simon Wolstencroft and Karl Burns; guitarists Craig Scanlon, Marc Riley, and Brix Smith; and bassist Steve Hanley, whose melodic, circular bass lines are widely credited with shaping the band's sound from early 1980s albums such as Hex Enduction Hour to the late 1990s.[3]
The Fall
Prestwich, Greater Manchester, England
1976–2018
- Step forward/Faulty Products
- Rough Trade
- Kamera
- Beggars Banquet
- Situation Two
- Narnack
- Phonogram/Fontana
- Matador
- Permanent
- Slogan
- Domino
- Action
- Cherry Red
- Mark E. Smith
- See members section for others
First associated with the late 1970s punk movement, the Fall's music underwent numerous stylistic changes, often concurrently with changes in the group's lineup. Nonetheless, their music has generally been characterised by an abrasive, repetitive guitar-driven sound, tense bass and drum rhythms, and Smith's caustic lyrics,[4] 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 "one-note delivery somewhere between amphetamine-spiked rant and alcohol-addled yarn."[5] While the Fall never achieved widespread success beyond minor hit singles in the late 1980s and early 1990s, they have maintained a strong cult following.
The Fall have been called "the most prolific band of the British post-punk movement."[6] From 1979 to 2017, they released thirty-one studio albums, and more than three times that number when live albums and compilations (often released against Smith's wishes) are taken into account. They were long associated with BBC disc jockey John Peel, who championed them from early on in their career and described them as his favourite band, famously explaining, "they are always different; they are always the same."[7] Smith's death in 2018 effectively put an end to the group.
History[edit]
Late 1970s: early years[edit]
The Fall was formed in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, in 1976 by Mark E. Smith, Martin Bramah, Una Baines and Tony Friel. The four friends would meet to read their writings to each other and take drugs.[8] Their musical influences included Can (which the band would later pay tribute to on the track "I Am Damo Suzuki"), the Velvet Underground, Captain Beefheart and garage rock bands like the Monks and The Stooges.[9] The members were devoted readers, with Smith citing H. P. Lovecraft, Raymond Chandler and Malcolm Lowry among his favourite writers.[10] After seeing Sex Pistols play their second gig at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall in July 1976, they decided to start a group. Smith wanted to name the group "The Outsiders", but Friel came up with the name "The Fall" after a 1956 novel by Albert Camus.[11] Smith became the singer, Bramah the guitarist, Friel played bass guitar and Baines bashed biscuit tins instead of drums; unable to afford to buy a drum kit, she then switched to keyboards.[12] Their music was intentionally raw and repetitive.[9] The song "Repetition", declaring that "we've repetition in the music, and we're never going to lose it", served as a manifesto for the Fall's musical philosophy.[13][14]
The group played their first concert on 23 May 1977, at the North West Arts basement.[12] Their first drummer was remembered only as "Dave" or "Steve" for thirty-four years,[15] until music writer Dave Simpson discovered that he had almost certainly been a man named Steve Ormrod.[16] Ormrod lasted just one show, at least in part due to political differences with the other members of the group.[16] He was replaced by Karl Burns, whom Friel played with in a band called Nuclear Angel. The Fall soon caught the attention of Buzzcocks manager Richard Boon, who funded their first recording session, and in November 1977 they recorded material for their debut EP, Bingo-Master's Break-Out![13] Boon planned to release the EP on his New Hormones label, but after discovering that he could not afford to do so[11] he gave the tapes back to the group. Thus, the Fall's debut on vinyl came in June 1978 when "Stepping Out" and "Last Orders" were released by Virgin Records on Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus, a compilation of live recordings made at the Manchester venue The Electric Circus in October 1977 just before it was closed.
The Fall's line-up underwent its first drastic changes in 1977–78. Kay Carroll, Una Baines's friend and colleague at the psychiatric hospital, became the group's manager and occasional backing vocalist, as well as Smith's girlfriend.[14][17] Friel, unhappy with Carroll's management, left in December 1977 (he went on to form the Passage with Dick Witts). He was briefly replaced by Jonnie Brown, and later by Eric McGann (also known as Eric the Ferrett).[17] The Fall were filmed on 13 February 1978 for the Granada TV show What's On, hosted by Tony Wilson, performing "Psycho Mafia", "Industrial Estate" and "Dresden Dolls", featuring the brief line-up of Smith, Bramah, Burns, Baines and McGann. Baines left in March 1978 after a drug overdose and subsequent nervous breakdown, and was replaced by Yvonne Pawlett; McGann quit that May, in disgust at the group's van driver Steve Davies wearing a Hawaiian shirt as he ferried them to the recording of their first-ever session for influential radio DJ John Peel. (The Fall would record a total of 24 sessions for Peel, who became a devoted fan of the group.)[17] Martin Bramah blamed the dissolution of the original line-up on Smith's style of leadership, together with Carroll's favouring of her partner: "The break-up wasn't so much about the music, though; it was more how we were being treated as people on a daily basis."[14] 16-year-old Marc Riley, the group's roadie, was eventually recruited to the group to play bass guitar.[17]
Influence[edit]
On the group's influence, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that "the Fall, like many cult bands, inspired a new generation of underground bands, ranging from waves of sound-alike indie rockers in the UK to acts in America and New Zealand, which is only one indication of the size and dedication of their small, devoted fan base."[55]
The Fall have influenced groups and artists such as Pavement,[56] Yung Lean,[57]
Happy Mondays,[58] Sonic Youth, These New Puritans,[59] LCD Soundsystem,[60] as well as the Russian group Grazhdanskaya Oborona.
Sonic Youth covered three Fall songs (and "Victoria" by the Kinks, also covered by the Fall) in a 1988 Peel session, which was released in 1990 as an EP, "4 Tunna Brix", on Sonic Youth's own Goofin' label. The Pixies covered "Big New Prinz" during their 2013 world tour.[61] The 1990s indie acts Pavement (who recorded a version of "The Classical") and Elastica (Smith contributed vocals to their final EP and album) showed an influence of the Fall, while Suede parodied the band with "Implement Yeah!", a song found on the cassette edition of their 1999 single "Electricity".[62]
In 2001, when Texan post-hardcore band At The Drive-In played live at Australia's music festival BDO the band's singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala said this before they played their song "Pattern Against User": "This is dedicated to a band from the U.K. called THE FALL. If you don't know who THE FALL is, you're listening to too much Hip Hop and Heavy Metal. This is for Mark E. Smith!"[63][64]