Mark E Smith RIP

RIP you crazy bastard

---

UPDATE Jan. 27:

Perhaps someone has more details on the influence of The Fall on Morrissey. I recall songs from The Fall were played as intermission music before Morrissey shows (according to this YouTube playlist, "Living Too Late" in 2017 and this playlist, "Lie Dream of a Casino Soul" in 1995). Also, this excerpt posted by Uncleskinny from "The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise" by Brix Smith Start (original article from Oct. 2016):

Mark had been losing patience with Rough Trade and decided we had to look for a new record label. There were a few reasons Mark had soured on them, but the main one was that The Smiths had arrived. This was a huge bone of contention. When he was younger, Morrissey used to write Mark long, fawning letters. Mark has them all saved. Morrissey was obsessed with The Fall and Mark. Mark would never call him Morrissey and would refer to him by his first name, Steven. The rumour was that they named themselves The Smiths after Mark, and that they loved The Fall so much they wanted to be on Rough Trade. One of their first gigs was supporting us.
...
It never even dawned on me that our smoking may have set off the alarm. As we were hurrying down the stairs to evacuate the hotel I ran into Morrissey. By this point I was having a full-blown anxiety attack, bordering on panic. The alarm was blaring and I was desperate to find Mark. I asked him, ‘Have you seen Mark?’ Morrissey responded in a dry, mean tone: ‘He’s probably upstairs, burning up in the fire.’ He thought it was funny, but I had no sense of humour right then. I was really worried about Mark’s wellbeing. I never spoke to Morrissey again. He was always so unfriendly, prickly and weird, whereas Johnny Marr was the loveliest, most friendly, genuine person.




Also, The Fall are #8 in Morrissey's Headful Of Heroes (NME, Sep. 16, 1989) - "Moanchester, so much to answer for":

 

[g23]

Oh no. I was really hoping he'd make it to his rescheduled shows and stick around a while longer. This is a big loss.

 

[billybu69]

Terrible news, I know he's been ill but knowing it was coming doesn't make it easier. a genuine carrier of the moniker, "legend".

 

[Oh my]

Very sad.

 

[Surface]

Bloody hell I feel old, another local hero gone, RIP Mark

 

[Bluebirds]

After the Smiths The Fall are undoubtedly my favourite band. Absolutely gutted tonight.
Rest in Peace sounds a bit trite to be honest. A New Face in Hell perhaps?

 

[Thewlis]

The second greatest Mancunian singer.
What a man, what a loss

 

[Life_Is_A_Pigsty]

A sad day indeed, the Fall are 2nd only to the Smiths for me. MES was a genius, an uncompromising one at that.

Glad I saw them again in Wakefield in October recently even though Mark looked quite ill.

The only comfort is the size of the back catalogue for us to listen to now and also the feeling that MES managed to get quite a bit off his chest.

RIP Mark E. Smith

 

[Anonymous]

Can't wait for 2018 to end, please excuse my absence of late, I'm still reading posts but I've got major shit going on in my life at the moment.
Keep up the good work and hopefully I'll be back when I'm back on track. ( and NO ! I am not Mike Joyce so that's nipped in the bud ).

HIT THE NORTH ! RIP MARK.

Love and best wishes to all apart from KetchupBum

Benny-the-British-Butcher

Over and out for now

 

[Anonymous]

Bloody hell I feel old, another local hero gone, RIP Mark

Love and best wishes pal !

Benny-the-British-Butcher

 

[Bluebirds]

Definitely worthy of being promoted to main news.

Check the record.....

Anyway reminiscing about my weird and wonderful Fall experiences over the years and this has really hit me quite hard. I last saw him/ them at Green Man in 2015 (my 11th or 12th Fall gig) and was fortunate enough to witness him doing a live Q and A.
He (and the band) were on top form that night.

I think The Fall's influence will grow through future years as more people discover their music. He was unique. Godspeed.

 

[Bluebirds]

Funnily enough only last week I found this on YouTube. Seems fitting to share here tonight

 

[Cornflakes]

When I lived in Manchester, I used to see Mark out drinking quite a lot. Not weekly or anything, but quite a lot. I guess he liked a drink.

I'm not someone who would ever try to bother a famous person, but once (it was in what was the Cornerhouse) he was sitting with someone else on a stool next to the table I was at. The other person went for a piss and he sort of leaned over and started engaging us in conversation. You'd might expect him to be all snide, mildly aggressive and difficult to follow, but he was friendly and smiley and totally normal. The conversation was about nothing in particular, so I don't have any great wisdom of his to relay. Anyway, that's my Mark E Smith story, such as it is.

 

[URBANUS]

When I lived in Manchester, I used to see Mark out drinking quite a lot. Not weekly or anything, but quite a lot. I guess he liked a drink.

I'm not someone who would ever try to bother a famous person, but once (it was in what was the Cornerhouse) he was sitting with someone else on a stool next to the table I was at. The other person went for a piss and he sort of leaned over and started engaging us in conversation. You'd might expect him to be all snide, mildly aggressive and difficult to follow, but he was friendly and smiley and totally normal. The conversation was about nothing in particular, so I don't have any great wisdom of his to relay. Anyway, that's my Mark E Smith story, such as it is.

Great personal experience and thanks for sharing on this sad day.

 

[Johnny Barleycorn]

When I lived in Manchester, I used to see Mark out drinking quite a lot. Not weekly or anything, but quite a lot. I guess he liked a drink.

I'm not someone who would ever try to bother a famous person, but once (it was in what was the Cornerhouse) he was sitting with someone else on a stool next to the table I was at. The other person went for a piss and he sort of leaned over and started engaging us in conversation. You'd might expect him to be all snide, mildly aggressive and difficult to follow, but he was friendly and smiley and totally normal. The conversation was about nothing in particular, so I don't have any great wisdom of his to relay. Anyway, that's my Mark E Smith story, such as it is.

I shed a small tear for MES last night. In part it was because although there are always a queue of Ed Sheeran’s ready and sadly willing to take over should he fall under a tour bus we never replace the likes of Mark E. Smith. They are as rare now as the white rhinoceros. Trying to compare and contrast the work of these unique voices is as crass and pointless as comparing and contrasting Monet and Manet. The loss comes in losing their vision of the world. Who is next? Bob Dylan is in his seventies. I haven’t seen John Lydon down the gym in months. Morrissey looks quite ashen. I’ve still got a bit of an earache from before New Year.

I used to collect Doc Marten 1460s in the olden days before they moved production from England to China. No, I don’t know why I collected them, either. I must have once had (just) a size eleven hole in my soul. The move overseas prompted howls of anguish from lovers of the boot, including me, until the price of the original Made In England version started to soar when the true wisdom of the decision became clearer to me.

One day about ten years ago it was gently pointed out to me by another that there was little point in owning nearly twenty pairs of unworn, boxed Docs in a range of colours which I had never worn when I could sell them and buy someone a nice present, so I put them up for sale on eBay.

Most of them ended up being sold to a Mark E. Smith of Manchester. I never had the courage to ask the buyer if he was indeed the Mark E. Smith of Manchester, fearing a short answer beginning with “f”, and I don’t know to this day. It seemed unlikely at the time because for all his wonderful attributes he seemed to be a bit of a Luddite.

I saw The Fall twice more, mainly though to see what was on his feet or to try to gauge his foot size. Orange? Royal blue? Bottle green steels? Which pair of my boots did the great man choose tonight? Nope. Shoe Zone all the way, and he seemed such a slight chap. Surely not an eleven?

I’ll never know now, of course, although the news that he was in a wheelchair for his last live performances does point towards a man who might have mostly worn only Doc Marten boots for the last few years of his life.

I’m going to go to eBay now and set up an email alert for “vintage 1460s”. Perhaps I’ll get them back and my own personal Kicker Conspiracy will finally be solved.

 

[Johnny Barleycorn]

After the Smiths The Fall are undoubtedly my favourite band. Absolutely gutted tonight.
Rest in Peace sounds a bit trite to be honest. A New Face in Hell perhaps?

I think the thing I loved about The Fall was the effort often required to “get it”. Because he didn’t compromise you had to. You had to bend to his will and you were prepared to at least try do so because even a relatively poor Fall album would contain flecks of gold.

I’d buy the new album, put it on repeat, and eventually over a few days it would hopefully seep into my head and far more often than not I’d love it, prompting for me at least the nagging question of “Is this great and I understand it” or “Is this awful but I’m used to it now?”

My favourite Fall track of recent years is Blindness. It’s a monsterous bass driven thing. (I’ve posted a great live version on the listening to thread.) It prompts you to sing “I was only on one l-egggg” tunelessly under you breath at the strangest times. I’d be ever so proud as a songwriter if I thought I could do that. It’s almost “Potato, po-tahto” silly.

Dear old Mark never seemed to make many friends, and he certainly didn’t make very much money, but he’s loved by hundreds of thousands of people many of whom wouldn’t have had the courage to even go up to him and say hello, such was his fearsome reputation.

What a wonderful, wonderful man.

 

[firstodie]

Never lost his left-wing socialist credentials and could state his case eloquently in debate when called upon to do so. John Peel will have a warm brew waiting for him.

 

[Johnnie Ray]

I shed a small tear for MES last night. In part it was because although there are always a queue of Ed Sheeran’s ready and sadly willing to take over should he fall under a tour bus we never replace the likes of Mark E. Smith. They are as rare now as the white rhinoceros. Trying to compare and contrast the work of these unique voices is as crass and pointless as comparing and contrasting Monet and Manet. The loss comes in losing their vision of the world. Who is next? Bob Dylan is in his seventies. I haven’t seen John Lydon down the gym in months. Morrissey looks quite ashen. I’ve still got a bit of an earache from before New Year.

I used to collect Doc Marten 1460s in the olden days before they moved production from England to China. No, I don’t know why I collected them, either. I must have once had (just) a size eleven hole in my soul. The move overseas prompted howls of anguish from lovers of the boot, including me, until the price of the original Made In England version started to soar when the true wisdom of the decision became clearer to me.

One day about ten years ago it was gently pointed out to me by another that there was little point in owning nearly twenty pairs of unworn, boxed Docs in a range of colours which I had never worn when I could sell them and buy someone a nice present, so I put them up for sale on eBay.

Most of them ended up being sold to a Mark E. Smith of Manchester. I never had the courage to ask the buyer if he was indeed the Mark E. Smith of Manchester, fearing a short answer beginning with “f”, and I don’t know to this day. It seemed unlikely at the time because for all his wonderful attributes he seemed to be a bit of a Luddite.

I saw The Fall twice more, mainly though to see what was on his feet or to try to gauge his foot size. Orange? Royal blue? Bottle green steels? Which pair of my boots did the great man choose tonight? Nope. Shoe Zone all the way, and he seemed such a slight chap. Surely not an eleven?

I’ll never know now, of course, although the news that he was in a wheelchair for his last live performances does point towards a man who might have mostly worn only Doc Marten boots for the last few years of his life.

I’m going to go to eBay now and set up an email alert for “vintage 1460s”. Perhaps I’ll get them back and my own personal Kicker Conspiracy will finally be solved.

I enjoyed reading that. I have always loved the Doc Martens that Morrissey wore on the Kill Uncle tour. Do you know what style they were?

 

[Anonymous]

Never lost his left-wing socialist credentials and could state his case eloquently in debate when called upon to do so. John Peel will have a warm brew waiting for him.

Spot on.

 

[Famous when dead]

Sad news.
I've seen The Fall in various incarnations over the years and can honestly say that they were always full of surprises. Just not being sure of what they'd be playing made them unique and interesting.
He was a one-off.
Regards,
FWD.