Something to dance to, A certain style - The Fall

The Fall

I couldn't hold out any longer. This is the first of what will probably be many postings about The Fall. This is it man. This is my favorite group in the history of the universe. The group that makes music just for me. Not the way I would ever think I would want it though. No, MES ("singer" Mark E. Smith) uses his psychic ability to tap into my brain and find out what sounds do I NEED to hear. And I simply can't imagine that there was ever a time before The Fall.

But there was. In or around 1996 I was trading cassette tapes across the Atlantic with my friend Chris (Volvo/Anders/Babic....he'll get his own post one day!). And the beauty of trading cassette tapes is...you've got to fill the extra space with something. So somewhere near the end of a Blue For Two or Triffids tape he threw on two songs I didn't ask for. Smile and Hotel Bloedel by the Fall.

And the world changed. Or at least mine did. Although maybe not all at once. I bought their album "Perverted By Language"  (which contains both songs I had heard) which is still to this day my favorite album ever. It's been said that Fall fans always rate the first one they heard as their favorite, so maybe I'm just another example there. I bought a few others here and there and they just didn't grab me quite as hard. At first.

I didn't become a true FF (Fall Fan? FuckFace? Interchangeable terms I believe. Hey There!!!!) until 1999 when I really came to realize there was more than "Perverted By Language". Of course by that time The Fall were a band of the past with nothing left to offer me. Well, that's what I thought as I quickly collected the past catalogue. (They've released 11 albums since that time, all of them worthwhile and maybe 4 of them great, so clearly I was just being a look back bore at the time.)

I'd love to say more....but there will be further Fall posts.

Go on, you can do it SMILE!!!! on youtube


Buy The Fall's music on Amazon