Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Mark E. Smith- RIP

As memory serves, my then girlfriend (Hi, Sharyn!) introduced me to The Fall back in '80 or so when the world was considerably younger. And Mark E. Smith, the founder and lead singer, appeared very much the antithesis of a rock star- more like a slight 14 yr old public (ie- private) school student in button down shirt and suit jacket uniform from Thatcher England. Not quite the swooning or bad ass rocker one would assume, but a skinny nerd (albeit one you wouldn't turn your back on)  who just stood stoically beside his mike onstage literally rifling through seemingly random 8X11 loose leaf pages searching for lyrics to mouth. Huh!? And one would hardly call it singing- more of the Dean Martin/Leonard Cohen school of talk/sing, except less melodic, more snarly. Think Army Captain in the midst of a battle's mayhem, barking out orders to those still left alive and somehow able to fight on. In fact, many of The Fall's songs sound very much the inspirational battle march featuring strong, unrelenting repetitive bass lines that would at times fall into a controlled chaos, only to be resurrected again only stronger and more unrelenting...

The years were not kind to Mr. Smith, or more rightly, he was not very kind to himself (nor to anyone else for that matter)- alcohol, cigarettes and whatever else took an unrelenting toll as the boy like demeanor quickly dissolved into a mass of premature wrinkles and eye bags embodied within a stooped, uneven posture. Hank Williams died at 30 looking every bit 60, Mark E. Smith died at 60, looking a very worn 80. His body of work however remains strident and unbowed: eclectic, rhythmic, against the grain...

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