Product Description

'Reams of stuff have been written about me in the past, but never in my own words: this is the proper one' - Mark E. Smith. Still going after thirty years, The Fall are one of the most distinctive British bands, their music - odd, spare, cranky and circular - an acknowledged influence on The Smiths, The Happy Mondays, Nirvana and Franz Ferdinand. And Mark E. Smith is The Fall. For the first time we get to hear his full, candid take on the ups and downs of a band as notorious for its in-house fighting as for its great music; and on a life that has endured prison in America, drugs, bankruptcy, divorce and the often bleak results of a legendary thirst.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12822 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Andrew O'Hagan, The Observer
'Possibly the funniest music book ever written'

Synopsis
'Reams of stuff have been written about me in the past, but never in my own words: this is the proper one' - Mark E. Smith. Still going after thirty years, The Fall are one of the most distinctive British bands, their music - odd, spare, cranky and circular - an acknowledged influence on The Smiths, The Happy Mondays, Nirvana and Franz Ferdinand. And Mark E. Smith is The Fall. For the first time we get to hear his full, candid take on the ups and downs of a band as notorious for its in-house fighting as for its great music; and on a life that has endured prison in America, drugs, bankruptcy, divorce and the often bleak results of a legendary thirst.

About the Author
Mark E. Smith grew up in Prestwich, Manchester. He founded The Fall at the age of nineteen and for thirty years has been the hub around which the band has operated. The term 'living legend' is used too easily, but in the case of Mark E. Smith it is entirely appropriate.

Customer Reviews

You're not up to much
Well they say you should never meet your heroes, I would posit that this has never been more true then in the case of Mr Mark E Smith.

The sight of a young MES fronting The FAll going at full tilt into 'container drivers' would be one of the the most exciting and charming experiences I have had as an alternative music fan.

The sound of an older MES being unpleasant about EVERYTHING and EVERYONE is awful. If you want to know what this book is like without reading it, Get on YOUTUBE and watch the clip when He's 'interviewed' on Newsnight about John Peel's death. On the occasion of a mild mannered and well loved Fall-Championing legend dying, MES has a stunning lack of insight, and uses the opportunity to ramble incoherently and acts bizarrely, until the producers start to wonder why the hell they had him on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The book is full of irrelevant rantings and thoughts, most of which is ill considered, sounds unfair or very immature. Reading it is an interesting though slightly sad experience, and I felt like I was trapped in the corner of a pub - trying to be polite to an old drunk who only made sense when he's abusing someone.

I'd recommend buying it, just for the bizarre experience

Save your money
Would suggest die hard Fall fans put their uncritical acclaim for M.E.S to one side & have an objective look at this book - its a bit of a stinker... sorry folks whilst he may be a left field British institution you're left with the feeling of someone cashing in on a publishing advance.

Smith spends the early part of the book going on about how much he loves writing - after 20/30 pages you start wondering then why its ghost written. Actaully its just a seris of repetetive monolues stiched together. As another reviewer has already said he obviously has no talent for prose - just as likely he lacks the ability or inclination to order his thoughts into anything much more than a megalomanics blinkered rant.

Strip way the rants about ex band members & you're left with a series of incohernet monlogues about nothing of any consequence cobbled together into a little more than a set of extended interviews that someone not under pressure to deliver a book would have heavily edited . Not being a massive Fall fan but having maintained a passing interest in M.E.S over 30 years or so mainly for his dogged intransigence I found this hugely dissapointing and didn't add anything to what anyone would have already known about him.

You can find an opiniated beligerent drunk with very little charisma in any pub you choose to walk into so you don't need to spend £15 to encounter one from the comfort of your armchair. Hope person who bought me this as a present isn't reading as don't want to appear ungrateful - there are many more books on offer far more deserving of your hard-earned.

Excellent biography
I have to declare an interest here - I'm named in the acknowledgements by the ghostwriter of this book, Austin Collings. As far as the book goes, it's good stuff; I suspect that Mr Collings has contributed more to it that Mr Smith, but that's the drawback to writing someone else's story for them.

The book confirms what I'd long thought: my admiration for Mark E Smith, leader and creative mainspring of The Fall, is still in place. The man has stuck to his vision of that band, weathering the storms of umpteen lineup changes, bankruptcy, drugs and alcohol as he's gone. The book even made me laugh out loud, not what I expected at all.

Unfortunately, the book also confirms that Mr Collings has had a hard ride himself trying to produce this book - what's the betting that Mr Smith couldn't tell you what's in it?

Entertaining - but not easy going.