Urban Hat€monger ?

Formed in 1976 by ex dock worker Mark E Smith & ex psychriatric nurse Una Baines , The Fall have over the past 30 years refused to conform to fashions or trends and have continued to put out a string of influencial and highly regarded albums. The band have over that time had almost 100 different band members , released over 70 albums and had more record companies than possibly any other band in history. The one constant being Mark E Smiths sheer bloody mindedness at keeping the Fall`s name going.
After 2 years of constant touring the band finally caught the attention of DJ John Peel with their 'Bingo Masters Break Out' E.P. Peel invited the band to record a session for his show. Over the years The Fall would continually be invited back to Peels show and ended up recording 24 sessions for him. Peel himself described The Fall as 'The band all bands are measured by in our house'.
The session got the attention of Step Forward records who put out their landmark debut album 'Live At The Witch Trials' by this time Baines had left and the revolving door policy of band members began, Baines wasd replaced by Yvonne Paulette who`s electric piano dominated the albums sound & put their sound in a different bracket to the usual new wave sound that dominated at the time.
Soon Paulette was also gone as was Step Forward records and the band signed to rough trade. The bands sound became rawer and more chaotic with Smiths vocals becoming more promenant. They followed up albums such as Dragnet , Grotesque(After The Gramme) , Slates & Hex Enduction Hour (featuring 2 drummers) & Perverted By Language .During that time the band left Rough Trade with Smith describing label boss Geoff Travis as a 'Stupid hippy' over the censoring of the word 'slags' .
In 1983 on a U.S. tour Smith met up with Brix Smith , put her in the band & married her. She became a central part of the band giving them a more melodic sound. With Brix in the band The Fall had the most successful period releasing the albums The Wonderful & Frightning World Of The Fall , This Nations Saving Grace , Bend Sinister & The Frenz Experiment. They also put out I Am Kurius Oranj , the soundtrack to a ballet and also had a top 30 hit with a cover of R Dean Taylor`s 'Ghost In My House'.
Brix divorced Smith and left the band in 1988.The band continued releasing albums but there was a noticable decline in quality. In 1993 the band returned to their indie roots after a short lived disaster being signed to a major label in Phonogram records. It gave them a new lease of life and the resulting album The Infotainment Scan became The Fall`s only UK top 10 album. On a roll from that the band put out Middle Class Revolt & Cerebral Caustic featuring a returning Brix Smith as well as on the following album The Light User Syndrome. But by the next album Brix was gone as well as off/on founding member Craig Scanlon.The album sounded tired and Smith took a 2 year break.
With a totally different line up Smith entered the 21st century with The Marshall Suite which showed sign of promise.The band then signed up to Sanctuary records who announced they would be reissuing & remastering all The Fall`s official studio albums. With a new interest in the band with the reissues ,a compilation album '50,000 Fall Fans Can`t Be Wrong' that finally covered the bands whole career, all 24 Peel session being released as a box set as well as other more unusual things such as 'Touch Sensitive' being used in an advert for Vauxhall cars & 'Theme From Sparta FC' being used by the BBC for their football coverage the band replied by putting out 2 of their best albums in years 'The Real New Fall L.P. (aka. Country On The Click) & Fall Heads Roll it looks like they`ll be around for a good while yet.

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