This volume offers a comprehensive range of approaches to the work of
Mark E. Smith and his band The Fall in relation to music, art and
politics. Mark E. Smith remains one of the most divisive and
idiosyncratic figures in popular music after a recording career with The
Fall that spans thirty years. Although The Fall were originally
associated with the contemporaneous punk explosion, from the beginning
they pursued a highly original vision of what was possible in the sphere
of popular music. While other punk bands burned out after a few years,
only to then reform decades later as their own cover bands, The Fall
continue to evolve while retaining a remarkable consistency, even with
the frequent line-up changes that soon left Mark E. Smith as the only
permanent member of the group. The key aspect of the group that this
volume explores is the invariably creative, unfailingly critical and
often antagonistic relations that characterize both the internal
dynamics of the group and the group's position in the pop cultural
surroundings. The Fall's ambiguous position in the unfolding histories
of British popular music and therefore in the new heritage industries of
popular culture in the UK, from post-punk to anti-Thatcher politics, to
the 'Factory fiction of Manchester' and on into Mark E. Smith's current
role as ageing enfant terrible of rock, illustrates the uneasy
relationship between the band, their critical commentators and the
historians of popular music. This volume engages directly with this
critical ambiguity. With a diverse range of approaches to The Fall, this
volume opens up new possibilities for writing about contemporary music
beyond traditional approaches grounded in the sociology of music,
Cultural Studies and music journalism - an aim which is reflected in the
variety of provocative critical approaches and writing styles that make
up the volume.
