For those that don't know Mark E.Smith was a legendary punk rocker from Manchester in the North of England. He was the founder and only permanent member of The Fall.
The Fall were active from 1976 to all the way up to 2018 when Mark Smith died after a long illness, potentially aggravated, if not caused, by his extreme lifestyle consisting of excessive alcohol consumption, heavy smoking and drug use.
To his fans and perhaps everyone else Mark E.Smith was the last of a kind. Outspoken to a fault he could isolate his supporters, friends and band mates. Making bland statements to promote bland albums was not what he was about. Still, even John Peel, one of The Fall's greatest champions once said it would be easier to like Mark if he just made music and didn't occasionally say awful things.
Mark E. Smith was always up for a fight and was notoriously abrasive and uncompromising. He possessed a sharp sense of wit and was extremely vocal in his criticisms. He could sometimes get a bit violent, as seen in this hilarious clip, Vinyl Police.
Smith was known for his outrageous quotes, here are a couple of classics!
"I remember a park in the middle of Monsall, a really rough area and it had an art gallery in the middle. It had Constables and all that Raphaelite stuff. You couldn’t' get away with that now, just walking in. You'd have a bottle of cider in the park blagging off school and we'd go in there. You don't get that now. We were lucky in that way."
"I used to be psychic, but I drank my way out of it."
If any of this caught your attention, go listen to a song from The Fall :D
