Mark E Smith RIP

[Belgium Yellow]

Must be a few Fall fans on here.
Can’t quite come to terms with this. No more Fall albums after 40 years.

 

[MJB]

Yes very sad news although given his recent cancellations of gigs, it was known that he was in poor health.

Like the man himself apparently, their music is often challenging, unexpected and difficult but always interesting.

An amazing back catalogue for old and new fans alike to get into of course.

Plus his appearance on the Adam and Joe Show remains both a funny and awkward watch all these years later!

 

[Maggiesdad]

Yes very sad news although given his recent cancellations of gigs, it was known that he was in poor health.

Like the man himself apparently, their music is often challenging, unexpected and difficult but always interesting.

An amazing back catalogue for old and new fans alike to get into of course.

Plus his appearance on the Adam and Joe Show remains both a funny and awkward watch all these years later!

I suppose that he did not take his own advice to eat yourself fitter...RIP...a true one-off

 

[PottersRightBoot]

I liked Sparta FC. Classic song for the discerning supporter. Plus Hit The North.

 

[makv]

I have more Fall songs in my collection than any other band. I’ll miss the grumpy old fucker, even though their output had fallen off in quality recently - not surprisingly.

Decent effort at a 20 song playlist from the Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2...rgin-trains-the-story-of-the-fall-in-20-songs

 

[makv]

Also, MES reading the football results. Absolute classic(al):

 

[makv]

And a really good piece from the Irish Times discussing his love of the game, and the effects of money on it

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/ma...t-and-football-in-the-soul-1.3369768?mode=amp

And throughout the benders and brilliance of Renegade runs the constant theme of how football was subtly appropriated from the communities who had enjoyed their teams for decades. He is unforgiving and brilliant on the problems, as he saw them, with City (“I could have told City that Stuart Pearce was the wrong man ages ago. I saw him on a plane once; he looked deranged then. All that running up and down the pitch and firing up the fans – that’s had its day, that s**t. He’s been mingling with the Keegans too much: the dated English.”) and the England football scene (“It’s as if defeat is ingrained in them – as if they can only handle defeat”) but most of all with the game: the steady, unstoppable rise of ticket prices, the corporatisation, the new stands and stadia, the spiralling wages. “How can anybody truly follow somebody who’s on £100,000 a week? I don’t begrudge them the money; if they’re good they’re good and I’d rather a working-class lad had it than some slippery Ken, like it used to be. The simple fact is, though, money’s clouded the heart of the matter.”

 

[Belgium Yellow]

And a really good piece from the Irish Times discussing his love of the game, and the effects of money on it

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/ma...t-and-football-in-the-soul-1.3369768?mode=amp

And throughout the benders and brilliance of Renegade runs the constant theme of how football was subtly appropriated from the communities who had enjoyed their teams for decades. He is unforgiving and brilliant on the problems, as he saw them, with City (“I could have told City that Stuart Pearce was the wrong man ages ago. I saw him on a plane once; he looked deranged then. All that running up and down the pitch and firing up the fans – that’s had its day, that s**t. He’s been mingling with the Keegans too much: the dated English.”) and the England football scene (“It’s as if defeat is ingrained in them – as if they can only handle defeat”) but most of all with the game: the steady, unstoppable rise of ticket prices, the corporatisation, the new stands and stadia, the spiralling wages. “How can anybody truly follow somebody who’s on £100,000 a week? I don’t begrudge them the money; if they’re good they’re good and I’d rather a working-class lad had it than some slippery Ken, like it used to be. The simple fact is, though, money’s clouded the heart of the matter.”

It was interesting to see some of this discussed on the Blue Moon forum. They do seem to revere him up there (Manchester Evening News treated it like the death of Bowie or Prince) and even Man City sent official condolences from their twitter account. Seems that they play Hit the North almost every matchday, will be interesting to see if there is some commemoration at their next match.

 

[makv]

And a really good piece from the Irish Times discussing his love of the game, and the effects of money on it

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/ma...t-and-football-in-the-soul-1.3369768?mode=amp

And throughout the benders and brilliance of Renegade runs the constant theme of how football was subtly appropriated from the communities who had enjoyed their teams for decades. He is unforgiving and brilliant on the problems, as he saw them, with City (“I could have told City that Stuart Pearce was the wrong man ages ago. I saw him on a plane once; he looked deranged then. All that running up and down the pitch and firing up the fans – that’s had its day, that s**t. He’s been mingling with the Keegans too much: the dated English.”) and the England football scene (“It’s as if defeat is ingrained in them – as if they can only handle defeat”) but most of all with the game: the steady, unstoppable rise of ticket prices, the corporatisation, the new stands and stadia, the spiralling wages. “How can anybody truly follow somebody who’s on £100,000 a week? I don’t begrudge them the money; if they’re good they’re good and I’d rather a working-class lad had it than some slippery Ken, like it used to be. The simple fact is, though, money’s clouded the heart of the matter.”

It was interesting to see some of this discussed on the Blue Moon forum. They do seem to revere him up there (Manchester Evening News treated it like the death of Bowie or Prince) and even Man City sent official condolences from their twitter account. Seems that they play Hit the North almost every matchday, will be interesting to see if there is some commemoration at their next match.

To be honest, his death hit me just as much as Bowie’s (although it was a lot less unexpected!). Yeah, I didn’t realise they played Hit the North at City til the last few days.