The Fall were a kind of mysterious, twitchy, paranoid fixture at the edge of my early adult life – at least once I’d sold all those Genesis albums. I’ve got a lot of their records (can’t play them any more, of course) and they were all thrilling but also impenetrable and often repulsive. I seem to remember thinking this meant they must be proper art – unlike, say, Tears for Fears, who were just repulsive.
From The Guardian I learn that scary, driven founder Mark E Smith has chewed up over 40 band members in 25 years – some of them leaving and rejoining the band half a dozen times. Also, I learn that old codgers’ label Sanctuary Records – home of King Crimson, Joey Ramone and Kiss – has picked up The Fall’s early back catalogue for re-release (here’s a handy Fall timeline).