He was definitely having fun. In fact that's the most fun I've ever seen him have. There is footage on youtube of him not having fun and you wouldn't want to be there.
I think he loved you two.I think he was hoping it turned into a party. Some comments just seem to be playing to the camera cos he knows what he’s there for. He’s just pushing you two to see how much you’d take in good humour and you both definitely passed the test. I think it’s very sweet and he’s having a nice time. He’s just winding you up about the researcher ringing you.
Mark was hard to get your head around. He was a really bright bloke who didn't want to be middle class. A lot of his art and music might be lost on his peers, and a lot journalists who were very knowledgable might get the references but not the motivation behind a lot of the tunes. A lot of his stuff comes from a subversion of the British class definitions, there's hardly anyone else who's attempted it without resorting back to the class definitions themselves. Mark was very Manchester, very Northern, but a mix of the clever and the down-to-earth. He didn't really fit anywhere and that's what makes him interesting. RIP Mark E Smith
That's true. But he had a worldview that didn't align with the obsessions of his middle class Leftist celebrity fans. He spoke with the clear eyed view of a highly intelligent working class man. So when you get public schoolboys like Stewart Lee or pillocks like Bilky Bragg or Jeremy Vine using the Fall to demonstrate their hipness, it sticks in the craw. Smith hated "Billy Blackleg" (his words). They're all name dropping the band while being everything the Fall was anti.
Or he was just a very obnoxious drunk lol. I doubt he remembered much of this interview. I doubt he remembered much of anything about the last 20-30 years of his life. I used to work in a pub called the Roebuck. It was a real rough pub, an old men's pub, full off absolute maniacs. They were all very bitter and angry, nasty people... and they despised anyone under the age of 30 lol. Like, really fucking despised them. It was a scary place. Well, Mark was EXCATLY the type of person that would have drunk at the Roebuck. He would have fitted in perfectly. Every time i watch his interviews, especially the bad ones, it's like being back in that pub again.
@@curiositytax9360 In MES's own words, Billy Bragg was undercutting bands to get gigs. Newsflash. You get into private school because you can afford it not because you're smart. And I don't believe Lee does appeal to working class voters, he's pro virtually everything they're against. But at least he doesn't hide it. Mark E Smith, like Lydon and Morrissey have voiced opinions that are diametrically opposed to the 'bien pensant' Left that middle class graduate types like Lee and that idiot Richard Haring hold sacred. They are the opposite of the working class, the progressive establishment that Smith was always knocking. If you can't see that then you don't understand the essence of the Fall.
@@signoguns8501 Oh, he was definitely an obnoxious drunk. But a brilliant, brilliant cantankerous man. And also a little bit ridiculous, though I'd never have had the balls to tell him that. The world is definitely a bit smaller and shitter without him.
I never ever thought in my lifetime I'd see a postmortem of something I found so stark and uncomfortable as a teenage fan of the A&J show. This is actually an amazing moment for me.
Back then I thought it was so weird and off the wall when he was carrying on about "grease the roads" but the mystery is solved now... he'd just been asked about Rhodes,Greece but wanted to carry on about roads and truckers!
Walked past him once on Oldham Street in Manchester, around 2013. He was on his own just strolling. Thought about saying hello but didnt have the balls. Probably for the best as Im sure he would have told me to fuck off.
So I’ve watched the original edit of this many many times on RU-vid over the years and it’s lovely to see a bit more after all this time. Off the back of watching the original I sought out some of the songs - Don Bowman’s Diesel Driving Devil is ace, and has made my playlist of driving songs. And the story behind the studio in Nashville where they would put weird lyrics from punters to music is also pretty interesting. Blind man’s penis was an attempt by a guy called J Trubee to troll the record label by sending them the fee and the most stupid offensive lyrics they could, in the hope they would get a rejection letter, but instead they delivered and put them to music. There’s a funny compilation record of the stranger songs that studio made called The American Song Poem Anthology
I was editing a movie with my film partner when suddenly Sky Saxon from The Seeds (mentioned here) came in to the flat (in Camden, London), totally unexpected... like a dream. He told us about threatening to beat up Jack Nicolson in 1969 and ended up saying 'i love you man'....Bleedin ell!
I enjoyed watching this, and appreciate your frankness. But I must say that deciding to interview Mark E in the guise of police officers was an extremely misguided strategy. Of course it was going to be carnage lol 😂
Mark, as wonderful as he was, was often belligerent in interviews. In this instance, he had slight contempt for the bbc middle class representatives conducting the interview…. And he was incredibly drunk. However, he seems to have been having fun. Really enjoyed this video 👍🏻
The John Trubee And The Geeks, whoever they were, thing with the sending off for a record making... It was, and I think still is, a thing. Companies would put small ads in magazines, "Set YOUR poetry to music!" with a bit of text about what a fantastic idea it was. So you'd send off your lyrics to this company, and they'd get a session band and a recording studio, probably during slack time when they were short of business, and they'd perform your song, cut a record, and post it to you. They used to make record presses for one-shot discs for studio use, short promo runs, etc. Might be something nice to do for your mum for Mother's Day or something.
OFFICER POLICEMAN! there was a user on the fall forum by that username. Your little contribution to the great fall story. You can really see he was having a lovely time. Having a laugh, a nice drink and good little earner.
I did not discover Mark until late in his Career He Reminds me a Lot of My Personal Hero Lou Reed They Both had Visions and Followed them regardless of what Critics, Fans, or the Recording Industry might Like or Dislike. Plus Neither Put up with BS form the "press" The one think about both Mark and Lou , No Body Liked them, You Loved Them or you did not Understand.
I'm glad it's not just me that spotted it. Salford/Barnsley are very similar in its people I think. Personality wise from knowing people from both. Maybe a bit more feckless in barnsley, a bit meaner in Salford.
MES was definitely plastered in the interview, but he is also just being a troll and going along with the skit. In my country we have a saying "You only have the fun that you create yourself", I think that describes his attitude pretty well. He gets bored during interviews and goes off script which many people find disrespectful.
I was at that festival.... I saw The Fall, I think.... wasn't that many people there... I drink a lot because I don't feel comfortable being amongst people, I hated being at the festival, worse I didn't want to be the miserable person at the festival, I was there to see I enjoyed walking past a tent with a woman singing "I blame the turtles"
Where does this interview come from and where can I find the rest of it? Thanks!! Re-watching it I think Mark is just having fun with them - I think Adam is being a little bit delicate.
Nah, Mark knew he was keeping them guessing as to whether he liked them or not. I know that uneasy mix of friendliness and sporadic aggression drunks do to keep you on your toes
I think MES was a bit sensitive about the records he brought and hurt that they werent going to sit around and enjoy listening to and talking about them- so, waste of time, get drunk and lash out a bit. Poor guy was problaly looking forward to the sit, brought his preconceptions along with his records and once again realized his isolation and disconnect.
I remember seeing him in the 90s in Liverpool when he was doing a series of talks. I could barely understand what he was saying he slurred so much and he was very good a parting the Red Sea around the bar when he went to get a drink which he was doing a lot. I think the fall had split up at that point. Don’t meet ur heroes. Definitely don’t meet them if u like the fall
Aside from the lightly threatening comment at the end, I don't see any other evidence of Mark being spikey or 'dark'. It seems like he was just trying to add material in what was - after the initial ten minutes or so - a fairly bland skit. Joe looked scared and unable to understand him! Probably good that they left at that point however.
You bunch of naive fools! Who gets Mark E Smith a shed load of strong booze and hopes for the best? Should have hidden non-alcoholic beer in with it. 🤣
So we see that MES was an aggressive mercurial drunk. He's pushing his luck because the 2 presenters are being a bit spineless, which encourages more bullying. His type respect a bit of push back, if he respects you, you'll get a better interview and he'll play the game.
I don't think it has to do with being "spineless". MES has said numerous times before that he likes being drunk and getting people drunk because it lowers peoples guard and shows what kind of person they really are. He really does not like inauthentic people. That is also why he does not like middle class people because he finds them inauthentic, not knowing which class they belong to and missing a genuine identity.
@@blankeon6613 So when a whole bunch of people are drunk and getting aggressive, that's their true nature? It's just foolish. No, it's just a way of getting stoned. Which is what destroyed that super sharp MES brain we used to know and love. Before he became an incoherent, gurning piss-head.
@@mesolithicman164 Well I do not necessarily fully agree with the statement, it is just what MES believed. I do believe people let their guard down after a few drinks, but people can completely change personality when they are blackout drunk. I think it is unreasonable to expect any musical artist to consistently create amazing music for 40 years straight. That being said I am a huge fan, the only album I did not like was the last one (New Facts Emerge). In my view MES was still a genius up until his death, even if the heavy drinking and drug abuse had taken a toll.
@@blankeon6613 The Fall up to the time Brix joined were razor sharp. And Smith was the smartest kid on the block. After that, well. Something had gone.
@@mesolithicman164 Sure I agree the Brix days were the glory days for the Fall, but many of my favourite songs were still before her appearance and after her departure in the band. Like "Fiery Jack", "Lie Dream of a Casino Soul", "How I Wrote Elastic Man", "The Container Drivers", "F-'oldin' Money", "Ten Houses of Eve", "A Lot of Wind", "Blindness", "Hittite man", "Victrola Man", "Auto Chip 2014-2016" etc. etc. the Fall have an incredible amount of great songs.
People overcomplicate Mark Smith, some people are just unpleasant & meanspirited, add alcohol & they become tedious, aggressive & incoherent into the bargain.
Correct. The man's an ignorant, incorrigible bore. A genius ? Don't make me laugh. The most abused word in the English language. He's just a blagger, who can't believe he's fooled so many muppets out there.
Yeah..well MES is indeed heroic for being perhaps the best musical director of all time, and the 70s-90s albums are indeed all wonderful and incredibly replayable...but I don't know why ppl herald his "dish it out but can't take it" Trump like behaviour because there's nothing to be admired there.
As a Go Betweens, Beatles, Velvets fan, I never understood the love of the Fall. It's God awful 'music'. Mark couldn't sing a note and his lyrics were utter nonsense. I'm glad I've got good taste. This footage just verifies my belief that he's an obnoxious, drunk.
I have to disagree, especially regarding the VU comparison. "Smile", "Blindness", "Lay Of The Land", "Fall Sound", "New Face In Hell" are the equal of anything The Velvets or Can ever did. And I genuinely think that MES is one of the greatest lyricists to grace the "rock" medium. Not as if Lou Reed was the most amazing singer to grace god's green earth, is it?!?
He was original, he was a non singer... Kind of anti singer. Not sure what I make of him as a person, he seems like a complete nightmare probably undiagnosed something or other. The Fall we're kinda like a Krautrock band really. Can, Kraftwork... None of those had Traditional singers. Even VU... And Lou Reed was a anti singer in a way... I'm surprised you hate The Fall so much, and still Like The VU.
