The Fall

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Post-punk band from Greater Manchester, UK. 1976 to 2018.

Mark E. Smith was the lead singer, lyricist, frontman and only constant member of the formation. He died on the morning of Wednesday January 24th, 2018.

Formed in 1976 through a poetry-style collective beginnings, The Fall released around 50 singles, 34 studio albums, and well over 50 live and compilation albums as well as releasing a play 'Hey Luciani' and a Ballet 'I am Kurious Oranj'. They also recorded 24 sessions for John Peel's Radio 1 show between June 1978 and August 2004.

The band went through numerous personnel changes over the years (with well over 30 different line-ups). From July 2007 The Fall comprised: Mark E. Smith, vocals; Pete Greenway, guitar; Dave "The Eagle" Spurr, bass; Elena Poulou, keyboards; Keiron Melling, drums. For a year (2014-15), Daren Garratt became a full-time member as a second drummer. Poulou's (Smith's then wife) last gig was 28th April 2016. Mike Clapham joined on keyboards from 23rd May 2017 until their final gig.

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The Fall were an English post-punk group, formed in 1976 in Prestwich, Greater Manchester. They underwent many line-up changes, with vocalist and founder Mark E. Smith as the only constant member. The Fall's long-term musicians included drummers Paul Hanley, Simon Wolstencroft and Karl Burns; guitarists Craig Scanlon, Marc Riley, and Brix Smith; and bassist Steve Hanley, whose melodic, circular bass lines are widely credited with shaping the band's sound from early 1980s albums such as Hex Enduction Hour to the late 1990s. First associated with the late 1970s punk movement, the Fall's music underwent numerous stylistic changes, often concurrently with changes in the group's lineup. Their music was generally characterised by an abrasive, repetitive guitar-driven sound, tense bass and drum rhythms, and Smith's caustic lyrics. The critic Simon Reynolds described Smith's lyrics as "a kind of Northern English magic realism that mixed industrial grime with the unearthly and uncanny," voiced through a "one-note delivery somewhere between amphetamine-spiked rant and alcohol-addled yarn". While the Fall never achieved widespread success beyond minor hit singles in the late 1980s and early 1990s, they have maintained a strong cult following. The Fall have been called "the most prolific band of the British post-punk movement". From 1979 to 2017, they released 31 studio albums, plus dozens of live albums and compilations released against Smith's wishes. They were associated with the BBC DJ John Peel, who championed them from early on in their career and described them as his favourite band, saying: "They are always different; they are always the same." The group disbanded after Smith's death in 2018.