Archive Portal: Mark E Smith & The Fall
January 2018
To celebrate the life and work of Mark E Smith, who died on 24 January 2018, we present a selection of articles on the Fall frontman and his group drawn from The Wire’s online archive
The first interview with Mark E Smith to be published in The Wire appeared early on in the life of the magazine: issue 30, dated August 1986, when The Wire was a jazz orientated publication (US saxophonist Chico Freeman graced the cover that issue). Over the next three decades Smith and The Fall were covered extensively in the magazine: he was interviewed at least seven times; appeared on the cover three times; was featured in the Invisible Jukebox section twice (Smith being the only artist to take this honour); and the music of The Fall was assessed in various essays and numerous reviews. Below you can read a selection of those pieces, all of which are stored in our online archive. Click the links to access the articles.
Mark E Smith interviewed by Mark Sinker (continued on page 48). Issue 30 August 1986.
Mark E Smith interviewed by Samantha Batra. Issue 111 May 1993
Mark E Smith’s Invisible Jukebox tested by Dave Haslam. Issue 134 April 1995
Mark Sinker reviews The Fall’s The Light User Syndrome. Issue 150 August 1996
Mark E Smith interviewed by Tony Herrington. Issue 151 September 1996
The Fall come apart on stage in New York as reported by Sasha Frere-Jones and Douglas Wolk. Issue 171 May 1998
Mark E Smith’s second Invisible Jukebox tested by Edwin Pouncey. Issue 203 January 2001
Simon Ford’s account of the circumstances and milieu in which The Fall formed in Manchester, circa 1977. Issue 219 May 2002
Stewart Lee’s Primer on The Fall on record. Issue 266 April 2006
Keith Moliné on a seismic performance by The Fall live in Guildford, 1983. Issue 276 February 2007
Mark Fisher reviews The Fall's Last Stand At Hammersmith Palais. Issue 307 September 2009
The Wire’s online archive contains every issue of the magazine ever published. For
details of how to get access to more than 400 issues, and 30,000 pages, click here
Comments
do you have the von sudenfed feature from issue 279. tromatic reflexxions one of the finest smith works. thanks
Thanks for all of this! Is there a chance that The Wire will put the audio recordings of MES' Invisible Jukeboxes up on this website? It would be great to hear Smith's tones as he writes off Merzbow.
Alasdair Dickson
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