When you first heard The Fall, did you like them immediately or did it take some time?

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This was of course, inspired by the other thread. I'm curious to know the consensus, here.

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:30 (twenty-two years ago)

took time. I remember liking "Victoria" a lot (probably my first exposure to them) but didn't buy a record until many years later.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

I bought 458489 A Sides in 9th grade and loved it INSTANTLY.

i'm in 10th grade now!

― ddb, Monday, 24 May 2004 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

First Fall song I heard was "Prole Art Threat." I seem to remember thinking, "Whoa, weird. Cool, though!" And then I heard the rest of the album (Palace of Swords Reversed).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I started with 458489 A Sides too, and it took a few months of sporadic listening. Prob. better that way.

― stephen morris (stephen morris), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

ddb you're so cute! How's trig going?

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Started with This Nations Saving Grace .. so of course, immediate cognitive affinity.

― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:36 (twenty-two years ago)

it sucks.

I'm in study hall now.

SO BORED!!

― ddb, Monday, 24 May 2004 15:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Took time, I had Bingo Masters Breakout on some crappy punk comp and really didn't like it. It actually took that Rough Trade comp from about a year or two ago for me to really catch on.

― NA (Nick A.), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I like them even more now that I've seen Mark E. Smith wear a glove on one hand while performing.

OMG ddb this football player asked me out!!!!

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I had Stepping Out & Last Orders on the "Live At The Electric Circus" comp. and I thought they were OK but not great (there was actually a track on that comp. called At A Later Date by another bunch of unknown Mancunians called Joy Dicvision which had a similar effect).

However I then heard Bingo Master's Break-Out! on John Peel and was instantly hooked.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)

"Joy Dicvision"

No wonder they didn't get anywhere with a name like that - if only they'd had the sense to drop that "v", they could have been called Joy Decision and then....

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Liked immediately on the basis of "Stop Mithering" and "Totally Wired," I think. Over the years I've gotten to like them a lot less, after hearing more of their work (and generally getting to like that sort of thing a lot less anyway).

― Rockist Scientist, Monday, 24 May 2004 15:41 (twenty-two years ago)

ddb: Hey, if you can manage to get on ILM in study hall, life can't be all that bad.

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I like some, but I'm still not completely sold.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

i think "totally wired" was the first song that i heard. it's been a long, beautiful relationship.

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

When I started listening to entire albums by them at a friend's house, I realized I wasn't going to like close to everything by them. If I replace the copy of This Nation's Saving Grace with a CD, that will be enough of them for me, I think.

― Rockist Scientist, Monday, 24 May 2004 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

"Joy Dicvision"
No wonder they didn't get anywhere with a name like that - if only they'd had the sense to drop that "v", they could have been called Joy Decision and then....

ROFLMAO!

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah I guess you are right Bimble...can you help me study for my Spanish regents exam?

No Mi Gusta Examen.

― ddb, Monday, 24 May 2004 15:53 (twenty-two years ago)

uuhh.. DDB is not in 10th grade

he is like 55

― cutty (mcutt), Monday, 24 May 2004 15:58 (twenty-two years ago)

truth, but OUCH!!

― ddb, Monday, 24 May 2004 16:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, I should have known. 10th graders don't care about The Fall.
But wait...I cared about The Fall in 10th grade!

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 24 May 2004 16:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I was indifferent in 10th grade, unfortunately. Probably too much time spent listening to Slint.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 24 May 2004 16:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I loved the Fall in 9/10th grade...I had the "I'm Totally Into CB" pin stuck to my school blazer to prove it!

and needless to say, as a result...I was swimming in ass.

― ddb, Monday, 24 May 2004 16:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I saw the video for Victoria and loved it. Immediately bought Seminal Live and was a bit confused, but loved Dead Beat Descendant and Kurious Oranj. Bought the Frenz Experiment next and was still confused but came around, then 458489A sides, then Palace of Swords reversed and it pretty much made sense. I suppose all this activity took place in 89 or so, making me a pretty hip 14 or 15 year old. But it wasn't untill college that I really started buying the records and singles.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 24 May 2004 16:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Swimming in ass?

xpost

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 24 May 2004 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Dan Selzer is my long-lost twin brother (fraternal, not identical).

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 24 May 2004 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

definately, but I don't need hash to enjoy music.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 24 May 2004 16:23 (twenty-two years ago)

heh, I listened to their record the next day with a hangover and liked it just as much.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 24 May 2004 16:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I was listening to the Fall when I saw this thread, cripes.

I think the first thing I heard was 'Smile'. I thought it was sort of cool and menacing, but there was a sense of 'hang on, they're supposed to be this notoriously intense, evil band and it just sounds like a weird little manc whining over scratchy guitars'. I think the atonal 'ah, ah-ah ah ARRRRRGH' bits on No Xmas For JohnQuays on the same comp caused the dawning realisation.

― Fergal (Ferg), Monday, 24 May 2004 16:25 (twenty-two years ago)

like them immediately, got some 85-90ish stuff out the library, then i went back to the pre83 stuff, and thought, this is fantastic. i dont play any of the post83 stuff at all now

― gareth (gareth), Monday, 24 May 2004 16:37 (twenty-two years ago)

The first time I heard the Fall was live, supporting the Buzzcocks at North East London Poly, Barking, 2nd June 1977. It was a Rock Against Racism gig with the Fall 2nd on the bill following the Worst (I think). I remember being very impressed and soon after writing to Lucy Toothpaste, the editor of Jolt fanzine, about the band. She passed my letter on to them and about six months later I received a nice letter back from Mark Smith congratulating me on being their first fan outside Manchester. I had criticised Karl Burns' drumming in my letter and I remember Smith also mentioning that Burns wasn't too chuffed with my comments. I also saw them at the Vortex and The Greyhound, Croydon, the latter occasion supporting the Buzzcocks again. I later bought the first two Step Forward singles and the LP as well but drifted off after that because I was moving away from all things post punk towards my new obsession of disco and funk.

― David (David), Monday, 24 May 2004 16:40 (twenty-two years ago)

loved 'this nation's...' on first listen.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 24 May 2004 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

First saw The Fall in high school days on 120 min--"Victoria" thought it sounded cool, but the next video I saw was "Big New Prinz" and I thought "Who the Hell this guy think he is???" smug-looking fuck who doesn't even dress cool and what's with the ballet?
Fast forward ten years an heard something off probably Hex on a mixtape and was really into the smash of improv and punk styles, so upon seeing a cheap copy of "Domesday Pay-Off" in the bins, picked it up, thought it was only alright. (not the best start point).
Year or so later, someone said "Palace of Swords." Immediately listened to it heavily, and grabbed any Fall I could find. Things really got out of hand a few years later, when I belatedly "discovered" the internet, and within a the space of a year bought the entire studio catalogue, culminating in a girlfriend's-patience-testing season during which I only listened to the Fall.
I also had that common affliction of fall-fans in which MES completly takes over your inner voice, dictating a running commentary on all you see in a familiar nasal deadpan. Frightening, wonderful, ECT.
Oddly, I prefers the 90s Fall.

― sexyDancer, Monday, 24 May 2004 16:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Definitely took a while. Started with "Wonderful & Frightening"--barely liked "2x4," actively disliked the rest. Five years later, they were my favorite band...

― Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 24 May 2004 16:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I listened to "Slates/Part of America..." for a few yrs and during that time slowly picked other records here and there. I always liked it, but I rarely found myself thinking "Must.Listen.To.Fall.", but then one day I was walking around listening to "Hex Enduction Hour" and like a bolt (during "Hip Priest") it hit me: this was the best music I had ever heard. I pretty just went completely bonkers after that.

my poor wife

― chris besinger (chris besinger), Monday, 24 May 2004 16:49 (twenty-two years ago)

jeff, are you following the Fall at Boogaloo thread on nyhappenings? check it out.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 24 May 2004 16:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah... good shit. Funny that an old school cat like Jolly seems unware of this Brooklyn tradition of "flagrant cocaine use." I'd have liked to have gone, but I'd been up since dawn participating in the annual Earth Celebrations Rites of Spring parade, marching for 8 hours in full-body make-up and dressed in an elaborate "Tree Spirit" costume and was a little knacked out, yo.

― sexyDancer, Monday, 24 May 2004 16:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Joly just forwarded that from a rather square fellow, I assume Joly knows plenty about various types of substance use.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 24 May 2004 17:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I first heard The Fall on that Speed Trials comp (first place I heard Beastie Boys too, I think, unless I had already heard Cookie Puss by then. Could be.) which I bought cuz it had my holy triad of Swans/Sonic Youth/Live Skull on it and The Fall's version of Tempo House on that is really really slow and I remember thinking it sounded really weird. When Cruisers Creek came out and was all over my college radio station I fell in love. And I bought all the Brix-era stuff.(And all the Adult Net singles starting with Edie cuz when I say I'm in love you best believe, etc...) After that, I worked my way backwards.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 24 May 2004 17:10 (twenty-two years ago)

The bass on Live Skull's version of "I Was Wrong" on that Speed Trials thing is still my favorite thing about that album. I think that was the title. It's on their first album. ( I used to have a big crush on Marnie from Live Skull.)

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 24 May 2004 17:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Glad to see another Live Skull fan, I'm more partial to the Thalia Zedek years near the end.

Interesting aside, the Adult Net had a 12" single where they cover White Night by the Lines, a classic forgotten single by a classic forgotten band.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 24 May 2004 17:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I did love Dusted. But then I kinda lost track. I have one of the later Thalia ones that I bought years after the fact, but I never listened to it much. I loved Cloud One and the Pusherman 12 inch a bunch.

Thalia's new album is quite nice.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 24 May 2004 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

pretty instant for me. can't recall if it was grotesque or perverted that i heard first...

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Monday, 24 May 2004 17:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Positraction has some great stuff on it, but 5D off Dusted will always be one of my top songs of all time...with a great video of Mark C. photos I think, I taped it off of 120 Minutes, back in the day, of course.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 24 May 2004 17:47 (twenty-two years ago)

OMG, Speed Trials. I remember that record!! Wow. Haven't thought of that in years.

How's the Lines CD coming Dan?

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 24 May 2004 17:52 (twenty-two years ago)

slowly if at all, but I have high hopes...there's a hold-up with the location of tapes in London.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 24 May 2004 18:10 (twenty-two years ago)

first Fall I heard was "New Big Prinz", the lead-off song on "I Am Kurious Oranj" with the one-note bassline. I heard it and thought "wow, I could play this!" (I was 14) so of course I loved it. Took me awhile to discover the older Fall stuff tho.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 24 May 2004 18:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm sure I've mentioned this before somewhere, but as MES' output grows increasingly erratic-okay, bad, I feel compelled to return to the halcyon days when listening to the Fall over and over and awaiting new Fall was pretty much the only thing that kept me going in crappy-ass South Carolina. Good times. "Are You Are Missing Winner"=bad times

― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Monday, 24 May 2004 18:42 (twenty-two years ago)

The video is available on Atavistic's 12 O'Clock High collection. I think that came out on DVD recently, but could be wrong.

― dlp9001, Monday, 24 May 2004 18:57 (twenty-two years ago)

xpost:
"Ahhhhaaaaaaaaghhhh
Cry for them
5 days per week
I cry for me, three days at least
I cry for me, I cry for thee"

― sexyDancer, Monday, 24 May 2004 18:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I loved The Fall before I'd ever heard any of their songs. MES's interviews and photos in NME convinced me there was no way I wasn't going to like this stuff.
First songs I heard were CREEP and Oh Brother when they came out as singles.

― Joe Kay (feethurt), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:05 (twenty-two years ago)

aroun '94 got Middle Class Revolt first, which is widely considered a low point i guess, but it was enough to get me interested. then found a cassette of Escape Route... for $1, popped it in and thought "Lay of the Land" was the most rocking song I'd ever heard. Went on from there... ups and downs.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow, Joe, convinced by the press! Always a nice happenstance. The press convinced me to buy the first Disco Inferno EP and boy was I happy.

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I liked The Fall immediately, but I think that is because I had the good forture of making the A-Sides record my first Fall listening experience. If I had bought a less solid/pop Fall cd, I think that it would've taken me much longer to get into them.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the first Fall song I heard was "Living Too Late" - skronky time signatures that fell apart, a chorus that features impenetrable howling, no tune to speak of, just that sullen chugging riff. I loved them straight away, obv.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:36 (twenty-two years ago)

"Living Too Late" was one of my early favorites too. Maybe I'm weird, but I think that song is pretty catchy in spite of its strangeness.

― Matthew Perpetua (Matthew Perpetua), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:38 (twenty-two years ago)

i liked the fall right away, but the first album i ever picked up by them was 'the wonderful and frightening world...', which is pretty easy to get into. soon after that i picked up the slates ep, which set off a fall-buying frenzy.

― geeta (geeta), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:39 (twenty-two years ago)

best fall make-out album: 'live at the witch trials' obv

― geeta (geeta), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:39 (twenty-two years ago)

not Totale's Turns?

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh man, I missed the Live Skull discussion! Positraction is better than Dusted! Rich Hutchins was a more rocking drummer than James Lo. I saw them twice in that last year or so. I honestly thought they were the best band on earth at that point.

― Tim Ellison, Monday, 24 May 2004 19:41 (twenty-two years ago)

First song I heard was "Hit the North" when it came out as a single, on a college station in Rochester, NY. I can't remember if it was RIT or U of R. Anyway, I really liked it. In retrospect, they were getting slicker by that point, but MES still struck me as an odd and intriguing singer. I filed the name away and always intended to pick up an album, but I never did.

Then when I got to college 1990-ish, I raided the radio station's Fall lp collection and it's been a love affair ever since. Hex Enduction Hour was the first one I heard all the way through, and it's still my favorite. I think I had actually heard the Dust Devils cover of "Hip Priest" first, which is what led me to HEH...

― Broheems (diamond), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:42 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah that one's pretty hot too. if you're making out in the dark, though, don't play dragnet.

― geeta (geeta), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:43 (twenty-two years ago)

The Frenz Experiment in 1988; morbid love at first sight.

― christoff (christoff), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Ah yes, the Dustdevils cover, forgot about that one, too. No one talks about that band anymore. Not that I was a huge fan, but still, I never see their name mentioned at all anywhere.

Anyone here heard of an EP by an act called Shout Bamalam? When I bought it at the record shop, say '87 or '88 it had writing on it that claimed it had Fall members (from the picture it was pretty hard to tell what the people involved looked like, I think they were standing with their backs to the camera). I never was able to confirm whether this was true, but the record did sound *very* Fall-ish indeed.

This is a really good point. That comp. didn't exist as an option for me when first discovering them, so hey I think it's great if it worked for others and wonder what it might have been like had it been MY first introduction to them.

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 24 May 2004 20:12 (twenty-two years ago)

UBC college radio played the hell out of Oh! Brother, which I immediately loved. Bought single w/ God Box on B-side. Oh! was was easy-access, I admit, but the love grew from there.

― Thea (Thea), Monday, 24 May 2004 20:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree that Positraction is better, but it's the song 5D that does it for me. Positraction picks up the psychedelic tangents of some of Bad Moon/Evol era Sonic Youth, I think.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 24 May 2004 20:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I got 458489Asides in high school and flipped my shit. Then started snapping up everything I could. Owned all actual albums through The Unutterable at one point (plus tons of live and rarities). Now I'm getting rid of all except 12 albums (Though I'm making CD-R comps from all the stuff I'm tossing). Keeping: Witch Trials, Grotesque, Totale's Turns, Early Fall, Slates/A Part Of America Therein, Hex Enduction Hour, Perverted By Language, Hip Priests And Kamerads, Palace Of Swords Reversed, This Nation's Saving Grace, Kurious Oranj, 458489ASides.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 24 May 2004 20:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow, you're not keeping any of the '90s stuff? I love that stuff, Shift Work, Code: Selfish, and Infotainment Scan, particularly. I also like Cerebral Caustic.

― Tim Ellison, Monday, 24 May 2004 20:34 (twenty-two years ago)

woops! I forgot that Shift Work was the one Fall album I could never find. I'm definitely burning tons songs from Code Selfish (esp. "Birmingham School," "Free Range") and Cerebral Caustic (esp. "Don't Call Me Darling," "Life Just Bounces"), but I'm only letting myself keep 20 albums from any particular year and nothing since Oranj qualifies.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 24 May 2004 20:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Fuck completism!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 24 May 2004 20:36 (twenty-two years ago)

The Hank Williams cover on Code: Selfish is one of the most moving things ever by the Fall.

― Tim Ellison, Monday, 24 May 2004 20:41 (twenty-two years ago)

started with 'wonderful and frightening world of' about 3 years ago, which i found rather intriguing, and then recently purchased 'saving grace', which possibly has better songs but i still vastly prefer 'w+f'

― m. (mitchlnw), Monday, 24 May 2004 20:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I always like 'w+f" better, too, actually. 'Saving Grace' is the one that always gets canonized.

― Tim Ellison, Monday, 24 May 2004 20:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Shift-Work was an amazingly underrated album, even by me for quite some time. I still have a cassette of it and have wondered if it's impossible to buy on CD or not.

― Bimble (bimble), Monday, 24 May 2004 21:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Shift-Work and Code: Selfish got reissued last year on a double CD from Voiceprint. When in doubt, go to THE Fall discography of discographies: http://www.visi.com/fall/discography.html

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 24 May 2004 21:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I heard "Cruisers Creek" on the radio, fell for them right away, and the rest is history. They're one of the only bands that I liked at that age (14) that I still have a lot of affection for now.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Monday, 24 May 2004 21:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Seems to me my first experience hearing the band (I'd read aboot them previously) was the video for "Eat Yourself Fitter". I remember liking it enough, but it would be years until I actually owned anything by them.

The bass on Live Skull's version of "I Was Wrong" on that Speed Trials thing is still my favorite thing about that album.

Is this on the first side of the album? If so, I always skip it. I only listened to it once, but I remember thinking it wasn't anywhere near as good as the two Fall tracks, the Beastie Boys or Sonic Youth songs on that side (I don't think I've ever made it through the second side of the album; it lives up to the Trial aspect of its title). Maybe I'll go pull it out to hear the bass part.

― Vic Funk, Monday, 24 May 2004 22:32 (twenty-two years ago)

IMMEDIATE LOVE.

― mullygrubber (gaz), Monday, 24 May 2004 22:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I find it interesting that "Cruiser's Creek" has been mentioned a few times as a starter - that's the one that converted me as well.

― Bimble (bimble), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 02:51 (twenty-two years ago)

They've just never hit with me. I do feel quite guilty about it.

― Layna Andersen (Layna Andersen), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 03:08 (twenty-two years ago)

first heard some dudes playing the likes of LA and Damo Suzuki and loved it, but when i hired out a bunch of cds from the library (which only seems to stock their awful early 90s albums..) i was a bit let down. when i became a vinyl junkie and got hold of 'this Nations Saving Grace' and Hex Education, though - i was hooked

― chris andrews (fraew), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 03:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Bought "Frenz" when it was new, hated it. Waited years before buying "Witch Trials" and liked it a lot. Then "Hex Enduction" which I liked even more. "This Nation's Saving Grace" is next.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 05:42 (twenty-two years ago)

You're not keeping Bend Sinister, Anthony? For me it's the last greatFall album, the other 3 being Hex Enduction, Wonderful & Frightening World & Saving Grace. These seem to be the most cohesive as full albums, irrespective of the fact that everything else the band has done has been solid genius.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 07:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I heared "Fiery Jack" on John Peel (The live Totalle's Turn version), while taping it. I didn't like it straightaway, but on repeated playing the tape, I found myself looking forward to it.

"Hip Priest" took a long time, I didn't know it was the fall then, as I'd tune it out when it was on the radio. When I got "Hip priest and Kamerads" I liked it then, and hearing it properly was fairly important...

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 08:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't believe it took this long for someone to use the word "overrated" in a post on this thread. You're welcome.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Wednesday, 26 May 2004 00:26 (twenty-two years ago)

neh neh nyeh

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 26 May 2004 00:46 (twenty-two years ago)

"overrated"

Maybe by people who own twenty live Fall albums or something. Not by those who just like all their great albums, of which there are probably about fifteen at least.

― Tim Ellison, Wednesday, 26 May 2004 02:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, now that I count it, I'll say closer to ten, but with another handful of really good ones.

― Tim Ellison, Wednesday, 26 May 2004 03:10 (twenty-two years ago)

It's taken some time and I've probably only heard some six or ten songs thus far. Anybody want to mail me a POX?

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 26 May 2004 03:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't believe it took this long for someone to use the word "overrated" in a post on this thread. You're welcome.

Hey, that's mean of you to talk about Nellie McKay that way. *flees Matos's wrath*

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 26 May 2004 04:24 (twenty-two years ago)

haha Ned if my wrath were based on differing tastes you and I would never, ever, ever speak

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Wednesday, 26 May 2004 04:57 (twenty-two years ago)

And instead WE THRIVE. Woo!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 26 May 2004 04:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I bought 458489 A Sides in 9th grade and loved it INSTANTLY.

ha same for me but in my case it's true!!

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 26 May 2004 05:35 (twenty-two years ago)

funny enough, it took about four years for me to buy another fall cd

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 26 May 2004 05:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I assume Joly knows plenty about various types of substance use.

I assume you've never met Joly!

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 27 May 2004 14:43 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

Bought "Its the new thing" for 4 quid for the cover. Loved it immediately. Went out and bought Dragnet, Witch Trials and bend sinister the next day. Turned my world around! Not sure if it was the first time I'd heard them and I'd certainly heard the name but this was the first time they registered...

I owned the whole back catalogue within about 2 months.

Still play them pretty much every day, 15 years on and nothing has ever blown my mind in the same way although I'm always hoping.

The band I was in at the time suddenly seemed pretty pointless.

― ant, Tuesday, 11 April 2006 08:56 (twenty years ago)

Instant love, from the first time I heard the keyboard break on "Bingo Master's Breakout".

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 10:08 (twenty years ago)

first memory of hearing the fall was under the covers with my transistor radio aged 13 - Mother Sister and No Xmas for John Quays. Both songs stuck in my memory, but I was hearing so much weird stuff then it kind of got lost. Anyway I thought Peel called them 'The Four'. Then a couple of years later when Grotesque came out he played New Face in Hell. What. The. Fuck. Was. That?! My friends and I talked about nothing else in the playground all week. It was fascination more than 'like' at that stage. 'Like' was maybe how you reacted to the songs from Grease or Saturday Night Fever, this was so totally alien it was inevitably obsessional material for the teenage mind. had I heard them later in life I don't know if it would have been the same.

― dr x o'skeleton, Tuesday, 11 April 2006 10:10 (twenty years ago)

Took a bit of time, but then it all of a sudden clicked and I fell in love with them.

― Harpal (harpal), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 17:22 (twenty years ago)

it took me like 10 years to like the fall.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 17:40 (twenty years ago)

immediately!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 17:45 (twenty years ago)

(although i didn't actually get around to getting any of their records until like six years later)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 17:45 (twenty years ago)

this cool panda dude in my dorm got ahold of me while i was tripping, locked me in my teeny tiny single room and bombarded me with teh fall--with whom i was then unfamiliar--for four hours.

for the next week and then some, i hated this man, and mark e'smith, more than anything.

then the virus took, and all these annoying repetitive songs i'd had in my head for three days three months suddenly sounded great. pretty much hooked after that.

― literalisp (literalisp), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 23:09 (twenty years ago)

I heard "Living Too Late" on Peel. It was soundtrack of my life. Everything went clickerty click.

― Dogfight Giggle (noodle vague), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 23:14 (twenty years ago)

I loved Cruisers Creek immediately when I saw it on MTV, and sought out the Wonderful and Frightening World/Nations Saving Grace albums. Then from there to Dragnet and Bend Sinister, no problem.

Then I tried Grotesque and it took me about a month to appreciate. But it became my favorite once I finally got it.

― Brian Good, Tuesday, 11 April 2006 23:45 (twenty years ago)

what if after some time and many listenings, i still don't like the Fall?

― trees (treesessplode), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 23:50 (twenty years ago)

Loved 'My New House' and 'Spoilt Victorian Child' on first listen. Loved everything else since - even 'Fireworks'.

― dave $1.83 (dave225.3), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 23:52 (twenty years ago)

what if after some time and many listenings, i still don't like the Fall?

Then, as has been established on many many many threads, you are insane. Or, alternatively, sane. There is some dispute among authorities on this minor point.

― The Vintner's Lipogram (OleM), Tuesday, 11 April 2006 23:53 (twenty years ago)

I immediately loved The Fall after buying the A Sides album in 11th grade. I don't like all Fall songs, but I love quite a few from throughout their catalog.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 00:09 (twenty years ago)

Instant love from the time I heard the then-current "Man Whose Head Expanded" on the radio. First album I heard was Wonderful And Frightening and although I didn't really like "Lay Of The Land" at first, I immediately took to the rest of the album. It's pretty much been total obsession since then, although I draw the line at those Receiver CD's.

― sleeve (sleeve), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 00:15 (twenty years ago)

i liked them ok, but for a long time all i knew of them was Bingo Master from an early 90's Rhino punk/post-punk comp. i got hooked when i heard more of 'em. and once you get into the fall its hard to get out!

― latebloomer: filled with vanilla pudding power! (latebloomer), Wednesday, 12 April 2006 00:22 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

Heh. The first Fall song that I listened to was 'Repetition', on '50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong'. To be honest, I was ****-scared, because I'd heard so much about how awesome and uber MES is. Now? I love 'em. I'm planning on buying 'Hex Enduction Hour' and 'This Nation's Saving Grace'.

― GLC (ZakAce), Monday, 28 August 2006 07:25 (nineteen years ago)

What kind of scared? You can curse here.

― Marmot (marmotwolof), Monday, 28 August 2006 07:41 (nineteen years ago)

FOUR STAR SCARED

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Monday, 28 August 2006 09:35 (nineteen years ago)

working in a record store in 79 I heard Live at the Witch Trials and really didn't know what to make of it. seemed even more crude & radical than No New York.

bought the 45 of "Totally Wired" around 1982 and became a true believer. at the risk of being insufferable (as if I'm not) let me mention that I attended the "Speed Trials" gig mentioned upthread. all I remember is The Fall had two drummers and seemed more conventional than Sonic Youth who were way into their "hardcore" phase then w/Thurston dropping gtr and writhing like Iggy.

couple years later w/Brix the Fall slayed at Irving Plaza.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Monday, 28 August 2006 09:45 (nineteen years ago)

Got Infotainment Scan when it came out, liked it okay but not life-changing. Got 458489 A Sides about five years later, still didn't really "get" them. Then I got This Nation's Saving Grace about five years ago and it all clicked into place.

― Danny Aioli (Rock Hardy), Monday, 28 August 2006 13:19 (nineteen years ago)

I bought "The Collection" and I didn't like "Fiery Jack" so much. But then i kept listening till i got to "Cary Grant's wedding" and became a fan... almost instantly. A few months later i got "The Marshall Suit" and by then i knew that The Fall was really something unique.

― adrián ruiz (sagan), Monday, 28 August 2006 23:30 (nineteen years ago)

it's the sound of the voice more than the tone, it just grates. I find i strain against the "workman-like as a virtue" quality of the voice.

that is i try to like it despite the unlistenable and hard to hear sound of MES voice.

i often wonder how many fall fans put up with the voice because they like the words, the songs, everything else about the fall ?

hey, if MES bothered to make it slightly pleasant to hear him, wonder how popular they'd be,..

is it just me ? can anyone think that MES could sound better w/out concessions against authenticity ?

― george gosset (gegoss), Monday, 28 August 2006 23:38 (nineteen years ago)

Like Dylan, you come to value the viewpoint of Mark E. Smith as being rare more than other things, and you accept all idiosyncrasies as evidence of his character. His genuine love of music comes through in his band choices, and does his righteous hatred of trend.

― Alicia Titsovich (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 00:16 (nineteen years ago)

I see "Are you are missing winner" is out as a deluxe edition. Go figure.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 09:15 (nineteen years ago)

I like Are You Are Missing Winner! Somebody else must too I guess.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 10:13 (nineteen years ago)

Liked them immediately - "Bremen Nacht" and "Guest Informant" on the Festive Fifty were my first exposures (still two of my favourite Fall tracks). Newfound liking sorely tested by the first albums I bought being I Am Kurious Oranj and Seminal:Live.

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 10:22 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't like Kurious Oranj much either - the first Fall album I got into was Perverted By Language which I bought at a record fair cos it was cheap. It was the mid-90s Castle version with the singles at the beginning - I was hooked by "Wings". Then I got Kurious Oranj and it put me off buying any more Fall albums without hearing them first!

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 11:06 (nineteen years ago)

heard Live at the Witch Trials on the radio first. Liked the voice, didn't think much of the music. Some years later, heard a friends copy of This Nation's Saving Grace and have never looked back. For fear of turning into a pillar of salt-ah.

― pauls00 (pauls00), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

I see "Are you are missing winner" is out as a deluxe edition. Go figure.

Makes about as much sense as anything these days with "the Fall."

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 14:50 (nineteen years ago)

Funny story actually. I panned "Grotesque" in my review in Op Magazine (look it it up if you're under 40) as second or third tier wannabes. Clueless fucker was I. Got an irate call from Steve Montgomery (woah... sez here he managed Prag Vec!) @ Rough Trade US literally screaming at me and spitting mad.

Sometime later I heard "How I wrote Elastic Man" on Wanna Buy A Bridge, and I was converted. Still love the Step Forward singles best.

― factcheckr (factcheckr), Tuesday, 29 August 2006 17:03 (nineteen years ago)

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