Mark E. Smith

Mark Edward Smith (born 5 March 1957) is the lead singer, lyricist, frontman, and only constant member of the English post-punk group The Fall. Alongside his work with the Fall, Smith has written a play called Hey, Luciani in 1986 and music for a Michael Clarke Dance Company ballet in 1988 called I Am Curious, Orange. Apart from that, Smith has released two spoken-word solo albums, The Post-Nearly Man (1998) and ''Pander! Panda! Panzer!'' (2002). Smith has also appeared as a guest vocalist for the likes of Edwyn Collins, Elastica, Gorillaz, Long Fin Killie, Mouse on Mars, Coldcut, Ghostigital and finally the Inspiral Carpets, who he collaborated with their 1994 UK Top 20 hit called I Want You  Most recently, Smith has worked with Mouse on Mars on the collaboration project Von Südenfed, whose first album, Tromatic Reflexxions, was released on 21 May 2007. Smith more recently provided guest vocals on the Gorillaz album Plastic Beach, on the song "Glitter Freeze", and joined the group Shuttleworth to record the World Cup song England's Heartbeat.

Links To Peel
As a fan of The Fall and Mark E Smith, Peel regularly played his music and collaborations. However Mark E Smith was also critcal of Peel, when interviewed for Loaded magazine in 1997. Peel responded in a generous manner on his show on 27 November 1997 (BFBS):


 * 'If you ever get to see the laddish magazine 'Loaded', there was an interview in a recent issue with Mark E. Smith out of the Fall, and in the course of it, already trying to pick a fight with the interviewer and stub a cigarette out in his face, and also bumped into members of Ash and claimed, most aggressively actually, that he'd started their career off. They did challenge him on this, but in the course of the interview, he also said something along the lines of, I was the worst DJ in the world, even worse than Tony Blackburn, which I thought was a bit hard, and one or two other things besides which I probably shouldn't say on this programme. But a hostile opinion of me, I have to say, but nevertheless, bearing in mind that he's not in perfect working order at the moment, and the band have given me intense pleasure over the years, I still love 'em madly.

After Peel's death, Smith was invited on BBC's Newsnight to talk about the death of Peel, where he complemented John Peel and John Walters. However critics did question his behaviour, especially his unusual facial expressions being made on the programme. 

Festive Fifty Entries

 * 1994 Festive Fifty: I Want You #01 (with the Inspiral Carpets)
 * 1995 Festive Fifty: Plug Myself In #44 (with D.O.S.E.)
 * 1995 Festive Fifty: Heads Of Dead Surfers #10 (with Long Fin Killie)
 * 1999 Festive Fifty: How He Wrote Elastica Man #06 (with Elastica)

Peelenium

 * Peelenium 1994: I Want You (with the Inspiral Carpets)
 * Peelenium 1995: Heads Of Dead Surfers (with Long Fin Killie)

Other Shows Played
(The list below was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive. Please add further information if known.)

1990 1994 1995 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002 Others
 * 16 December 1990: 'Theme From Error-Orrori (Compilation LP-Home)' (Sheer Joy) (credited to all members of the Fall in discogs.com)
 * 21 January 1994: I Want You (CD single) Mute
 * 22 January 1994 (BFBS): I Want You (tape preview) (JP before track: "Now this next one, well, it's for all of you, dear listeners. And what it is, I was given a tape, of this unexpected collaboration between two Manchester area bands. Or one band and one other artiste. And I was given it on condition I didn't play it on British radio for several weeks. And I said, yes I'm quite happy to do that. But I didn't say anything about not playing it on BFBS. So this is a kind of preview I suppose.. It won't take you to long I suspect, to identify the protagonists...")
 * January 1994 (5) (BBC World Service): I Want You (CD single) Mute
 * 29 January 1994: I Want You (CD single) Mute
 * 04 February 1994: I Want You (single) Mute
 * 05 February 1994 (BFBS): I Want You (CD single) Mute
 * February 1994 (1) (BBC World Service): I Want You (CD single) Mute
 * 12 February 1994: I Want You (CD single) Mute
 * February 1994 (2) (BBC World Service): I Want You (CD single) Mute
 * 23 December 1994: I Want You (CD single) Mute FF#1
 * Peel Early 1994:I Want You (12") Mute (JP - 'come on record of the 90s of course it is!') 
 * 14 April 1995: (JP: "You probably read in the papers about the track Long Finn Killie recorded with Mark E Smith. I've had a cassette of it in the front of my car for three or four weeks now and I'm fed up with not being able to play it on the radio, so from the cassette here it is. I think it's pretty neat of course, but then Mark E Smith reading the telephone directory would go down a storm with me.") Heads of Dead Surfers (single) (Too Pure)
 * 09 September 1995 (BFBS): 'Theme From Error-Orrori (Compilation CD-Home)' (Sheer Joy)
 * 17 November 1995: 'Plug Myself In (CDS)' (Coliseum Recordings)
 * 01 December 1995: 'Plug Myself In (CDS-Plug Myself In (The Spoonful Of Sugar Mixes))' (Coliseum Recordings)
 * 05 December 1995 (Radio Mafia): Plug Myself In (The Nero Mix)  (7", Coliseum)
 * 29 December 1995: 'Plug Myself In-Nero Mix (7 inch)' (Coliseum/PWL International) FF #44
 * 30 December 1995: 'Heads Of Dead Surfers (7 inch)' (Too Pure) (JP: 'Could Mark E. Smith be the first person to appear in the Festive Fifty in three different ensembles?')
 * 30 December 1995 (BFBS): 'Heads Of Dead Surfers (CD-Houdini)' (Too Pure) FF #10
 * 16 February 1996: ‘Plug Myself In [Intensive Care Mix] (12 inch )’ Coliseum Records
 * 25 February 1996 (BFBS): 'Plug Myself In (2Pointblanc - Intensive Care Mix) (12"-The Stomach Pump Mixes)' (Coliseum Recordings)
 * 16 September 1998: I Want You (CD Single) Mute
 * 14 January 1999: Inch (12") Regal REG 27
 * 28 January 1999: Inch (12" -Val Hooligan Mix) (single) (Regal)
 * 03 February 1999: 'Inch (Dose Remix)' (EP 'Inch') Regal
 * 08 July 1999: How He Wrote Elastica Man (6 Track EP) Deceptive Bluff
 * 14 July 1999: How He Wrote Elastica Man (6 Track EP) Deceptive Bluff
 * 21 July 1999: How He Wrote Elastica Man (6 Track EP) Deceptive Bluff
 * 28 July 1999: How He Wrote Elastica Man (6 Track EP) Deceptive Bluff
 * 03 August 1999: 'KB (6-Track EP)' (Deceptive)
 * 26 August 1999: (JP: "This is Elastica...with him.") How He Wrote Elastica Man (6 Track EP) Deceptive Bluff
 * 31 August 1999: I Want You
 * 27 December 1999 (BFBS): How He Wrote Elastica Man (6 Track EP) Deceptive Bluff
 * 29 December 1999: How He Wrote Elastica Man (6 Track EP) Deceptive Bluff FF #06
 * 06 January 2000: I Want You (7 inch)' (Cow/Mute)  Peelenium 1994
 * 11 January 2000: 'Heads Of Dead Surfers (7 inch)' (Too Pure) Peelenium 1995
 * 29 November 2000: Fistful of Credits (7") Switchflicker
 * 15 October 2002: 'PPP / Sport Duet (LP - Pander! Panda! Panzer!)' (Action)
 * 16 October 2002: Lakeland Opus 1 (LP - Pander! Panda! Panzer!) Action
 * 17 October 2002: 'Enigmatic Dream (Pander! Panda! Panzer!)' (Action)
 * 22 October 2002: 'Idiot Joy Showland (LP - Pander! Panda! Panzer!)' (Action)
 * 23 October 2002: 'Appraisal Skill (LP - Pander! Panda Panzer)' (Action)
 * 20 November 2002: 'PPP (LP- Pander Panda Panzer!)' (White Label)
 * 26 November 2002: 'Pander Panda Panzer (LP - Pander! Panda! Panzer!)' (Action)
 * 05 December 2002: 'Who Are You And How Did We Get Here? (LP - Pander Panda Panzer)' (Action)
 * The Wonderful and Frightening World of Mark E. Smith
 * Best Of Peel Vol 18: 'Theme From Error-Orrori (Compilation LP-Home)' (Sheer Joy) (credited to all members of the Fall in discogs.com)