This volume offers a comprehensive range of approaches to the work of Mark E. Smith and his band The Fall in relation to music, art and politics. Mark E. Smith remains one of the most divisive and idiosyncratic figures in popular music after a recording career with The Fall that spans thirty years.

Contents: Introduction: 'messing up the paintwork', Michael Goddard and Benjamin Halligan; Part I The Fall and 'The North': Building up a band: music for a second city, Richard Witts; The Fall: a Manchester band?, Katie Hannon; Salford drift: a psychogeography of The Fall, Mark Goodall. Part II Techniques and Tactics of The Fall: 'Rebellious jukebox': The Fall and the war against conformity, Andy Wood; 'I curse your preoccupation with your record collection': The Fall on vinyl 1978-83, Richard Osborne; 'Dictaphonics': acoustics and primitive recording in the music of The Fall, Robert Walker; 'Let me tell you about scientific management': The Fall, the factory and the disciplined worker, Owen Hatherley. Part III The Aesthetics of The Fall: 'Memorex for the krakens': The Fall's pulp modernism, Mark Fisher; Language scraps: Mark E. Smith's handwriting and the typography of The Fall, Paul Wilson; 'Humbled on Iceland': on improvisation during The Fall, Robin Purves; The Fall, Mark E. Smith and 'the stranger': ambiguity, objectivity and the transformative power of a band from elsewhere, Martin Myers. Part IV The Fall, the Media and Cultural politics: 'The sound of The Fall, the truth of this movement of error': a true companion, an ambivalent friendship, an ethic of truths, Angus McDonald; 'I think it's over now': The Fall, John Peel, popular music and radio, Paul Long; In search of cultural politics in a Fall fanzine, Chris Atton; 'As if we didn't know who he was': Mark E. Smith's untimeliness, Janice Kearns and Dean Lockwood; Bibliography; Select discography of The Fall; Index.