Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith - Softcover

Smith, Mark E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141028661 ISBN 13: 9780141028668

Publisher: Penguin, 2009

Synopsis

The only way to appreciate the legendary Mark E Smith is to encounter the man in his own words.

'Ranting, raging, burning...relentlessly splenetic, a long and sustained rant... may also be the funniest music book ever written' - Observer

'Unutterably funny... a riot of aimings and blamings and score-settlings. Smith manages to have a right laff, and reveal himself as a figure of dazzling sociological import' - Independent on Sunday

The Fall are one of the most distinctive British bands ever, their music - odd, spare, cranky and repetitious - an acknowledged influence on The Smiths, The Happy Mondays, Nirvana and Franz Ferdinand. And Mark E. Smith IS The Fall - 66 members came and went over the years yet he remained its charismatic leader until his death in 2018.

'If it's me and yer granny on bongos, it's The Fall.' - Mark E. Smith

Mark was a professional outsider and all-round enemy of compromise, a true enigma. There have been a number of biographies of the legendary Smith, but this is the first time he opened up in a full autobiography. For the first time we hear his full, candid take on the ups and downs of a band as notorious for its in-house fighting as for its great music; and on a life that endured prison in America, drugs, bankruptcy, divorce, and the often bleak results of a legendary thirst.

'Remarkable, brilliant. A provocative joy. Smith's rant gushes like a furious fountain of razor-sharp invective over his childhood and the early days of The Fall, relationships/ marriage, the record industry/ musicians and his views on everything from football to mobile phones, from drinking and drugs to driving, from books to bankruptcy, from Paul Morley to pubs. Unbeatable' - Time Out

'Engrossing, exhausting, dense with fascinating detail. As both memoir and cultural history, Renegade is a remarkable achievement' - Daily Telegraph

About this title

Review:

Ranting, raging, burning...relentlessly splenetic, a long and sustained rant...may also be the funniest music book ever written (Observer)

Unutterably funny...a riot of aimings and blamings and score-settlings. Smith manages to have a right laff, and reveal himself as a figure of dazzling sociological import (Independent on Sunday)

Remarkable, brilliant. A provocative joy. Smith's rant gushes like a furious fountain of razor-sharp invective over his childhood and the early days of The Fall, relationships/ marriage, the record industry/ musicians and his views on everything from football to mobile phones, from drinking and drugs to driving, from books to bankruptcy, from Paul Morley to pubs. Unbeatable' Time Out

Engrossing, exhausting, dense with fascinating detail. As both memoir and cultural history, Renegade is a remarkable achievement (Daily Telegraph)

A hoot (Hot Press)

Stuffed with crazy wisdom (London Lite)

Hilarious (Scotland on Sunday)

A wide-ranging, eccentric set of fugitive opinions, a smart marshalling of numerous rambling pub conversations (The Times Literary Supplement)

Vicious, funny, always contrarian (Daily Telegraph)

Smith's about as reliable a narrator as the members of Motley Crue were in their depraved memoir The Dirt. And just as entertaining. Delving into Renegade is like listening to Smith hold court down the pub...it contains far too many astute, poetic observations to be dismissed as colourful ramblings from a committed curmudgeon (Scotsman)

From the Back Cover:

'I've hung on in there this long, so why fuck off now?
That's all part of who The Fall are anyway:
the persistent effort that goes into it, the coping, the getting by, and the times when the group's tiptop and you go and have a drink . . .'

'Ranting, raging, burning . . . relentlessly splenetic, a long and sustained rant . . . may also be the funniest music book ever written' Observer

'Unutterably funny . . . a riot of aimings and blamings and score-settlings. Smith manages to have a right laff, and reveal himself as a figure of dazzling sociological import' Independent on Sunday

'Remarkable, brilliant. A provocative joy. Smith's rant gushes like a furious fountain of razor-sharp invective over his childhood and the early days of The Fall, relationships/marriage, the record industry/musicians and his views on everything from football to mobile phones, from drinking and drugs to driving, from books to bankruptcy, from Paul Morley to pubs. Unbeatable' Time Out

'Engrossing, exhausting, dense with fascinating detail. As both memoir and cultural history, Renegade is a remarkable achievement' Daily Telegraph

'Disturbingly revealing . . a razor-tongued rant and terrific comic monologue' Simon Armitage

'Smith's about as reliable a narrator as the members of Motley Crue were in their depraved memoir The Dirt. And just as entertaining' Scotsman

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0141028661
• ISBN 13: 9780141028668
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256