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

Smith, Mark E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670916749 ISBN 13: 9780670916740

Publisher: Viking, 2008

Synopsis

Reams of stuff have been written about me in the past, but never in my own words: this is the proper one’ Mark E. Smith

Still going after thirty years, The Fall are one of the most distinctive British bands, their music ― odd, spare, cranky and circular ― an acknowledged influence on The Smiths, The Happy Mondays, Nirvana and Franz Ferdinand. And Mark E. Smith IS The Fall. For the first time we get to 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 has endured prison in America, drugs, bankruptcy, divorce and the often bleak results of a legendary thirst.

About this title

Review:

'Possibly the funniest music book ever written'
-- Andrew O'Hagan, The Observer

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: Viking
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0670916749
• ISBN 13: 9780670916740
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256