An A-Z of The Fall - N & O
N is for...
Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) is perhaps best known for his 1955 novel Lolita. He also wrote Bend Sinister (1947), a dystopian novel in which the hero is persecuted by the totalitarian government of the ‘Party of the Average Man’.
Nadsat
Speaking of dystopian novels, Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange (1962) features an Anglo-Russian argot called Nadsat. 'Yarbles' (as in 'To Nkroachment: Yarbles' - also the title of a 2014 live album) is Nadsat for 'testicles'.
Prior to joining The Fall, Brix played bass in a band called Banda Dratsing (Claus Castenskiold, who provided the sleeve art for Perverted By Language / Wonderful and Frightening was the drummer). 'Hotel Blöedel' and 'God-Box' were both based on old Banda Dratsing tunes (‘One More Time For The Record’ and '‘Can’t Stop The Flooding’). Banda Dratsing is also Nadsat, meaning 'fighting band'.
Napoleon
When Pamela Vander announced on Instagram that the 30 November 2017 date at London’s KOKO would not go ahead because of Smith's poor health, she included a message from MES himself, which concluded with ‘I love you all but cannot embrace you all, Mark E. Smith’.
Smith had used this line before – for example when uncharacteristically interacting with the crowd at the Grand in Clitheroe in April 2013, and also in an article for The Quietus in 2008:
I LOVE YOU ALL, MEIN COMRADES, But I cannot embrace you all-because, in the main, I have pulled out the lap-top lead to use as a handy throttling device for mediaists, activists, groupies and Alan Wise.
This phrase has been attributed – albeit with some uncertainty - to Napoleon, and it features in the 1970 film Waterloo.
Smith also mentioned Napoleon in a Q&A for The Guardian in 2001:
In 1992, MES appeared on Mark Goodier's Evening Session, participating in the 'Personal Stereo' feature. One of his choices was ‘They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!’, a 1966 novelty hit for Napoleon XIV, pseudonym of American song-writer and producer Jerrold Samuels. Arguably, you can hear the track's influence on 'Black Roof'.
Nazis
As well as the obvious link (see also H for Heck Cattle), there are a few other Nazi connections in The Fall's history.
The video for 'High Tension Line' featured Smith in an SS uniform, albeit with the insignia covered up. Not entirely helpfully, MES explained: ‘I made everyone cover up the SS symbols and swastikas. I’m very anti-Nazi, actually. What they did was criminal. They put German art back about one hundred years.’
Smith’s explanation of The Twenty-Seven Points' title was that ‘the 27 points are what the Nazis brought in to take away everybody’s freedom in Germany. And they’re all contradictory points as well. Very similar to our government now. You can drive, but you can’t own a car. Things like that. You can read books, but we’re going to burn them all.’ However, this was one of those examples of Smith mixing up his history, as the plan drawn up by Hitler and Anton Drexler in 1920 had 25 points.
And of course, there's this:
Neighbours
It has been suggested that 'Susan vs. Youthclub' was at least partly inspired by a 2002 episode of the long-running Aussie soap.
Neocatechumenal Way
Dannyno's epic search for the source of the Pete Tong magazine article section of 'Dr Bucks Letter' (see 'Hot Line' in H) is perhaps his most famous bit of detective work. However, his tracking down of the reference to obscure Catholic organisation the Neocatechumenal Way in 'Hostile' is equally impressive.
Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room
One of Smith's many Twilight Zone references, 'Paranoia Man In Cheap Sh*t Room' was probably inspired by 1960 episode Nervous Man in a 4 Dollar Room, which concerned a small-time crook who gets embroiled in an argument with his own reflection in a hotel mirror.
Newsnight
Following John Peel's death in October 2004, MES appeared on BBC's Newsnight alongside Michael Bradley of The Undertones. Smith was a little acerbic in places (‘Am I allowed to speak now?’) and some thought he was rather dismissive of his group’s greatest champion (‘we never were friends or anything like that’), but he was warmer about Peel than the interview’s reputation suggests. MES admitted in retrospect that he ‘probably looked mad’ in the interview but claimed this was because he couldn’t hear himself properly.
Nicky
Several of The Fall's 2008 shows began with a roadie called Nicky reading out some text written by MES which preceded 'Is This New'. It varied slightly as the tour went on, but were all close to this version, from Leeds University, 20 March:
‘Hideous, hideous, evil album. You will try and remember songs and you can't. You strain. Then an inside flash, they come in one-third seconds that will not set your mind free. I can turn on the TV to see something moving down, down into the long days of your self-semi-educated childhood. I can turn on the TV to see something moving down into the giving green sun. Etcetera! Etcetera! Etcetera! Extra! Extra! Extra! This is your worst, terrifying gig. Gig! I am the impressario of The Fall and the so-called compere grand. I, Wise Alan!’
Nicky also took over vocal duties on 'Tommy Shooter' and 'Exploding Chimney' on a few occasions.
Norwich
According to Steve Hanley, Smith's dislike of Alan Partridge's home town was the inspiration behind 'Hit The North':
'On the way back from playing there, Mark said, "I don't like it round here! It's too flat. I can't wait until we hit the North."'
O is for...
Octopad
The Fall’s May 1993 UK tour saw the third return of Karl Burns - unsurprisingly, Simon Wolstencroft was less than impressed (‘I didn’t like the sound of this at all’). Burns had been hired to provide ‘percussion’ on the tour, rather than as an extra drummer, and (at first at least) was relegated to playing an electronic percussion device called an Octopad, which he described as ‘a f*cking Dalek’s handbag’. Steve Hanley was not convinced that this added a great deal to the group’s sound, describing the new percussionist’s contributions as ‘a range of electronic drum sounds a clockwork monkey could produce’.
Open University
Another example of dannyno’s indefatigable research is his identification of the TV programme that was playing in the background when MES accidentally sat on a Dictaphone whilst listening to 'Paintwork'. It was How do Red Giants Make Carbon?, part of the Open University Matter in the Universe course which ran from 1985-1992.
The Other Half
'Mr Pharmacist' was by some distance The Fall’s most often played song (around 400 performances between 1986 and 2017). It’s a cover of late-60s Californian garage-rock band The Other Half’s 1966 single which featured on one of the Nuggets compilations.
Ozit
Record label owned by Chris Hewitt, one of the organisers of the Deeply Vale festivals. Responsible for many of the shoddier Fall live releases, the nadir of which is possibly Mark's Personal Holiday Tony Tapes.
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