Ninety-Five Percent

The Fall “Y.F.O.C./Slippy Floor”

It can seem like Mark E. Smith has the best gig in all of rock music. He hires musicians, pushes them to come up with suitably sinister grooves, he shows up to rant and growl. When he gets bored of the musicians, he fires them and brings on a new set of players. Over and over and over again, for decades on end. Unlike most rock singers, his shtick is not diminished by age. In fact, he’s only just becoming the angry, inscrutable old man he’s always been. He’s got a great thing going, but it is entirely because he created the perfect vehicle for his distinct voice and highly specific talent. No one else could just turn up on a track like this and utter nonsense and be anywhere near as compelling. Who else could make complaining about a SLIPPY FLOOR-ah! sound so brilliant over some violent punk thrashing? He’s a treasure. If only we could all find a way to ideally package our most extreme eccentricities.

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