The day late Fall singer Mark E Smith compared Doncaster to Communist East Germany

He was the frontman and lead singer of Manchester post-punk band The Fall - and Mark E Smith, who died last week, was never afraid of sharing his controversial views.
By The Newsroom
Published 30th Jan 2018, 12:19 GMT
Updated 30th Jan 2018, 13:25 GMT
Mark E Smith, who died last week at the age of 60.Mark E Smith, who died last week at the age of 60.
Mark E Smith, who died last week at the age of 60.

The singer's death at the age of 60 has been mourned by music fans - and it has also brought back to the fore one of his most infamous quotes in a look back at some of his more famed moments of wit and wisdom.

And it doesn't make good reading for Doncaster folk.

For one of his outspoken remarks saw him comparing the town to Communist East Germany.

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Being quizzed on the politics of the day by a music interviewer back in the 1980s, he replied: "Nuking Russia might not be a bad idea as far as the bleedin’ world is concerned.

"They’ve plunged a lot of people into miserable lives.

"You’ve only got to be in East Germany to see it. It’s a horrible way to live. It’s like Doncaster."

Whether the band played here for Smith to come up with his viewpoint remains unclear - although the Outlook club and Rotters in Silver Street were both popular haunts for the post punk and new wave scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Famously curmudgeonly and cantankerous and responsible for firing a string of musicians from The Fall, he has been cited as a great British eccentric as well as a talented wordsmith.

His lyrics were often composed in a clipped and abbreviated style and delivered in a trademark slurred, drawl.