Q – Have you ever made disparaging remarks about an act only to then be confronted by the disgruntled subject of your ire?
A – I was sure I’d already answered this but I can’t find it anywhere… Very early, maybe just before or after Rattlesnakes was released I repeatedly used Walls Come Tumbling Down by the Style Council in interviews as an example of rotten songwriting. The SC were also on Polydor and Weller was probably still Polydor’s biggest star. We met in a stairwell of the Polydor building (really!).
He opened with ‘Here, Lloyd, what’s all this about you slagging off my song?’ I replied that I thought it was crap and then probably mumbled something about thinking Long Hot Summer was great, though…
He countered with ‘Forest Fire ain’t changing nothing, is it?’
I said something to the effect that I wasn’t interesting in changing the world.
He paused and then said ‘So, you really said that stuff?’
‘Yes’
‘Oh, well that’s all right then. Everyone else always lies and says they were misquoted.’ And with that he was off.
Mark E. Smith spent much of 1985 using me as the poster child for all he hated in music, even giving me a mention in on of The Fall’s songs (great honour!). I ran in to him years later at a radio station and he was all ‘How are you doing, mate?’ which I found amusing. In retrospect he probably didn’t even remember 1985. For better or worse, I did.