The War Against Intelligence

Robert, comment #2.

Careful, it's not "Smith's explanation", bullshit or not.

Neither the BBC list nor "controversy" is cited by Smith as reasons for the album title change. Simon Ford is the one who mentions controversy when writing about the title change, not MES.

The BBC list of songs requiring "sensitivity" (it was a note for DJs rather than a formal banned list, in fact) is important for general context, I suppose, but I have a few other observations.

The Gulf War ended in February 1991. Shift-Work was released in April 1991.

The existence of a BBC advisory note urging sensitivity about certain songs was revealed in the Sunday Times on 20 January 1991, and Johnny Beerling - then controller of BBC Radio 1 - was quoted in the Sunday Times of 17 February 1991 justifying the censorship of the Rolling Stones' "High Wire".

Note that the list itself was not published in full until New Statesman & Society revealed it in April. Here's the citation: Caspar Henderson, "The Filtered War". New Statesman & Society, 5 April 1991, vol 4 (145), Banned: Censorship Special supplement, p.16.

Nevertheless, MES would likely have known about the BBC "sensitivity" advice, and in good time for decision making about the album.

Presumably he was finalising both the album title and track listing during the Gulf War. If MES had time to change the album title, he could also have changed the song title. He chose not to; he only changed the album title. Since it's songs that are played on the radio, not albums, this would be illogical if "controversy" were the main concern, or if the news about the BBC's guidance spooked him.

The BBC list certainly had no effect on The Fall in terms of radio broadcasts.

The War Against Intelligence was even not included on the BBC list (how could it be - probably nobody at the BBC knew the song existed until after the end of the war), and it was played on the radio.

It was recorded on 5 March 1991 for a BBC John Peel Session that was broadcast on 23 March 1991 and repeated 26 May 1991 and 22 December 1991.

The album track seems to have been played on Peel's show on 9 March 1991, and - significantly - on his British Forces Broadcasting Services show (apparently the German end of things, not sure how it worked) on 30 March 1991.

It entered John Peel's Festive Fifty, broadcast at the end of the year, at #35.

The song was played on Peel's show several times, both as the album track and the session recording, and that includes being played in the month immediately after the end of the Gulf War.

If controversy, or concern over the BBC's guidance were really the main problem, MES could have chosen not to record the track for Peel, or could have changed its title. After all, it wasn't played live until May 1991 so nobody would know it had changed.

Therefore, it's hard to sustain the idea that MES's decision had anything to do with the BBC's list, or anything to do with any likelihood that they might prevent the song from being played, or anything to do with "controversy" at all.

MES not make the most obvious change (i.e. to the song title) that you would make if you were concerned about sensitivities, controversy, or getting blacklisted - even though he likely knew about all of that, and had the opportunity to respond.

MES included the supposedly "controversial" song in a Peel session recorded shortly after the end of the war.

MES did not refer to BBC bans or controversy in contemporary interviews.

The BBC in any case had not blacklisted The Fall.

Finally, although he may have known about the BBC guidance, MES seems to have been unaware of other aspects of the "controversy". This is from Select magazine, published in January 1992 (http://thefall.org/gigography/92jan-select.html):

THE GULF WAR -- POP LOSES ITS BOTTLE

War In the Gulf traumatises pop into timidity. There are no major protest tunes, no 'Shipbuilding' and not as much as a peep from Billy Bragg, instead pop meekly falls into line, with the KLF editing machinegun fire from 'What Time is Love' and Massive Attack and Bomb The Bass temporarily changing their names into the less contentious Massive and Tim Simenon, respectively.

Mark: "You're joking?"

(gales of laughter from Miki and Peter)

Peter: "God, he's never heard of Baggy, he's never heard about Massive Attack...what...what the fuck's going on, Mark? Are you living on planet Earth or what?"

Mark (perturbedly): "What do you mean, Bomb The Bass have changed their name? I'm a big fan of them. I'm really annoyed about that."

Miki: "They changed it back though."

Mark: "Oh right, good (pause, swig). Anyway I'm not surprised. Usually when there's a war on you have a big blank-out. You have to."

But MES did not have a "blank-out". He changed his album title, but not the song title, and he recorded the song for a Peel session just a few weeks after the end of the war.

Nor did he take the opportunity, while he was in full contrarian flow, to say, "yeah, you have to have a blank-out - I changed our album title.."

So why did MES change the album title, if it doesn't seem plausible that "controversy" or BBC guidance is a good enough explanation?

I think it's just because people would assume that the album was in some way thematically concerned with the Gulf War - which it wasn't. I think he was less concerned about the actual song, perhaps because you can hear that it's not about military conflict at all, and more concerned about people mistaking his intentions in terms of the LP.

http://peel.wikia.com/wiki/Fall

My original statement, I cut it out because it has been superseded by Robert and Dan's comments, but I'm pasting it here in case I need to recover any of it:

The story, according to Simon Ford in his MES biography Hip Priest, is that this was intended to be the title track on the album that became Shift-Work but, because of the Gulf War, Smith decided the title was too controversial. This whole story seems strange to me, for several reasons. It is not impossible to imagine MES shying away from controversy, whether for commercial reasons or otherwise, but it doesn't seem entirely likely. But that's not the main reason I find this story mystifying; the big question is, what exactly would the controversy have been? Would people assume that "intelligence" meant Iraq, and that this was an anti-war message? Or that the UN coalition was "intelligence," and MES was too pro-war? That war itself is a war on intelligence, so MES is too anti-war? If controversy was so imminent, why was there none concerning the song (which, after all, was still included on the album with the same title it would have had were it the title track)? Unless I'm just thick, I don't see any grounds for controversy whatsoever involving this song, or the title of this song being used as an album title, and the Gulf War.

Note #1:"This seems strange to me also, however, as the titular war is against "intelligence," not "Iraq.""

Perhaps it could have been interpreted as metaphorically calling the war "stupid".

Yes, it could have been, but would it have obviously been? It's taken you a couple of years to suggest that, so it doesn't seem like an obvious reason to change the title.

Derek Ryder did more than "hang around", he was tour manager, soundman etc.

He was well known. See this tribute by John Robb:

https://louderthanwar.com/derek-ryder-shaun-and-pauls-father-and-happy-mondays-mainstay-rip/

Apparently he used to wear a Viking helmet (golden horns?).

Comment #10 isn't implausible, but theres not a lot in the lyric to go on.

In 1990 MES said the Happy Mondays "upset me very much", and then broadened his comment :

They're the first generation in the history of England who are absolute replicas of their parents.

Which could posssibly refer to Shaun and Derek.

Source: Andy Peart, "Badmouth Strikes Again", Sounds, 8 December 1990, pp.10-11. https://thefall.org/gigography/90dec08.html

But it could refer to lots of other people too.

Here's the "hooliganism" comment:

Just because people don't understand what you're saying doesn't mean you are necessarily proletarian. It's nowt to do with behaving like the Happy Mondays. That's not working-class culture to me, that's bloody hooliganism.

Source: Stephen Dalton, "Not Falling, Soaring", Vox, June 1991, pp. 24-25. https://thefall.org/gigography/91jun00.html

It does sound like "Dad and mates" to me! I don't know where "dada" came from, probably the Lyrics Parade...the Blue book has this in MES's hand, and it has "dud mates."

Fuck, Peel sounds like "dada" mates...needs "dud" with a note I think, on S-W it sounds kind of like "dud," but with an -a at the end...

Yeah, the HM connection is intriguing, but we need some evidence!

I want to think "golden horns" is somehow to do with the biblical golden calf. That would fit (loosely) with defecting to the other side, whatever that means, if it means something like "selling out" or whatever....dunno, evidence is thin on the ground...