Hit the North
| "Hit the North" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 7" vinyl picture disc | ||||
| Single by The Fall | ||||
| A-side | "Hit the North (Part 1)" | |||
| B-side | "Hit the North (Part 2)" | |||
| Released | October 1987 | |||
| Genre | Post-punk | |||
| Length | 4:00 (A-side) 3:40 (B-side) | |||
| Label | Beggars Banquet | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Mark E. Smith, Brix Smith, Simon Rogers | |||
| Producer(s) | Simon Rogers | |||
| The Fall singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Hit the North" is a 1987 song by British post-punk band
Recording
The record was part of a conscious approach by Brix Smith and Simon Rogers, both of whom had recently joined the band, in increasing the Fall's popularity and accessibility. Brix said: "It was definitely a conscious thing on my part because they were so, so underground and so unappreciated and unknown. I just thought they were such an important band and it needed to be broadcast all over the world." Her husband at the time, Mark E. Smith, disagreed: "...it wasn’t a conscious effort. It was just trying to get it a bit more punchy. I always like it very clean and simple. A lot of groups are swamped with sound."[1]
The music was written by Rogers and Brix Smith,
The lyrics were improvised by Smith, based on the double meaning of "hit" — either "go to", or "punish". He said: 'Hit The North' has a dual meaning; punish it, or go there. When we did the video in Blackpool we were in a Yates' Wine Lodge and all these rugby teams were going 'Hit the North? What's that mean then?' And this girl behind the bar was great; she said 'In America they say "Let's hit L.A.", and they just mean "Let's go there".' Eventually all the old dears joined in and everyone was having a big rap about what it meant. My basic attitude is that I'd rather live here than in the South and it always has been. I don't really care where anybody lives, though, and I think this North/South divide is nonsense. I don't envy anyone who lives in Reading, Swindon, or Northampton; they're horrible new towns and the people are spiritually dead down there.[3]
Video and reception
Scenes in the official video for the single were shot in an old
"Hit the North" is described by Ned Raggett at AllMusic as "one of the most musically conventional numbers the group had ever recorded, but it still contained enough driving bite and sass to rank as a worthy listen....[with its] endlessly chanted chorus ... becoming a catch phrase of its own.... Smith's various chantings and semi-ravings, if buried in the mix at many points, still make everything sound uniquely and distinctly Fall."[5] Jason Heller of Rolling Stone said of the track: "Infectious, spliced with electronics and tailored to the dance floor, the song took breaks from its singalong chorus to let Smith mumble warningly about 'the reflected mirror of delirium.'"[6] Mark E. Smith considered the record to have been a commercial failure, saying: "We lost half our fan base with that, 'cause everybody thought it was disco. Everybody was like, fucking hell, they’ve sold out."[1]
The single reached No. 57 in the
Legacy
Tom Doyle of
References
- ^ a b c Tom Doyle, "Classic Tracks - The Fall ‘Hit The North’", Sound On Sound, March 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2018
- ^ Mark E. Smith Interview, Debris, 1988. Retrieved 26 January 2018
- ^ Dave Haslam, "The Fall", Debris #16, 1988, pp. 22-23
- ISBN 9780571325078. Retrieved 27 January 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ Ned Raggett, song review, Allmusic. Retrieved 26 January 2018
- ^ Jason Heller, "The Fall: 10 Essential Songs", Rolling Stone. Retrieved 26 January 2018
- ^ "hit the north - full Official Chart History - Official Charts Company". Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- ^ "Pop/Jazz; The Fall Is Heading for a Rise, With a New Album". The New York Times. 20 August 1993. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- ^ "Hit the North", Scrawn and Lard. Retrieved 26 January 2018
Sources
- ISBN 978-1-9019-2758-0