Commentary

“The Fall are here to kick arses, in a way… and I’ll be hypercritical of a band, but only because I know we could do better… That’s what ‘Choc-Stock’ was about, and that’s why I don’t feel much affinity with other bands. That’s why The Fall is unique.”

“I think what I’m trying to say is that with Craig and Steve and Marc and Mike we could beat shit out of all those melodic bands; if ‘Choc-Stock’ had been very well produced if could’ve been a hit – I know it could – and that’s the beauty of it, saying ‘Look, we can do it as good as you, but we’re not gonna’.”

Mark E. Smith, interviewed by Chris Westwood, Record Mirror, 22 March 1980, p.34.

“Choc-Stock” first appeared on the album Dragnet (1979), credited to Mark E. Smith and Craig Scanlon.

Although a fairly lightweight sort of song, “Choc-Stock” was played regularly on and off until its final (documented) outing at the University of East Anglia on 24 January 1981.

“Choc-Stock” seems to be reasonably well-liked by fans, and is one of the more frequently-covered Fall songs, though it’s arguably atypical with obvious rhetorical targets. Tommy Mackay observes, “It’s all very jolly.” (2018, p.28). Steve Pringle is more critical: “There is certainly a haphazard charm to the ‘Now come on kids… ‘ section, but otherwise it has a distinctly ‘cobbled-together-in-a-bedroom-when-we-were-15’ air to it.” (2022, p.57).

“I love Choc-Stock (1979). In fact, Bob [Stanley], Pete [Wiggs] and I loved it so much that we played it live with Saint Etienne in the early ’90s, I think there’s even a flexi-disc version floating around.”

Sarah Cracknell, Saint Etienne. “The Hip Priest: An Appreciation”, Q, April 2018, p.12.

Song Development

Musically, “Choc-Stock” is fundamentally identical to “Pop Stock”, a song by Staff 9, the band that Craig Scanlon and Steve Hanley formed after Marc Riley left The Sirens to join The Fall (Staff 9 supported The Fall a few times in 1979). A bootleg version of Staff 9 performing “Pop Stock” is available:

The lyrics of “Choc-Stock” are a reworking of The Fall’s “Pop Stickers” (AKA “Let’s”), incorporating the chorus from Staff 9’s “Pop Stock”, which was apparently written by Craig Scanlon. See the entry for “Pop Stickers” for a draft of the lyrics to that song which emerged via Omega Auctions.

According to Marc Riley:

“The only time anyone contributed to lyrics as I remember was Choc-Stock which was a song Craig wrote for his previous band Staff 9 (it was called Pop-Stock). I can’t think of any input from anywhere else.”

Marc Riley, interviewed by Martin Peters (2005, p.6). (There were obviously other lyrical contributions both before and after Riley’s time in the group).

No studio version of “Pop Stickers” has emerged, and many of the gigs during 1979 are undocumented, but the song is known to have been played at gigs during the first half of 1979, after debuting at Bowdon Social Club in February. “Choc-Stock” replaced it for the second half of 1979; the first securely documented performance is from the 29 July gig at the Marquee, London (The Fall Online Gigography lists a gig at the Marquee on 29 June, which The Track Record does not; there is also a misattributed bootleg tape in circulation). This was the first gig after Yvonne Pawlett’s departure, and four days before the group went into Cargo Studios in Rochdale to record Dragnet. In the meantime, Martin Bramah had also left the group and Scanlon and Hanley had joined. This chronology implies (bearing in mind that there are holes in our knowledge of gigs during this period and so I cannot be certain) that “Pop Stickers” was a Martin Bramah composition, jettisoned after he had gone. In the interview I’ve quoted from above, Marc Riley refers to a “song Martin wrote called ‘Let’s’”. (See Peters, 2005, p.6). Finally, the booklet accompanying The Red Box credits “Pop Stickers” to Mark E. Smith and Martin Bramah (The Fall Box Set 1976-2007. Castle Music, 2007: CMXBX1558. 5xCD. Booklet, p.47). Q.E.D.

Here at The Fall Annotation Laboratories we treat “Choc-Stock” and “Pop Stickers” as different songs, although evidently the former cannibalised the latter. Nor do we regard “Choc-Stock” as technically a cover of Staff 9’s “Pop Stock”. Your mileage may vary.

Early in 1980, M.E.S. gave Slash magazine a rare explanation of the thematic basis of the lyrics:

The song was written in defense of straight pop music. Why did Mark, whose personal tastes go more towards the Beefheart and Residents type of sound (although much of the experimental fringe he dismisses, calling Henry Cow and their likes “a load of fuckin’ wankers) feel commercial pop must be defended?

“Chock Stock started as a propop song cos all the people into the Fall, the Pop Group, Gang of Four, Throbbing Gristle and who fuckin laugh at pop fans are patronizing, that’s all. At least the kids into pop are being honest.”

I remained dubious. Honest perhaps but still dumb. But I do agree with the need to demistify the glory of elitism in musical allegiance, all customers are the same in the eye of the industry. Later in the song comes a variable tirade that drives his point home:

“Now all the bourgeoisie / they hate our crazy scene / cos we like pop stock stickers / but they’re the product of the same system beyond their control / THEY stayed on at school and tolerate bad manners… Come on kids why don’t you get this thing together and make it bad / you don’t need…”

At which point Mark improvises on what the particular kids he is singing to that night don’t need. here at Hope Street he listed a few problems he has spotted with the night’s festivities but the bad acoustics and his Manchester accent scrambled the message and most of the open-mouthed speculators remained unenlightened.

[sic on several counts] Mark E. Smith interviewed by Slash (1980, p.28). I have reformatted the text in order to make it clearer where M.E.S. is talking.

Versions and Variations

The studio version has not been elsewhere collected, but several live recordings have had official releases:

• 15 September 1979: Prince of Wales Conference Centre, YMCA, London. Performed by: Steve Hanley, Mike Leigh, Marc Riley, Craig Scanlon, Mark E. Smith. Originally released on: 1970s (Cherry Red, 2022: CRCDBOX121). 12xCD box set. CD 11. [Discogs]. Also available on: disc 11, The 1970s.
• 27 October 1979: Leisure Centre, Bircotes (not Doncaster!), Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire. Performed by: Steve Hanley, Mike Leigh, Marc Riley, Craig Scanlon, Mark E. Smith. Originally released: Totale’s Turns (It’s Now or Never) (Rough Trade, 1980: ROUGH10). LP. Regularly reissued. [Discogs]. Also available on The Collection (Castle Communications, 1993: CCSCD 365). [Discogs].
• 16 November 1979: Porterhouse, Retford. Performed by: Steve Hanley, Mike Leigh, Marc Riley, Craig Scanlon, Mark E. Smith. Originally released: Live from the Vaults – Retford 1979 (Hip Priest, 2005: HIPP007CD). [Discogs]. Also available on: Dragnet box set (Cherry Red, 2019: CRCDBOX76) 3xCD. CD 2. [Discogs].
• 14 December 1979: Anticlub, Los Angeles. Performed by: Steve Hanley, Mike Leigh, Marc Riley, Craig Scanlon, Mark E. Smith. Released as Live from the Vaults – Los Angeles 1979 (Hip Priest, 2005: HIPP008CD / Let Them Eat Vinyl, 2021: LETV577LP, 2xLP). [Discogs]. Also available on: Dragnet box set (Cherry Red, 2019: CRCDBOX76) 3xCD. CD 3. [Discogs].