“Rowche Rumble” by The Fall

"Rowche Rumble", the Fall's second single, came out on Illegal Records in July 1979, recorded that June at Cargo Studios in Rochdale with Oz McCormick co-producing. Mark E. Smith, Craig Scanlon and Marc Riley wrote it, and it lurches and nags: Smith sneering up front, Riley and Scanlon's guitars scraping, Steve Hanley's bass and Mike Leigh's drums shoving it along, Yvonne Pawlett's electric piano needling at the edges. Riley has said the tune loosely borrows from "Tight Pants", a 1977 B-side by Iggy & the Stooges.

The words reputedly trace back to Smith's days as a shipping clerk, when a paperwork slip involving the Roche drug company left him with a stash of barbiturates to hide around Manchester. The NME ranked it 21st among 1979's top tracks, and in January 1980 it became the first Fall record on a national chart, reaching 31 on the brand-new indie chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.