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The Infotainment Scan

The Infotainment Scan
The Infotainment Scan.jpg
Studio album by The Fall
Released 26 April 1993
Recorded Suite 16, Rochdale
Genre Alternative rock
Post-punk
Alternative dance
Length 40:36 (LP & cassette)
50:08 (CD)
Label Permanent/Matador
Producer Rex Sergeant, Simon Rogers, Mark E. Smith
The Fall chronology
Code: Selfish
(1992)
The Infotainment Scan
(1993)
Middle Class Revolt
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4/5 stars
Melody Maker favourable
The New York Times favourable
NME 8/10

The Infotainment Scan is the fifteenth album by The Fall, released in 1993 on Permanent Records in the UK and by Matador Records in the US. At the time of its release, it was considered the band's most accessible album and came when the band were experiencing unprecedented recognition in the media. It entered the UK album charts at number 9.

The album features covers of the Sister Sledge disco track "Lost in Music" and of Steve Bent's "I'm Going to Spain", an obscure song which Bent performed on the British talent show New Faces in 1974 (Bent's version was included on The World's Worst Record album, compiled by disc jockey Kenny Everett in 1978). The CD edition of The Infotainment Scan also includes "Why Are People Grudgeful?", the only track to be released as a single (albeit in a different version). It is based on two reggae songs: "People Grudgeful" by Joe Gibbs and "People Funny Boy" by Lee "Scratch" Perry.

Of the original compositions on The Infotainment Scan, "Glam-Racket" drew much attention for its alleged criticism of Britpop band Suede, with the lyric "you are entrenched in suede". At the time, Suede were regarded as a "nouveau glam rock" band. "The League of Bald-Headed Men", meanwhile – identified variously as a "jokey conspiracy theory" and a "diatribe against " — appears to borrow its riff from Led Zeppelin's "Misty Mountain Hop", despite claims by Fall front man Mark E. Smith that he had never heard the band's music. A remix of "The League of Bald-Headed Men", retitled "League Moon Monkey Mix", is also included on the CD edition.

"Paranoia Man in Cheap Shit Room" adapts its title from Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room, an episode of The Twilight Zone. Smith had previously borrowed episode titles What You Need and Time Enough at Last (and would later use Kick the Can).


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