Editing The Fall (band) (section)

=== 1980–1982: Classic line-up ===
[[File:SteveHanley1980.png|thumb|200px|Hanley, live with the Fall, 1980]]
The Fall released their fourth single "Fiery Jack", their last for Step Forward, on 13 January 1980. In March, Mike Leigh left the group and went back to the cabaret circuit. According to Leigh, the band would have to wait for weeks without work while Smith came up with new lyrics, as opposed to regular weekly gigs in cabaret. Leigh's replacement was Paul Hanley, Steve Hanley's younger brother. He first played live with the Fall on Friday 21 March at Electric Ballroom, London–he was only 16 and was actually still at school. Meanwhile, the Fall quit Step Forward and signed with [[Rough Trade Records|Rough Trade]]; the first release on a new label became ''[[Totale's Turns]]'' in May 1980. This, with the exception of two tracks, was a live album documenting the band during various appearances in 1979, with Smith announcing last orders at the bar [responding to a request for the song "Last Orders"] and berating band members and audience throughout.

In November 1980, the Fall released their third full-length album ''[[Grotesque (album)|Grotesque (After the Gramme)]]''. Preceded by a couple of acclaimed singles "How I Wrote 'Elastic Man'" and "[[Totally Wired]]", the album went to #1 on the [[UK Indie Chart]]. It was co-produced by Rough Trade's [[Geoff Travis]] and [[Mayo Thompson]] of [[Red Krayola]] and showed a significant improvement in production, which was to continue throughout the period. Smith, however, was unhappy with [[Rough Trade Records|Rough Trade]]'s politics, which showed when ''[[Slates (EP)|Slates]]'' came out in April 1981. Intentionally made too long for a single and too short to be considered an album, it was released as a 10" [[extended play|EP]] for a price of just 2 pounds. The Fall eventually quit Rough Trade by the end of the year, and instead signed with a small indie label Kamera.

As the Fall were going to tour America after the release of ''Slates'', Paul Hanley was denied a visa as he was too young to play American clubs that serve alcohol, which restrict entry to those age 21 or older. Smith thus invited Karl Burns back into the group, initially as a temporary replacement. Select recordings from this tour were released in 1982 as ''[[A Part of America Therein, 1981]]''. After their return to the UK, Burns stayed in the group as a second drummer alongside Hanley. The first record to feature both Burns and Hanley became the "Lie Dream of a Casino Soul" single, produced by [[Richard Mazda]] and released in Australia and New Zealand in November 1981.

On 8 March 1982 ''[[Hex Enduction Hour]]'', also produced by Mazda, was released on Kamera Records, the Fall's seventh single ("Look, Know") was released 19 April 1982 on Kamera. On 27 September the ''[[Room to Live]]'' album was released on Kamera. Marc Riley was sacked at the end of the year, following several arguments, one of which resulted in a fist fight during the Australian tour. In response, Riley's band "The Creepers" wrote the track "Jumper Clown", which directly references Riley's dismissal, while also satirising Smith's dress sense.

This era is often regarded as a high point in the band's creative history, as noted by Ned Raggett of [[AllMusic]] who retrospectively described the late years with Riley and shortly after his departure as "three years during which the band couldn't seem to make a wrong step."<ref>Raggett, Ned. [https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-fall-in-palace-of-swords-reversed-mw0000246636 The Fall, In: Palace of Swords Reversed (review)] AllMusic, accessed 31 July 2020</ref>