The Fall – Perverted By Language

The record gave the band their first number one album on the UK Independent Chart since Grotesque (After the Gramme) in 1980, and spent fourteen weeks on the chart.

Perverted by Language is the first Fall album to feature Brix Smith, then-wife of Mark E. Smith. However, the bulk of the album was recorded before she had joined the band.

It was released in 1983 by Rough Trade in the UK, Virgin Records in France, Megadisc in the Netherlands, Line Records in Germany, and Base Record in Italy. The album was the only full-length product of the band's renewed relationship with Rough Trade, whom they had previously left in 1981.

The band fell out with Rough Trade over Rough Trade turning all its resources to the Smiths, and also the full-length video the band wished to make for the album. The video Perverted by Language Bis went ahead funded by the group themselves and producers Ikon (Factory Records), with videos directed by Claude Bessy. The video was released on VHS in 1984 (a DVD edition was released by Cherry Red in 2003). By the time of the album and later the video's release, the group had signed to Beggars Banquet.