Farren was the singer with the proto-punk band The Deviants between 1967 and 1969, releasing three albums.During 1970 he released the solo album
Mona — The Carnivorous Circus which also featured Steve Peregrin Took, John Gustafson and Paul Buckmaster, before ending his music business to concentrate on writing.
During the mid-1970s, he briefly revived his musical career, releasing the EP
Screwed Up, album
Vampires Stole My Lunch Money and single "Broken Statue". The album featured fellow NME journalist Chrissie Hynde and Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson.
He has sporadically done musical work since then, collaborating with Wayne Kramer on
Who Shot You Dutch? and
Death Tongue, Jack Lancaster on
The Deathray Tapes and Andy Colquhoun on The Deviants albums
Eating Jello With a Heated Fork and
Dr. Crow.
Aside from his own work, he has provided lyrics for various musician friends over the years. He has collaborated with Lemmy, co-writing "Lost Johnny" for Hawkwind, and "Keep Us on the Road" and "Damage Case" for Motörhead. With Larry Wallis, he co-wrote "When's the Fun Begin?" for the Pink Fairies and several tracks on Wallis' solo album
Death in a Guitar Afternoon. He provided lyrics for the Wayne Kramer single "Get Some" during the mid-1970s, and continued to work with and for him during the 1990s.
Singles
- 1976 — Mick Farren — "Play With Fire" / "Lost Johnny" (Ork records)
- 1977 — Mick Farren and The Deviants — Screwed Up EP (Stiff Records)
- 1978 — Mick Farren — "Half Price Drinks" (Logo Records)
- 1978 — Mick Farren — "Broken Statue" / "It's All In The Picture" (Logo records)
- 199? — Lunar Malice — "Gunfire In The Night" / "Touched By The Fire"
Albums
- 1967 — The Deviants — Ptooff! (Impressario/Decca Records)
- 1968 — The Deviants — Disposable (Stable Records)
- 1969 — The Deviants — The Deviants 3 (Transatlantic Records)
- 1970 — Mick Farren — Mona — The Carnivorous Circus (Transatlantic Records)
- 1978 — Mick Farren — Vampires Stole My Lunch Money (Logo Records)
- 1984 — The Deviants — Human Garbage — live (Psycho Records)
- 1987 — Wayne Kramer & Mick Farren — Who Shot You Dutch?
- 1991 — Wayne Kramer — Death Tongue (Progressive Records)
- 1993 — Tijuana Bible — Gringo Madness
- 1995 — Mick Farren and Jack Lancaster — The Deathray Tapes (Alive Records)
- 1996 — Deviants IXVI — Eating Jello With a Heated Fork (Alive Records)
- 1999 — The Deviants — Barbarian Princes — Live In Japan
- 2002 — The Deviants — Dr. Crow (Track Records)
- 2004 — Mick Farren and The Deviants — Taste The Blue — live (Captain Trip Records, Japan)
- 2005 — Mick Farren — To The Masterlock — live (Captain Trip Records, Japan)
Compilations
- 1996 — Mick Farren and The Deviants — Fragments of Broken Probes
- 1996 — The Social Deviants — Garbage (Alive Records)
- 1999 — The Deviants — The Deviants Have Left The Planet
- 2000 — Mick Farren and The Deviants — This CD Is Condemned (Alive Records)
- 2001 — Mick Farren and The Deviants — On Your Knees, Earthlings (Alive Records)