The pulsing bass line,the thunder of the drums,the synthesiser lift,all working perfectly In unison as the musical engine and then Ian Curtis singing in his low larynx,gothic way,
"When the routine bites hard And ambitions are low And the resentment rides high But emotions wont grow",
'Love will tear us apart',perhaps one of the most memorable songs by Joy Division,their calling card,released posthumously after Ian's death.The lyrics a mirror of his frame of mind and his failing marriage to Deborah,(Deborah Woodruff).
To say one song was all there was to Joy Division,that they can be defined by three minutes and eighteen minutes of dark,thumbing brilliance,or even their two albums of perfect surreal bleakness,'Unknown Pleasures' 1979,and 'Closer' 1980. The metamorphosis that happened with 'New Order' after Ian Curtis decided on his terrible faith,does not define anything that happened before either.
Joy Division were a sum of everything that was good about Punk and 70's music in general.Iggy Pop,Lou Reed and certainly David Bowie and his Berlin era,with 'Low' and 'Heroes',after all pre Joy Division were called Warsaw,taken from the Bowie song of the same name.But Curtis gave his own distinctive voice to it,as a music style it has influenced so much about today's modern bands from The Cure to Radiohead.Joy Division pulse through modern music like on Peter Hooks bass lines,distinctive and perfect.
One of the biggest influences on the Manchester scene was the infamous gig by the Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall on the 6th of June,1976 as part of the Anarchy tour.In the audience that night were,apart from Curtis,future members of the Buzzcocks were present,whose founder member Pete Shelley,organised the gig and even opened for the Pistols.But even more important,to this story, the two founders of Factory Records Martin Hannet and Tony Wilson.
On a side note however,also present and influenced was, in Mark E. Smith of The Fall, Mick Hucknall of Frantic Elevators and much later Simply Red,and a one Steven Patrick Morrissey, who would form The Smiths.The influence that one night had on the late 70's and early 80's music industry is staggering.The cog in the history of new wave,goth and Punk that started turning then is still turning today.
The Sex Pistols,Manchester June 1976
Joy Division formed in 1976 in the Salford area of Greater Manchester shortly after that Sex Pistols gig,singer Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bass player Peter Hook, and drummer Stephen Morris. Originally as I stated previously,known as Warsaw. A self released EP,'An Ideal For Living',did very little other than draw in the television presenter,and now independent record label owner,Tony Wilson.
Closer To Closure
The dark,controlled,gothic passion of Joy Divisions second and final album 'Closer',is in essence a brilliant rock album.,some have gone as far to say the best rock album of the 1980's.Released posthumously on July the 18th 1980 almost two months after the death of Ian Curtis. Unloved by Sumner and Hook,unhappy again with Martin Hannets mix,very hard to imagine why,as Hannet,both genius and madman,managed to merge the bands sound into a more positive and melodic experience than on 'Unknown Pleasures'.
