1977-1980 Punk and Joy Division

I met this young 19 year old dude at the protest. We got to talking about music and I said I loved punk rock. He said "Never met anyone your age that said they liked punk rock!" "Well I am a little strange I said. I have been listening to punk rock since 1980 when I was 13." I said.

That night I was planning to watch Control, which is a fantastic movie about the lead singer of Joy Division, Ian Curtis. When I said to the leader of the protest peace movement that I was leaving to watch a movie he was like, "Leaving to see a movie. Can't you wait till the vigil is over?"

I explained that it was not just any movie. This was the life of Ian Curtis who is one of the best lyicists in all of time. He was like a punk Bob Dylan in that his lyrics were never simple song structures. His lyrics speak to me in a way that trancends most other punk bands with the exception of Gang of Four's Entertainment album. Closure is my all time favorite album from the 1977 to 1980 British Punk scene. This wonderful but depressing album came out a few days after Ian Curtis hung himself.

I guess it is dangerous for someone like me to like such music. Once I swallowed a shitload of Lithium when I was depressed while listening to Closer. I have it on vynal and to this day I put it on the turntable every once and a while.

The definative Joy Division collection is Heart and Soul, which is a four CD set that has Closer and Unknown Pleasures, their first album along with outtakes and singles like Atmosphere or the lovely Love Will Tear Us About which was their biggest hit.

Since seeing this movie and The Joy Division movie I have been listening to their music more closely. Songs like Isolation or Colony both off of Closer are the product of a geinus. The producer of Closer even said this to Ian after he laid the vocals for the track in the studio. (At least in the movie version.)

I think it is sad that people with that much talent off themselves. As a person with Bipolar I can understand how horrible life can become when one is in the mist of a depressive episode. Ian had depression on top of his seizure disorder. He and Joy Division (The name comes from the Nazi's. I think it is what they referred to as prostitutes or women who were used as sex slaves.) are a briliant band. After Ian died the rest of the band went on to become New Order, a great eighties band but never quite as good as Joy Division. If you do not own any of their music and are a fan of British punk rock of the 1977-1980 era you should check them out. In my opinion this era died in 1980 when Ian hung himself. Definately check them out.

Peace