writing | Joy Division
Substance to Unknown Pleasures.
I was given a copy of New Order's Substance when I was maybe 14. A battered TDK cassette with the track listing written in blue biro. I took it home, listened and disappeared down a rabbit hole. There was no internet as we now know it back in 1990, so the deep dive was difficult but always fruitful.
One strand took me to Joy Division. Flicking through my Dad's record collection I found a copy of Unknown Pleasures, their debut album. Songs like ‘She’s Lost Control’ and ‘Shadowplay’ didn't sound like anything I was listening to at the time.
The raw punk energy and themes of isolation and angst really appealed to the moody teen I was becoming. Ian's lyrics were dark and the music was sparse, the bass riffs from Peter Hook were heavy and melodic and the guitar from Bernard Sumner kept a nice rhythm with Stephen Morris' snappy drums.
I finished reading ‘Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division’ by Peter Hook a few weeks ago and the story of the band is funny (maybe that's Peter's writing style) but also difficult and tragic. Their music had evolved away from the early punk sound they were associated with and momentum was building here in the UK and abroad. Then it tragically came crashing down.
Finding that record at a young age was the first time I had thought about my parents actually listening to cool music. I recently asked my Dad about his memories of the record and the band. He would have been 27 or 28 when it came out and couldn't remember where he heard their music but liked it. However, while some other songs appealed, the band as a whole weren't for him so that's where it ended and this vinyl gathered dust until I came across it.
It was not until my late 30s that I really listened to the lyrics written by the singer, Ian Curtis. If you don’t know the history then Ian killed himself in 1980, shortly before the release of their second album, Closer, and a tour of the US that would have broken them to a bigger audience.
Not long after his death, the band decided to carry on and New Order was born. They would go on to have an even bigger influence on British music and help drive the rave scene in the late 80s and early 90s.
And that's where this comes full circle for me. The New Order album Sustance and the rabbit hole leading me to Joy Division. Whenever I put anything on by either band I'm transported back to those early days of music discovery and journey which is still ongoing.