Appropriately, it has been ten years since I discovered Joy Division. Having read an appealing article about them in a newspaper, I took the risk and, during a school trip abroad, forked out whatever amount of francs in the Louvre’s music store for a copy of Unknown Pleasures, with its enigmatic yet enticing cover. Popping the CD in my player, I was suddenly immersed in a world never experienced before. Within the first few seconds of ’Disorder’, its steady but muted beat, robotic yet somehow human, the strange bass tune and spiky guitars, combined with dark and profound vocals, I knew Joy Division were something special. Most people know them by their song Love Will Tear Us Apart, which was abused in a Heinekan ad a few years ago. But the band were much more, an almost literary lyricism combined with a sound that felt entirely unique. It was a sound that lasted only briefly, for the lead singer, Ian Curtis, committed suicide at the age of 23.
Joy Division have been depicted twice in cinema already. Firstly, in 2002’s 24-Hour Party People, which was a playful biopic of pretentious broadcaster and music label owner Tony Wilson. Then, last saw a film about Curtis, called Control, which received much critical acclaim. And now, we see a seemingly definitive documentary on the band being released (briefly in UK cinemas, and then on DVD in the US in June), also called Joy Division.
Directed by Grant Gee, who has directed several music videos, as well as the Radiohead documentary Meeting People is Easy, the documentary conducts intimate interviews with most of the keys players in the band’s history. Band members, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Stephen Morris are all present. You’d think that after so many years of the band’s legacy, the remaining members would be tired of retelling the same stories. Yet there’s still times when the sadness breaks through. Read the rest of this entry »
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