Joy Division

During the Totally Rad Show’s review of The Runaways, Dan mentioned that Control was one of the best music based movies he had seen, so I decided to check it out. In essence, the movie is about Ian Curtis and the rise of Joy Division based on Deborah Curtis’s biography “Touching from a Distance”. Sam Riley plays Curtis, sings all of the songs, and gives an amazing performance.

I was really digging the songs while watching the movie. When they performed Transmission, I was blown away. And then they did Isolation and I was like how did I miss this band? I was familiar with Love Will Tear Us Apart but didn’t know any other Joy Division songs.

Towards the end a song played that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but realized that it was Shadowplay, which I had associated with the Killers. Add to that Dead Souls, which I only knew from the Crow soundtrack done by Nine Inch Nails.

As I did a little investigation, (ie read Wikipedia), I realized that I should have been aware and loved this band 20 years ago. Joy Division spawned New Order, a staple of my formative years, which led to Electronic, a collaboration between Sumner and Johnny Marr. I also realized that Moby did a cover of New Dawn Fades on I Like to Score, which is on the Heat soundtrack.

I’ll be honest. I love the brooding, dark, depressed music of Joy Division. Just like I loved the Cure, Depeche Mode, and Sisters of Mercy. I can’t believe I found them 30 years after the fact. I have already checked all of the albums out of the library and saved some tracks on my computer. This will definitely go on the ipod for those dreary days and those ponderous walks I sometime take.