This is a fantastic track, and one of my all time faves of theirs. It's dour, melancholic, and brooding, whilst also being possessed of a dark beauty, and is absolutely brimming with atmosphere. Not overly complex, but with that driving bassline, and the heartfelt vocals, made all the more poignent now knowing what IC was going through then..... A superb piece.
The opening guitar riff is played on the bass by the legendary Peter Hook. Joy Division, where do I begin, impeccable song writing, innovation off the scales, unique vocals, unusual use of the bass guitar as the lead and main riff maker for the songs, there was no-one like Joy Division. I have been a big fan since I was 12 in 1979, and then of course became a New Order fan, both bands were creative innovators off the chart and should have been much bigger globally than they were.
Hook is playing bass underneath very clearly but he is clearly referring to Barney's guitar riff over top of it. Hook is playing a more traditional descending bass part underneath of it. The guitar part has bending in it, and that's what JP is referring to. You can hear it live, as well, who is playing what part. Barney is playing it on his lower strings, there is a clear tonal difference.
@eboe no it is Hookey over dubbing his own bass line with a six string bass with distortion, Barney only play rhythm on this track, all the lead parts were Hookey, that is why with his new band Peter Hook and The Light, Peter has another bassist as well so they can more accurately recreate his over dubbed bass sound.
I guess to listen to their music it's important to know some background information, Ian Curtis the singer wasn't happy, ao obviously his voice wasn't very "expressive" most of the time, he suffered from depression and epilepsy and used to have bad seizures even on stage, he sadly killed himself by hangig on may 18th 1980 and was only 23, knowing this I think you can understand a little bit about why the music and the voice and the lyrics are the way they are, they only have 2 albums, this one (1979) and Closer, released after his death, I would LOVE for you to react to it as well when you finish this one, for me it's much darker than Unknown Pleasures, and it can be hard to listen to some of them, especially the lyrics since Ian was the one who wrote all of them, there were clearly warning signs since Unknown Pleasures, anyway, after Ian's death, the remaining members then formed New Order.
it's the one Joy Division track where the guitar entry and melody reminds me of, of all things, Black Sabbath ("Iron Man''?!). As with all their lyrics and music, I wish it could be separated from the biographical details surrounding Ian Curtis in particular -but that's clearly impossible...
Id have a good guess that NDF is the favourite track of most long term JD fans. I first heard these on john peel back when and ever since i got unknown pleasures this was the high point. The Meeeee eeeee is haunting. What's amazing is how new to making music these guys were. It was basically like 'ok ill pick guitar yeah... yeah, yeah why not... i say ian on vocals right, cause he can like, speak n'all (all agree, doubting hed ever manage a bass)... and thus it was agreed. 6 months later... hey this is pretty easy isn't it. Good idea ian....'wasn't it bernards idea' oh no defo steve's. Oh ok. Yeah.
This album has always intrigued me because it has such a loose and free quality to it. It's like the antithesis of modern music with quantization and auto-tune. It's the kind of music that motivates me to do my own stuff because it's so good, but you can tell they didn't worry about "perfection". They were just doing it.
The band at first was really unhappy with how Martin Hannett mixed the album. They sounded a bit heavier and less sparse live. The didnt know they just created a landmark album that still holds up great after almost 45 years
There was a time when I thought this was one of the most powerful and profound musical statements ever made. I remember drunken arguments in pubs about its significance. Directionless and explosive was how I felt in those days. It's a great piece of songwriting that really draws you in. It still feels real. My second favourite Joy Division track.
And you favourite? Mine's "Twenty Four Hours". It's a seriously menacing track, capturing a sense of optimism cut short by being faced with stark reality.
@@delorangeade Ah yes, the closer on "Closer", wrapping up what is a very draining (in a good way) album. But then... I imagine you could have named almost any JD track and I would not have had an objection, finding something to like about it.
New Dawn Fades is ian curtis telling us about the breakdown with his wife and girlfriend Annik honore. He took his own life shortly after his wife Deborah Curtis left him after she found out he was being unfaithful to her. This song is both beautiful and haunting. I use to live down the road from ian in the 1980s....
Ha! The first time I heard this song was when I got home from a one hour motorcycle ride with a couple of beers too many. When I got home, I put on my favourite radio station and good old John Peel was on and he stuck this on. Man all I could see as I closed my eyes was white lines like the middle of the road passing under me. This whole track always gives me a motion feeling and I just got it again. Cheers JP. Maybe you could check out some John Peel sessions, that is bands playing live in the studio, really good. Check out 'John Peel sessions' and pick a band.
There was a time in my life when I was experimenting with ink and bleach on illustration board mainly. Very dark moody Yin Yang kind things with lightning and mist. This band puts me back in that time. Not a place I care to stay for long. Next.
JD seems a bit divisive in the comments today. Personally, I like their music and think that this is a fine track, with good lyrics and some of Curtis's best singing.
It's a nice, bleak, Joy Division day, here - the 40th day of rain. I liked (probably not the exactly correct word for it) this song. Sun's coming back on Monday, they say, so then it might be the kind of thing that interferes too much with the facade of good cheer and optimism. I think the appeal of Joy Division is the nakedness and authenticity of it all. It's not some kind of "angst game" like much that is "goth" can be; it's at least one person right in the midst of depressing circumstances (epilepsy isn't a big party) "living back at it". And "cheering up" doesn't work. "Cheer up" is what someone not wanting to put up with the inconvenience of empathy says to quickly slam that door shut. That's the subject matter, and then the art is how they "paint it". Their music doesn't fit some kind of "sonata format" (or whaddever), it tells that story over again, musically. That said, I'm also glad that their fans provoked the beautiful *Half Man Half Biscuit* song, *Joy Division Oven Gloves* ua-cam.com/video/JEag0ss9pFU/v-deo.html
Sorry. Here, listen to *Andy Edwards* making a lot of sense, instead of that absurdity. ua-cam.com/video/3MBkRRDYRas/v-deo.html (Accidentally, this brings it all together. Spike had severe depression. When he wasn't flying high, he was so low that all he wanted to do was die. I get the idea that Ian Curtiss didn't have depression in a "direct way", but his circumstances made him so depressed that in the end all he wanted was to just get it over with and die. And the arts - of all kinds, even the ridiculous ones - are often a way of navigating out of dangerous waters like these. You'll see. The interconnection of these disparate things ties up quite nicely.)
I should still add something more serious to that. How about "Realizing that happiness and joy is just a construct of your imagination/ Should that keep you from trying? ..." and then the rest of *Isabel* ua-cam.com/video/0rBGDJC7Sjc/v-deo.html (It has Kafka, music, and something just plain Parkinsonian - including some pleasingly violent violin.)
Quickly checked your joy division reaction history.. Surprised to see no transmission, shadowplay, dead souls, twentyfour hours or heart&soul.. to name a few 😊
Almost as usual with Joy Division, it's painful to listen to. Ian Curtis is not a singer who speaks to me and musically I find that it drags and goes nowhere.
I'm quite jealous of the amount of free time you seem to have. Commenting the same stuff under atleast JP's last three JD videos is rather sad. Yeah, we get it, empty, boring, the singing sucks, blablabla. Why don't you spend your time shitting on bands many love listening to stuff you actually enjoy? Just listen to the fantastic Sound, or the IMO boring Comsat Angels. Do yourself a favor and stop listening to music you don't like, and ultimately stop trashing bands you couldn't care less about, but many people actually do.
More empty, unfinished nonsense that sounds like it was played inside a well but recorded from outside. If you want something really good from this era, listen to the whole of Seventeen Seconds instead.
Completely agree. Seventeen Seconds by The Cure is a foggy and greyish album but something is happening, it is filled with emotion from beginning to end, while 40 years later I am still in search of those unknown pleasures that I have never found ! Joy Division is pretty damn overrated in my opinion.
![Joy Division - New Dawn Fades [REACTION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LuVfiWNq-1Y/mqdefault.jpg)
![Joy Division - New Dawn Fades [REACTION]](/img/tr.png)
Tremendous song. Can't say anymore than that. I managed to see them twice . Firstly supporting Buzzcocks then headlining. Both times in Derby.
Best Song on the album and one of the best JD songs ever. Just a Haunting song. The Album Gets Better From here
This song really crawles under my skin, it is almost perfection in its bleak despair.
One of the greatest joy division tracks ever truly beautiful Ian Curtis was one of a kind god bless his soul
my favourite of them. brilliant hymn of sadness and loneliness
This is a fantastic track, and one of my all time faves of theirs. It's dour, melancholic, and brooding, whilst also being possessed of a dark beauty, and is absolutely brimming with atmosphere. Not overly complex, but with that driving bassline, and the heartfelt vocals, made all the more poignent now knowing what IC was going through then..... A superb piece.
I agree entirely. This still retains its power.
The opening guitar riff is played on the bass by the legendary Peter Hook. Joy Division, where do I begin, impeccable song writing, innovation off the scales, unique vocals, unusual use of the bass guitar as the lead and main riff maker for the songs, there was no-one like Joy Division. I have been a big fan since I was 12 in 1979, and then of course became a New Order fan, both bands were creative innovators off the chart and should have been much bigger globally than they were.
Hook is playing bass underneath very clearly but he is clearly referring to Barney's guitar riff over top of it. Hook is playing a more traditional descending bass part underneath of it. The guitar part has bending in it, and that's what JP is referring to. You can hear it live, as well, who is playing what part. Barney is playing it on his lower strings, there is a clear tonal difference.
@eboe no it is Hookey over dubbing his own bass line with a six string bass with distortion, Barney only play rhythm on this track, all the lead parts were Hookey, that is why with his new band Peter Hook and The Light, Peter has another bassist as well so they can more accurately recreate his over dubbed bass sound.
@@eboethrasher my apologies you are right I was thinking of another song this is Barney playing a distorted Rickenbacker
"Oh, I've walked on water, run through fire
Can't seem to feel it anymore" (c)
My favourite part of the song.
Best Joy Division song ever. Period.
Its great. Sits well alongside some Siousxie and the banshees best work
My god this song fucks me up in the most specific way possible, it's indescribable.
My favorite track from Joy Division. And the video edited with footage from "Control" and "24 Hour Party People" is, also, a great video.
How painful isn't the "Meee"? This song is something else. Thanks for reacting!
New Dawn Fades is strictly the apex of Unknown Pleasures for me….
I guess to listen to their music it's important to know some background information, Ian Curtis the singer wasn't happy, ao obviously his voice wasn't very "expressive" most of the time, he suffered from depression and epilepsy and used to have bad seizures even on stage, he sadly killed himself by hangig on may 18th 1980 and was only 23, knowing this I think you can understand a little bit about why the music and the voice and the lyrics are the way they are, they only have 2 albums, this one (1979) and Closer, released after his death, I would LOVE for you to react to it as well when you finish this one, for me it's much darker than Unknown Pleasures, and it can be hard to listen to some of them, especially the lyrics since Ian was the one who wrote all of them, there were clearly warning signs since Unknown Pleasures, anyway, after Ian's death, the remaining members then formed New Order.
Yeah, _Closer_ is about the darkest album ever recorded. Bruce Springsteen's _Nebraska_ is a distant second.
JP, Good to see you reacting to Unknown Pleasures. Try songs Dead Souls and Transmission, before doing the album Closer, then the song Atmospheres.
it's the one Joy Division track where the guitar entry and melody reminds me of, of all things, Black Sabbath ("Iron Man''?!). As with all their lyrics and music, I wish it could be separated from the biographical details surrounding Ian Curtis in particular -but that's clearly impossible...
Very similar riff to the last part of War Pigs
It sounds even more like Iggy and The Stooges’ Dirt.
Id have a good guess that NDF is the favourite track of most long term JD fans. I first heard these on john peel back when and ever since i got unknown pleasures this was the high point. The Meeeee eeeee is haunting. What's amazing is how new to making music these guys were. It was basically like 'ok ill pick guitar yeah... yeah, yeah why not... i say ian on vocals right, cause he can like, speak n'all (all agree, doubting hed ever manage a bass)... and thus it was agreed. 6 months later... hey this is pretty easy isn't it. Good idea ian....'wasn't it bernards idea' oh no defo steve's. Oh ok. Yeah.
Probably my absolute favorite song. Ian was Dylanesque in his lyrics to me. Tragic and beautiful
Martin Hannett was their producer. He added a lot of magic to their music IMHO.
Awesome album, every track is a masterpiece.i struggle to say I've got a favourite track.
Such a good song, one of my faves. Especially love the falling bassline and muddy guitar that is almost another bassline.
It's one of my favourite joy division songs. When I was in a band in the late 90s early 2000s we used to do this sing as a cover.
This album has always intrigued me because it has such a loose and free quality to it. It's like the antithesis of modern music with quantization and auto-tune. It's the kind of music that motivates me to do my own stuff because it's so good, but you can tell they didn't worry about "perfection". They were just doing it.
The band at first was really unhappy with how Martin Hannett mixed the album. They sounded a bit heavier and less sparse live. The didnt know they just created a landmark album that still holds up great after almost 45 years
There was a time when I thought this was one of the most powerful and profound musical statements ever made. I remember drunken arguments in pubs about its significance. Directionless and explosive was how I felt in those days. It's a great piece of songwriting that really draws you in. It still feels real. My second favourite Joy Division track.
And you favourite?
Mine's "Twenty Four Hours". It's a seriously menacing track, capturing a sense of optimism cut short by being faced with stark reality.
@@AriadneJC Decades for me. It has beauty amidst the melancholy.
@@delorangeade Ah yes, the closer on "Closer", wrapping up what is a very draining (in a good way) album.
But then... I imagine you could have named almost any JD track and I would not have had an objection, finding something to like about it.
Joy Division were fans of Iggy Pop and The Stooges. Listen to 'Dirt' by The Stooges and you will recognize 'New Dawn Fades' in it.
Ian Curtis listened to The Idiot by Iggy Pop before he took his own life
Great track from a great band.
New Dawn Fades is ian curtis telling us about the breakdown with his wife and girlfriend Annik honore.
He took his own life shortly after his wife Deborah Curtis left him after she found out he was being unfaithful to her. This song is both beautiful and haunting. I use to live down the road from ian in the 1980s....
Ha! The first time I heard this song was when I got home from a one hour motorcycle ride with a couple of beers too many. When I got home, I put on my favourite radio station and good old John Peel was on and he stuck this on. Man all I could see as I closed my eyes was white lines like the middle of the road passing under me. This whole track always gives me a motion feeling and I just got it again. Cheers JP. Maybe you could check out some John Peel sessions, that is bands playing live in the studio, really good. Check out 'John Peel sessions' and pick a band.
Awesome song and starting the best stretch of songs in the album.. just classic
There was a time in my life when I was experimenting with ink and bleach on illustration board mainly. Very dark moody Yin Yang kind things with lightning and mist. This band puts me back in that time. Not a place I care to stay for long.
Next.
You talked over one of the most chilling parts of this song: "A loaded gun won't set you free / so you say"
You did indeed catch me scrolling through YT and snatched me!! 😅
When you take time to like this don’t take time when saw them new order you the tee shirt and album you get hooked 😊
Both Joy Division albums are exceptional.
This is a great little wakeup call for my 36th birthday.
Hey happy birthday bud.
Also had the pleasure to see them live Paradiso Amsterdam you can find it on youtube
'Closer' is also worth a listen.
JD seems a bit divisive in the comments today.
Personally, I like their music and think that this is a fine track, with good lyrics and some of Curtis's best singing.
It's a nice, bleak, Joy Division day, here - the 40th day of rain. I liked (probably not the exactly correct word for it) this song. Sun's coming back on Monday, they say, so then it might be the kind of thing that interferes too much with the facade of good cheer and optimism. I think the appeal of Joy Division is the nakedness and authenticity of it all. It's not some kind of "angst game" like much that is "goth" can be; it's at least one person right in the midst of depressing circumstances (epilepsy isn't a big party) "living back at it". And "cheering up" doesn't work. "Cheer up" is what someone not wanting to put up with the inconvenience of empathy says to quickly slam that door shut. That's the subject matter, and then the art is how they "paint it". Their music doesn't fit some kind of "sonata format" (or whaddever), it tells that story over again, musically.
That said, I'm also glad that their fans provoked the beautiful *Half Man Half Biscuit* song, *Joy Division Oven Gloves* ua-cam.com/video/JEag0ss9pFU/v-deo.html
I suppose this is going to sound heartless, but it's the algorithm what done it. ua-cam.com/video/2TWoZnKPVfQ/v-deo.html
Sorry. Here, listen to *Andy Edwards* making a lot of sense, instead of that absurdity. ua-cam.com/video/3MBkRRDYRas/v-deo.html
(Accidentally, this brings it all together. Spike had severe depression. When he wasn't flying high, he was so low that all he wanted to do was die. I get the idea that Ian Curtiss didn't have depression in a "direct way", but his circumstances made him so depressed that in the end all he wanted was to just get it over with and die. And the arts - of all kinds, even the ridiculous ones - are often a way of navigating out of dangerous waters like these. You'll see. The interconnection of these disparate things ties up quite nicely.)
I should still add something more serious to that. How about "Realizing that happiness and joy is just a construct of your imagination/ Should that keep you from trying? ..." and then the rest of *Isabel* ua-cam.com/video/0rBGDJC7Sjc/v-deo.html (It has Kafka, music, and something just plain Parkinsonian - including some pleasingly violent violin.)
Thanks for this reaction. It's most def one of my favourite JD songs. Very intense and invasive.
Great album
Quickly checked your joy division reaction history..
Surprised to see no transmission, shadowplay, dead souls, twentyfour hours or heart&soul.. to name a few 😊
He's reacting to the whole album
oops 🙈 silly me 😊
Believe it or not, Moby does an absolutely outstanding cover of this tune.
Black Sabbath + JD = the whole Grunge genre.
Anyone else hearing Shot by Both Sides (at about 1:20 for about 15 seconds) and something off The Idiot (3:25 on)?
This album got me through a very tough time in my life. I owe it a lot.
I'm right there with you right now. Just discovered Joy Division after watching, and then reading, .
So damn glad I found them.
A Masterpiece
It's like Paradise Lost music with My Dying Bride vocals.
Imagine if Martin Hannett produced Black Sabbath.
Suggestion:
Ange / "Le Nain de Stanislas"
His bass style reminds me of jj burnel from the stranglers
Well done - excellent analysis
Ty Mark!
Great assessment. It is my favourite Joy Division song, it pulls at my heartstrings. So moody. Sad that he killed himself aged just 23
I liked the "New Dawn Fades" on Closer more then this. the lyrics were slightly different and the vocals were better.
gun was at his head boom
I love Joy Division but their sound is so hard to listen to
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Damn yeah!
Play it faster, but slower
I love this labum but I always skip this one. This lyricism doesn't work for me here. I'm talking about the music, not the lyrics.
Great analysis of the song. Terrible the suicide is in the lyrics, and we didnt hear it. It was there. We didnt listen.
You claim to be a music man but have never Heard off new order or joydevison
Not bad , not great , simply not for me. I suggest Complicated Game, by XTC, his more dark side.
As does my attention!
Yup.
Almost as usual with Joy Division, it's painful to listen to. Ian Curtis is not a singer who speaks to me and musically I find that it drags and goes nowhere.
I'm quite jealous of the amount of free time you seem to have. Commenting the same stuff under atleast JP's last three JD videos is rather sad. Yeah, we get it, empty, boring, the singing sucks, blablabla. Why don't you spend your time shitting on bands many love listening to stuff you actually enjoy? Just listen to the fantastic Sound, or the IMO boring Comsat Angels. Do yourself a favor and stop listening to music you don't like, and ultimately stop trashing bands you couldn't care less about, but many people actually do.
You have no ears.
@@eboethrasher But I have a brain (that's the main thing). 😄
More empty, unfinished nonsense that sounds like it was played inside a well but recorded from outside. If you want something really good from this era, listen to the whole of Seventeen Seconds instead.
Completely agree. Seventeen Seconds by The Cure is a foggy and greyish album but something is happening, it is filled with emotion from beginning to end, while 40 years later I am still in search of those unknown pleasures that I have never found ! Joy Division is pretty damn overrated in my opinion.
Nonsense?! ah man, you're not ready
@@annother3350 Ready for what? emptiness ?
@@a.k.1740 People these days cant handle melancholy. This stands up with some of Siouxsie Sioux's best work
Produced by the drug addled and overrated Martin Hannett!
A true Joy Division classic, of course it;s a steaming pile of crap but it;s a classic as far as Joy Division are concerned