if you or someone you know owns this shirt, this comment section is your support group. leave condolences (and your favorite song off unknown pleasures) below
It’s maybe the most basic answer, but Disorder is still my fave because it’s one of those openers that instantly changed my whole world. Spot on as always. This was an emotional one! I’m still in my 20s, but you made me realize I haven’t stopped to appreciate how truly early we lost some of our most influential artists. I’d mourn people like Ian Curtis when I first learned about their tragic deaths in my teens, and since then I’ve gotten lost in their mythology instead of the sad reality. SO crazy to be reminded that I’m quickly passing them in age, one by one. 😢❤
Joy Division, now you are talking. One my fondest memories is seeing Joy Division when they played at my university. The crowd was a bit thin on the ground and were pretty indifferent to the band. My mates and I loved them. The famous DJ John Peel played Joy Division constantly on his late night radio show and the UK music press adored them. After the gig we went to the bar for a drink or two, you know, like you do and to our complete surprise, all four members of the band were standing there. We went up to them and had a couple of drinks with them. They were friendly, down to earth guys. I got my copy of Unknown Pleasure and all of them signed the inner sleeve. You would not believe how many offers I have had for that record over the past 44 years or so. Incredible amounts in some cases, but I won't part with it. 'Unknown Pleasures' and 'Closer' are such a big part of my life.
never ever part with that copy of unknown pleasures! that’s a wonderful story. all the guys seemed great from their interviews i’ve seen, i’m glad they were just as much after your show
A great quote I read in an interview with Bernard regarding the lyrics: All the bands at the time were singing about how the world was f**ked up. Ian was the first to sing Hey...I'm f*ked up.
As an old guy, I've developed a strange relationship with 1979. It was an odd moment in time, with a foot in two worlds (much like me as a fourteen year-old, I guess). Albums like ^ this and "London Calling" were coming out alongside the last gasps of relevance from Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, Wings, the Bee Gees, and Pink Floyd- all acts that released huge curtain calls of some sort in 1979. "Alien" and "Star Trek: the Motion Picture", "Mad Max", "Rock and Roll High School"...and yet also "The Muppet Movie" and "1941"; the death rattles of New Hollywood, like "Kramer vs. Kramer". FM radio got really different. Animation and comic books and sci-fi were finding communities, but the Hulk and Spider-Man were selling Twinkies. You could walk into a drugstore and buy "Heavy Metal", "Creepy" and "Eerie", and 2,000 Harlequin romance novels. And porn. And model kits of the "Dukes of Hazzard" Charger. And the Cliff's Notes to "Ivanhoe". (And candy cigarettes). It was all so...1979. Everything was out there, but you had to leave the house and look for it on foot.
@Pete Testube The basic formats just seemed to get more extreme and focused and have less overlap. In a big market like Atlanta, you had AOR, MOR, and Top 40 for the suburban white kids, around the 93-98 parts of the dial; up in the low 100s there'd be a more inner city R&B station, and then the new stuff (like Joy Division) would be on the college stations at the low end of the dial (88-90). It seemed like for years you'd sometimes hear two stations playing the same song- maybe James Taylor or Linda Ronstadt- but then, not so much. The former Top 40 was just Donna Summer or ONJ or Michael Jackson, etc.; MOR was Billy Joel, ELO, or Wings, etc., AOR was Led Zeppelin, the Who, Queen, with newer stuff like the Clash and Elvis Costello edging in. It seemed to become a little less common for anyone to just listen to everything. Just my perception from the time.
I work in Salford and live in Manchester. Salford is kind of the New Jersey to New York with many people calling it ‘Manchester’ but Salford is actually a city in its own right. I grew up going to all the ‘indie’ clubs in Manchester with so much music from the Manchester/Salford areas being played all night. I actually went watching New Order back in 2012!
I grew up in the UK around release, and...yeah.This album sounds like the cold, dark, broke era ,weirdly magic and damply depressing at the same time. Also yes, electricity was cheaper at night. It was a heating/economic disaster thing.
A review of Joy Division’s unannounced surprise performance at The Rainbow Club on April 4, 1980 (a little over a month before Ian Curtis’ death), Neil Norman of New Musical Express (NME) ended his review of the show with probably one of the best sentences in all of rock journalism: “Unlike The Fall, who make me want to go out and kick a cat, Joy Division convince me I could spit in the face of God."
I knew Ian was young when he died, but seeing you talk about it really hits home just how young he really was. I'm only 28, so I'm still pretty young, but I'm half a decade older than poor Ian ever got to be, and that's a sobering thought. Great video as always, your content stands out amongst a heap of shallow music content on UA-cam for the depth of analysis and insight you display, keep up the good work aye.
The only album that I've had an "out-of-body" experience to (without any drugs being involved). John Peel had played "Shadowplay" on the radio prior to its general release, and I went down to order it from my record store. As I lay on my floor, and put on "Disorder", my body literally floated up to the ceiling, and my mind shot into outer space. I was only 13 at the time! "New Dawn Fades" is probably my favourite track. (p.s. In Britain, there was a pretty big following for Joy Division before Ian's death).
Nice, been waiting for this one. Went to a wedding this weekend and pulled out the Ian Curtis dance moves, everyone thought it was crazy and said it was good. I love how he danced.
Simple to say, i knew it! Thank you for this episode, yesterday was putting roses in my Uncle's grave and passed up to put roses into Ian Curtis' grave too
These vids are amazing. I really hope you get big because the way you go about producing content is so organic and original, it’s something the world could definitely use more of right now. I look forward to all the videos you put out whether I know the record or not, which is a testament to how interesting and top quality your vids are! Thank you so much for what you do!
Do I love this music. No. Does the world need this music. Yes . Brave and truthful with strange soundscapes ( warming to it). Hook's playing comes from somewhere inside and not from any manual. The way this channel integrates life experiences, memories with music is spellbinding: journeys.Three of these musicians would later find themselves giving us ' Oh you've got green eyes, Oh you've got blue eyes , Oh you've got grey eyes ': what a journey that is.
yes but those 3 musicians also gave us "bizarre love triangle" and "angel dust," brotherhood is an incredible record. i'm really glad i could capture the journey of life and music with this one, thank you so much. that means a lot
Ick. When I was 23, I was listening to Yes and Genesis, and trying to avoid Fleetwood Mac. I heard Unknown Pleasures when I was, like, 29. It really hit the spot. I was also listening to the other "Spooky bands", like the Comsat Angels, U2, Echo and the Bunnymen and Wire, at the time, too.
I like my Love Will Tear Us Apart shirt Wore it in 1981. Joy Division were underground then Joy Division took off as Joy Division with Closer The genre they created industrial Head of the Manchester scene
Many of IC's lyrics were about love lost or love in doubt. i'm soon 57 and I'm still in that place. That grabs you equally as the guitar riffs, the high bass and the sensational kraut drums. Your take on the album is a spoken word classic. Thank you.
After watching this video I watched the film "Control" today. A short sad life for Ian Curtis. He seemed ill-equipped to be leading the life of a public figure. I got insight into his circumstances but not what was going on in his head, his thoughts & plans. Glad we still have the music. In '79 I got stationed in England and was aware of Joy Division's hit singles but not their albums until much later. I was getting into New Wave and hadn't even discovered Prog Rock yet. There was so much new music.
I got into Joy Division in 1986 by blind-purchasing their Atmosphere 12" with SLC on the back. I have a Factus 1 pressing bought new, but it did not come with any other unknown pleasures than the record itself! I have a fan book from back then, too. Highly recommend both this and Closer, and Substance (which came out later! I'd bought bootlegs to get those songs!). Still's first half is also great. I worked at a dealership back then, and used to annoy my co-workers by blasting this music in my bay! So much concrete reverberation! You taught me a lot of things I didn't know in this video, so bravo. Cheers ETA - favorite song - Insight. Another fact: Joy Division couldn't keep up with demand and could only print 10,000 copies of UP at a time, and had to wait for monies to come in to fund the next repressing. This meant it was frequently unavailable, which also hurt sales.
Found this album at 14 years old and am now 25. I will still classify this at my favorite album ever. This album opened up the doors to music that came out prior to my existence. The lyricism on this album is also so dark and morbid, yet so beautiful. I'm actually thinking of getting an Ian Curtis tattoo! With regards to the video? You killed it! Keep up the good work. You earned my subscription :)
Thank you. I heard this only once in my favorite record store. On multiple occasions I bought what they were playing while I was in shopping and going thru the cut out bind. What caught my attention was that Doors/Morrison sound from the record. UNFORTUNATELY, this was a near miss. The only copy that the record store had was the one that was playing. I left without it and it dropped off my radar. So I get to rely on you to tell me what I missed. The Morrison wasn't only a similarity to Jim's voice, but that speaking in an empty studio feeling that was a part of American Prayer, Morrison's poetry album. A metaphysical aloneness. I'll have to give it a few listens. I'm 45 years away from that album addict who crossed paths with Joy Division. I still hear what I heard long ago. I'll see if I can raise the dead. I was never a real fan of Punk. It's a very long crawl from prog to punk.
This wasn't my first Joy division album but it became my favorite, and eventually the favorite tape when I was driving to and from work. It's a great album to wallow in depression in. I can't imagine ever forgetting a word of it to be honest but I listened to it a lot longer than just college. Enjoyed your review!
You manage to bridge the yawning abyss of time and geography and, quite simply, get this album and get this band. That they achieved this, Closer, and followed on with the monumental works of New Order at such tender ages is beyond comprehension. Liked, subscribed, and eager to see what you do next. Many thanks.
I'm now 60 years young and on the floor of the Glasgow Apollo theatre October 1979 aged 16 and going to a Buzzcocks gig the support band were Joy Division. They had menace and passion, tectonic plates were moving. I enjoyed your review.
This is my second favorite post punk/Coldwave album. My first is Borderlines by a French group from the 80s called Asylum Party. It's a rare album so it's about $80 usd, but definitely worth picking up. You won't be disappointed Unknown Pleasures is, to me, an unsung masterpiece finally getting the recognition it deserves. People complain your generation is ruining music but that couldn't be farther from the truth. You're saving it. I would have never heard of Asylum Party, or Joy Division if it wasn't for a girl around your age that introduced me to them at work. So much great music in so many genres are coming out today you just need to know where to look.
Strawberry Studios was a really beautiful state of the art studio. It was built by 10cc .I'm Not In Love was recorded in Strawberry. I guess it was cheaper at night because it was down time. Captain and Tannille also recorded Love Will Keep Us Together there.
Great episode. Thanks for not laboring on the Nazi sex camps that the joy division name comes from - that seems to overrun every discussion that this album inspires. I first learned of this album as a teen in the mid 80s at a party that had Chicago skinheads at it. My introduction to this album was through these cats who glorified joy division as a pro-Nazi band. I wasn’t informed enough at the time to argue for or against that claim, but after doing some research I came down on the side that the band was just morbid and obsessed with finding pleasure and a reason to live in a doomed reality (which is what the sex slaves in the nazi camps needed to do). Find pleasure for themselves to continue with life, help find pleasure for other concentration camp prisoners, and maybe even find pleasure for their abusers in a Stockholm syndrome sort of way, who knows. But this idea that sex or music or art can serve as a temporary reprise from the agony of conscious existence that some terrible souls have, seems to be a theme of the band joy division - and I think it is a great name.
i saw..joy Division twice at erics club in Liverpool when i was 14 in 1978 they were brilliant, the other time was.supporting Magazine before they changed.their name from Warsaw to joy division
Yeah thanks for the reply I'm a big fan I've been collecting records since I was 9 that's 50years man your reviews are great we love em love from max and Tonia in Liverpool england
Another fantastic episode! You're absolutely right - I don't know the album, but I do know it. I've never listened to it (I'm more of a Beatles-era head), but I stock it in my record shop. And you know what? This is the first time I've been tempted to listen to it... you make a compelling case! And hats off for calling out the mythologisation of early death. I think a lot of rock fans find it too easy to convert early death into 'cool' or 'legitimacy'; but these guys were so young, and they were just people who learned to play musical instruments, they weren't martyrs or saints or anything like that. I'd never listened to Ian's speaking voice before, but I looked up an interview and he sounds like a sweet kid. Such a shame.
it's far outside our usual realm of the beatles era but it's worth a try! it makes the 80s alt boom make 1000% more sense it's very important to me to humanize musicians, especially those like ian who never got the chance to lay out their own legacies. they really were just like us
Another nice surprise. Thank you Abigail. I love all about Joy Division/New Order two of my favorite Alternative bands ever, also love most of the early Post Punk, dark bands especially JD, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, Ultravox, XTC, Visage, Blondie, Talking Heads, Love & Rockets, Echo & the Bunnymen, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, This Mortal Coil, etc.
Nice to see that someone so young knows about this album. I was never much into Joy Division, but my friend/co-author George was. He used to play them on his "Rock and Roll Alternative" show on KZEW-FM when this first came out, and was probably the only person in America playing them on the radio. He's one of the chief people to thank for anyone ever hearing about this album.
I’m older and first got into Joy Division in the late 80s in the last year of high school. They have been the foundation of my taste in music ever since. Yes I have the t-shirt and New Dawn Fades is my favorite song.
Hell yeah Joy Division, the First album was of course amazing but everyone seems to forget or don't listen to their second album Closer. Not as a masterpiece as Unknown Pleasures but it's still a good listen. It's really sad Ian Curtis passed away so early in his career.
Closer is my favorite album of all time. Ian was actually singing about what was going on in his life as opposed to others. Plus they sound like they'd improved with their instruments. And Decades is a masterpiece.
As much as I absolutely love Unknown Pleasures, I love all JD, I listen to Closer more often because it is just much more honest and better. The RCA tracks are also more honest. I get why Sumner and Hook don't like what Hannett did to Unknown Pleasures.
@@b.y.2460 Closer? I bought it on cassette around Christmas 1990 and it was an incredible experience. I loved New Order first (still do) but wanted to hear what Joy Division was all about. Before that, my only exposure to Joy Division had been the video for Atmosphere and Swans cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart. Closer is a work of art.
It is so cool to see you covering some post punk. This album is so mythical, even if you don't like it you can recognized it immediately! Hope you make some more post punk like the early U2, siouxsie and the banshees, kino, or the cure :D but this is an amazing video!
To my mind this album paints pictures of the cold war and the repressive states of Eastern Europe. Emotionally its a sad but full on experience that few if any other albums have ever visited.
It was my understanding that the image was picked out by either Sumner or Morris, although Sumner claims he was captivated by it cause it reminded him of the monolith from 2001, a movie he used to watch a lot because of his insomnia at the time.
This is definitely one of my favorite episodes yet. You have a way of drawing us into these albums like no one else on UA-cam. And as far as next week's episode goes. It's going to be a long 7-days wait to see your take on the greatest album of the late 60s (imo). So looking forward to that one.
I used to be really big into Joy Division in the late nineties when I would let myself wander into some really deep dark waters. As an older person now, I can't let myself feel like that anymore. Yeah, I survived but surviving might actually be the easy way out? Otherwise, there's nothing quite like their technically efficient somewhat minimal dare I say 'compartmentalized' sound. I think the word I'm actually looking for here is 'modular?' It's immediate and primal. It's state of the art at a time when there was no art really worth talking about. It's in your face even while it holds you at a distance. I'll have to check to see if my life like love doll showed-up in the mail today (laughs). I think Nico's "Camera Obscura", Iggy Pop's "The Idiot" and Lydia Lunch's "13.13" occupy a similar space.
Definitely one of the darkest and most mysterious Goth albums ever done, as well as one of the best. It's hard to know how far this band would have gone on, if not for the untimely loss of Ian. But I've gotta say, I love that shirt, and the wicked design of that debut album cover.
Great insights yet again! After "Odessey...", "Condiment Sarge...", "Almost Famous", "Sheer Heart Attack", and Led Zep's first pillaging of blues classics, this is the one that earns you my subscription. That's the least you deserve and I want to treat myself to. Well done, young lady! And I can only hope you keep the enthusiasm alive to continue this beautiful journey. As for me, it is on to the MC 5 video!
Been away for a few days. Boygenius - one day, I had never heard them. 2 weeks later I’ve dug into everything they’ve done. Ok Miss Abigail, you’ve done it again. My personal music curator!
As always, a good one, Abby. Love the connection with the Doors, that's what I had heard or thought at some point too. I got this first on cassette tape, circa 1982 - this album cover looked very nice on tape, as I recall. Also, I recall that I bought this due to a comparison with heavy metal music in a book like the Rolling Stone Record Guide (the blue second edition - hope you have either the red or blue ones, they sucked after that. And hey, the Spin book was good and in my head, the Creem book would be the best). My late 1980s - pre-Teen Spirit years "I will make you a mixtape" persona could never find places in my tapes for Joy Division. An incongruent feeling maybe with the vocals and felt the same about Sonic Youth, this being pre-Goo-times. Yet somehow it was OK to slide the Stooges & Kennedys alongside Simon & G or Aretha. My tapes were eventually full of the stuff by mid-decade after more exposure thanks to CD technology and Tower Records becoming local, while my local high school record haunts quietly bit the dust...if I knew then what I do now... Also, Porl (guitar dude in the Cure) kinda stole from Peter Hook and by mid-90s that became obvi to me. My opinion is that Peter Hook is the magical something that made them special - at least to me and my fretting hand. Alternate universe - Arty Garfunkel sings an AI duo with Ian C - "Mrs. Robinson Lost Control, "The Boxer Will Tear Us Apart, "Dead Souls, Rosemary & Thyme." Hannett had a cool sound. Seek out the stuff he did with Magazine - a very underappreciated group. A good exercise is to place Joy Division in the same environment/context as Magazine and Gang Of Four - even Ultravox, kinda - of the final years of the 70s. Then maybe land yer helicopter over in Cleveland and Ubu me, please! Somehow, "Sentimental Journey," from The Modern Dance felt like it had astral threads over to Unknown Pleasures, I think. I have no idea what any of the 19-whatever-year-olds me were thinking either. Screw them! Looks like we have some Stooges in our future...ehhh? Somewhere in yet another alternate metaverse, Martin, Ken Hamman, Connie Plank and Hugh Padgham are all wringing their hands and laughing at the magic potion they made us all drink.
Favourite songs 🎵 on the album are She's lost control and Shadowplay which are perfectly recorded by Martin Hannett 👌 Also Granada TV in Manchester recorded them perfectly on So It Goes and Granada Reports teatime evening programme with Bob Greaves and Tony Wilson 👏 One of my favourite bands ever and your review is one of your best yet.
I think you are a very cool young lady because you buy albums and like Joy Division. I am a lot older than you and collecting music and music t shirts is two hobbies I enjoy. My favorite places to go is to a music store and I like shopping if my health permits it. I have really enjoyed this video and I will watch you again I am always looking for music I never heard. UA-cam and other sites entertain me when I don't feel well. Keep up the good work.
Hi!!! I’m Vasilis or Bill from Greece. You ‘ve got such a great collection!!! All are classics and musts for every serious collector. My favourite decade is 1965-1975. My favourite genre is the psychedelic rock-folk-protoprog and krautrock. Keep rolling ….till next video, PEACE AND HAPPINESS!!!!
Electricity was indeed slightly cheaper in the evening in Britain. It was also the case with phoning people after 6pm. I vaguely remember it still going on into the early nineties. Fantastic vid by the way.
I do have an Unknown Pleasures 👕 & my favorite song is closing track I Remember Nothing. A year after Unknown Pleasures was originally released , Talking Heads " borrowed " the track in mood from Joy Division ➗️ to close out their excellent Remain In Light album. Their song is called The Overload. Love Quincy Jones & Qwest Records 👍
Overload is a weird one, isn't it? Remain in light is a killer talking heads release, but it's unusual to for them to try to 'be' another band. Byrne has claimed they'd 'heard of', but not actually 'heard' Joy Division, and made a track they thought would sound like them... Sounds a bit fishy to me, but it's a good song, sounds a bit odd with the rest of Remain in Light
I first heard it in 1985, it sounded reletness in its bleak outlook then and still does It might even be a dangerous record to listen to if your an insular introvert but in a strange way it gave me hope. New Dawn Fades is probably the most beautifully sad and desolate song i will ever hear.
Dearest dearest Abby: how human you are! In 1979 my uncle was obsessed with this record. Just obsessed. Incidentally his previous favorite was....electric ladyland. I didn't get JD until around 1986 when I was 18. I actually have that same pressing as yours except I have the proper inner sleeve. I didn't know that the cover was blue. I must look at it closer. In the sunshine. I read that Bernie and the boys weren't positive at all about the sound of the album. All the space that Martin added, they thought, knocked the hard edges off. They considered themselves a loud and heavy band. If you listen to the single mix of 'She's Lost Control', that's how they heard themselves. Harsh and loud. It took many years for Bernie to appreciate what Martin had done for them with that record. My faves: New Dawn Fades. I Remember Nothing. Other favorite songs: The Eternal. Dead Souls. What do they say about my untreated mental state?
I remember backtracking all the records New Order did before Confusion. It was music to my ears quite literally. I remember reading one of their books at a bookstore only to realise that New Order were in fact Joy Division. Searched and bought Joy Division records, even more music to my ears. I love Joy Division more than New Order
I was 17 when came out I didn't come across it until I was 20 and it resinated with me at the time. I'm 60 now and it seems a bit heavy now but its still a favorite of mine.
I had a time in my life that I really liked this album and listened to it frequently. One thing I don't think I saw anyone else mention yet, is that a piece of my initial reason to check it out was the recommended listening list/essay in the old Vampire: the Masquerade Storyteller's Handbook. It lists four individual tracks "She's Lost Control Again" and "Day of the Lords" are the first two I can recall. When it gets to the fourth individual song recommended scattered among recommendations for Bauhaus, the Cure, Dead Kennedys, and Metallica, the author says just play the whole damn album.
If anyone is interested in the history of music in Manchester, especially Joy Division, I’d definitely recommend watching ‘24 hour party people’, it follows the manager of Joy Division, talks about concerts and club culture in Manchester in the 80s/90s
Yessss, Joy Division! They're one of the bands that inspired me to pick up bass. Eta: I turned 24 last month. Wild that I'm older than him. He went way too early.
UK person here - electricity is indeed cheaper at night! I don't know if that would affect studio pricing but it wouldn't surprise me much, especially if the arrangement was more informal or haggled. Great ep btw!
I love this latest run of videos you've been making! I have the same shirt, and I'm embarrassed to say that I hadn't listened to Joy Division before getting it. I'm one of *those* people. The album is a hard listen for me, but there's no denying its genius
I’ve always been a Closer guy. I actually knew Substance first, then Closer and then Unknown Pleasures. At first I didn’t connect with it, it’s just so cold and dark. My appreciation grew over the years, but it doesn’t occupy the same place in my personal hall of fame as Closer. Oh and it’s funny how when you’re in your 20’s, a few years seems like a decade. I was the same way. It seemed like an eternity took place for me between age 17 and 23..
I always assumed that "I've been waiting for a guide to come to take me by the hand" was a literary reference from Dante's Inferno, where the singer is waiting for their Virgil to guide them through hell.
I randomly watched this vid a couple of days ago. I really had never listened to JD that much, but I knew they morphed into new order which is one of my favorites. Today I walked into a pawn shop that has a small record section, and sitting right there in plain sight was a used 2006 repress from Germany of this record, very good condition. I brought it home, and can’t wait to play it. I’ve never seen this record used at any record store before, especially around where I live! Was this some kind of omen or magic ? Maybe!
Thanks for sharing. Decades ago in college, I was friends with a New Order/Duran Duran Girl who might've led me to Joy Division (not certain). Anyway, this made me think of her. Favorite tracks on "Unknown Pleasures": "Disorder," "She's Lost Control," "I Remember Nothing" (used well in a documentary about John Belushi); "Shadowplay" (especially for the guitar solo at the end). Shawn R., Mo-Mutt Music/Sacred & Secular
My favorite song of Unknown Pleasures is 'She's Lost Control Again'.. I looove the melody & the lyrics....... I can't wait for the next Vinyl Monday or Friday,we don't know, but really???? Jimi Hendrix album????? whowwwww......😃😃😃😃😃
Loved this review, so full of honest insights into your own experience of this album through the years. It stands out from almost every album ever made a single moment captured like a super nova never before and never since seen again. You really need to seek out a UK first pressing though because it is an amazing experience just like being in that recording studio. Thanks Abigail..!
Abby, I appreciate that you haven’t worn this shirt since college, but that was like 2 years ago. I own a shirt I bought in high school , 45 years ago. Demented and sad, but social.
Joy Division.... I was a late comer to them, only getting into them in 1981, but that was an excellent review Abbie. I've owned around 5 or 6 JD T-Shirts in my time, 2 of them Unknown Pleasures ones. One thing that was not exactly correct, Pete Hook sang lead on Interzone, Ian was on the backing vocals. The reason Hannett wanted to record at night, was purely down to his drug habit. He would spend most of the day scoring smack, and would only be in a fit state in the evenings, also he wanted the atmosphere of recording at night..... It was all part of his master plan for Joy Division.
I own a t- shirt that is the same as yours. I bought it because I like Joy Division. I don't own a copy of Unknown Pleasures. I'm in my sixties, and was into Punk Rock 🧷 in the late 1970s. My favorite group were British Band the Damned. I purchased a copy of Joy Divisions excellent album Closer in 1980. Their song Love will tear us Apart reached the top of our pop charts at the beginning of 1981. After Ian Curtis's tragic suicide in 1980, the group New Order were formed. I saw them in concert in 1983 here in New Zealand where I live.
For my money, this is your best episode yet, rivaled only by the “Wish You Were Here” video. Just my opinion. I’m also beginning to realize on a different level why I keep coming back. It’s not just that you have deep knowledge of these albums. It’s that you have deep understanding. And the way you articulate it is right up there with the most intelligent no-heads-up-their-asses critics. Your personal segues in both this and the WYWH review are captivating because they so thoroughly tie in with the music you’re talking about. I’m really hoping that the members of boygenius see the episode you did on them. How could they not love it? THANK YOU for being so compassionate with Ian Curtis. The guy had fully understandable reasons for doing what he did. I was hoping for a punk rock nosebleed, but the episode apart from that is so excellent I will overlook not getting one. My favorite song is “She’s Lost Control,” which I think is about Ian’s own epilepsy.
this whole comment means so much to me, thank you so much. unknown pleasures was similarly tangled with my personal history as WYWH was, for similar reasons. i'll never totally understand the music these guys made, but i can try to weave it in with the life i know. i'm very sorry for not getting a nosebleed. i'll try harder next time.
I have so many Joy Division/New Order CD'S and albums. Mojo and Q magazines relating to both bands. DVD's. Thanks to Hooky I play the bass. I love the irony that Barney and Hooky don't like Unknown Pleasures but Closer is one of Peter's favorite albums.
if you or someone you know owns this shirt, this comment section is your support group. leave condolences (and your favorite song off unknown pleasures) below
I own one and actually just because of this video am going to use it for work today. Fav song is day of the lords
I own the 40th anniversary edition of the shirt from the brand "Springfield", condolences to myself.
my favourite song off the album is Shadowplay
Eye! I own one and I think I wear it every week (and yes im on my fifth year of college). My favorite song is New Dawn Fades
My favorite is Day of the Lords
It’s maybe the most basic answer, but Disorder is still my fave because it’s one of those openers that instantly changed my whole world.
Spot on as always. This was an emotional one! I’m still in my 20s, but you made me realize I haven’t stopped to appreciate how truly early we lost some of our most influential artists. I’d mourn people like Ian Curtis when I first learned about their tragic deaths in my teens, and since then I’ve gotten lost in their mythology instead of the sad reality. SO crazy to be reminded that I’m quickly passing them in age, one by one. 😢❤
Joy Division, now you are talking. One my fondest memories is seeing Joy Division when they played at my university. The crowd was a bit thin on the ground and were pretty indifferent to the band. My mates and I loved them. The famous DJ John Peel played Joy Division constantly on his late night radio show and the UK music press adored them. After the gig we went to the bar for a drink or two, you know, like you do and to our complete surprise, all four members of the band were standing there. We went up to them and had a couple of drinks with them. They were friendly, down to earth guys. I got my copy of Unknown Pleasure and all of them signed the inner sleeve. You would not believe how many offers I have had for that record over the past 44 years or so. Incredible amounts in some cases, but I won't part with it. 'Unknown Pleasures' and 'Closer' are such a big part of my life.
never ever part with that copy of unknown pleasures! that’s a wonderful story. all the guys seemed great from their interviews i’ve seen, i’m glad they were just as much after your show
''New Dawn Fades''...this will be the epitaph on my gravestone. Possibly the top suicide song ever. A very moving track.
@@bimmeroo0906 I hope you don't need a tombstone any time soon. " New Dawn Fades" is a great song though.
don't ever sell your signed copy, i regret selling my Road To Ruin, Ramones LP that was signed by all 4 original members.
@@bimmeroo0906 "Novelty " for me
What are you gonna do when the Novelty is over ? we all have to answer that question eventually.
A great quote I read in an interview with Bernard regarding the lyrics: All the bands at the time were singing about how the world was f**ked up. Ian was the first to sing Hey...I'm f*ked up.
Atmosphere was and is one of the most beautiful songs
INDEED
"Though a lot of this record sounds like a death march"..... I think Closer gets that award.
As an old guy, I've developed a strange relationship with 1979. It was an odd moment in time, with a foot in two worlds (much like me as a fourteen year-old, I guess). Albums like ^ this and "London Calling" were coming out alongside the last gasps of relevance from Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, Wings, the Bee Gees, and Pink Floyd- all acts that released huge curtain calls of some sort in 1979. "Alien" and "Star Trek: the Motion Picture", "Mad Max", "Rock and Roll High School"...and yet also "The Muppet Movie" and "1941"; the death rattles of New Hollywood, like "Kramer vs. Kramer". FM radio got really different. Animation and comic books and sci-fi were finding communities, but the Hulk and Spider-Man were selling Twinkies. You could walk into a drugstore and buy "Heavy Metal", "Creepy" and "Eerie", and 2,000 Harlequin romance novels. And porn. And model kits of the "Dukes of Hazzard" Charger. And the Cliff's Notes to "Ivanhoe". (And candy cigarettes). It was all so...1979. Everything was out there, but you had to leave the house and look for it on foot.
@Pete Testube The basic formats just seemed to get more extreme and focused and have less overlap. In a big market like Atlanta, you had AOR, MOR, and Top 40 for the suburban white kids, around the 93-98 parts of the dial; up in the low 100s there'd be a more inner city R&B station, and then the new stuff (like Joy Division) would be on the college stations at the low end of the dial (88-90). It seemed like for years you'd sometimes hear two stations playing the same song- maybe James Taylor or Linda Ronstadt- but then, not so much. The former Top 40 was just Donna Summer or ONJ or Michael Jackson, etc.; MOR was Billy Joel, ELO, or Wings, etc., AOR was Led Zeppelin, the Who, Queen, with newer stuff like the Clash and Elvis Costello edging in. It seemed to become a little less common for anyone to just listen to everything. Just my perception from the time.
Unknown pleasures is fantastic but closer is the masterpiece
Their third album would have been even better.
STILL IS THE BEST,THE LIVE CONCERT IS WAT IT IS IN AL ITS LONELELYNES
I agree. Closer for me.
@@TheRogerBarrettYou mean Movement? Because New Order’s debut is just that
I work in Salford and live in Manchester. Salford is kind of the New Jersey to New York with many people calling it ‘Manchester’ but Salford is actually a city in its own right. I grew up going to all the ‘indie’ clubs in Manchester with so much music from the Manchester/Salford areas being played all night. I actually went watching New Order back in 2012!
I grew up in the UK around release, and...yeah.This album sounds like the cold, dark, broke era ,weirdly magic and damply depressing at the same time. Also yes, electricity was cheaper at night. It was a heating/economic disaster thing.
Painful and beautiful vid. So great. Really understands the time Joy Division was king.
A review of Joy Division’s unannounced surprise performance at The Rainbow Club on April 4, 1980 (a little over a month before Ian Curtis’ death), Neil Norman of New Musical Express (NME) ended his review of the show with probably one of the best sentences in all of rock journalism: “Unlike The Fall, who make me want to go out and kick a cat, Joy Division convince me I could spit in the face of God."
I knew Ian was young when he died, but seeing you talk about it really hits home just how young he really was. I'm only 28, so I'm still pretty young, but I'm half a decade older than poor Ian ever got to be, and that's a sobering thought. Great video as always, your content stands out amongst a heap of shallow music content on UA-cam for the depth of analysis and insight you display, keep up the good work aye.
The only album that I've had an "out-of-body" experience to (without any drugs being involved). John Peel had played "Shadowplay" on the radio prior to its general release, and I went down to order it from my record store. As I lay on my floor, and put on "Disorder", my body literally floated up to the ceiling, and my mind shot into outer space. I was only 13 at the time! "New Dawn Fades" is probably my favourite track. (p.s. In Britain, there was a pretty big following for Joy Division before Ian's death).
Nice, been waiting for this one. Went to a wedding this weekend and pulled out the Ian Curtis dance moves, everyone thought it was crazy and said it was good. I love how he danced.
that is legendary, i hope that makes it into the happy couple's wedding photo album. weddings are incomplete without at least one ian curtis dance
Simple to say, i knew it! Thank you for this episode, yesterday was putting roses in my Uncle's grave and passed up to put roses into Ian Curtis' grave too
These vids are amazing. I really hope you get big because the way you go about producing content is so organic and original, it’s something the world could definitely use more of right now.
I look forward to all the videos you put out whether I know the record or not, which is a testament to how interesting and top quality your vids are! Thank you so much for what you do!
thank you so much! i hope to keep people coming back every week regardless of if they know the record or not
Do I love this music. No. Does the world need this music. Yes . Brave and truthful with strange soundscapes ( warming to it). Hook's playing comes from somewhere inside and not from any manual.
The way this channel integrates life experiences, memories with music is spellbinding: journeys.Three of these musicians would later find themselves giving us ' Oh you've got green eyes, Oh you've got blue eyes , Oh you've got grey eyes ': what a journey that is.
yes but those 3 musicians also gave us "bizarre love triangle" and "angel dust," brotherhood is an incredible record.
i'm really glad i could capture the journey of life and music with this one, thank you so much. that means a lot
Yep and Temptation live is better than anything by JD or anyone else.
Ick. When I was 23, I was listening to Yes and Genesis, and trying to avoid Fleetwood Mac. I heard Unknown Pleasures when I was, like, 29. It really hit the spot. I was also listening to the other "Spooky bands", like the Comsat Angels, U2, Echo and the Bunnymen and Wire, at the time, too.
I like my Love Will Tear Us Apart shirt
Wore it in 1981. Joy Division were underground then
Joy Division took off as Joy Division with Closer
The genre they created industrial
Head of the Manchester scene
Many of IC's lyrics were about love lost or love in doubt. i'm soon 57 and I'm still in that place. That grabs you equally as the guitar riffs, the high bass and the sensational kraut drums. Your take on the album is a spoken word classic. Thank you.
After watching this video I watched the film "Control" today. A short sad life for Ian Curtis. He seemed ill-equipped to be leading the life of a public figure. I got insight into his circumstances but not what was going on in his head, his thoughts & plans.
Glad we still have the music. In '79 I got stationed in England and was aware of Joy Division's hit singles but not their albums until much later. I was getting into New Wave and hadn't even discovered Prog Rock yet. There was so much new music.
I got into Joy Division in 1986 by blind-purchasing their Atmosphere 12" with SLC on the back. I have a Factus 1 pressing bought new, but it did not come with any other unknown pleasures than the record itself! I have a fan book from back then, too. Highly recommend both this and Closer, and Substance (which came out later! I'd bought bootlegs to get those songs!). Still's first half is also great. I worked at a dealership back then, and used to annoy my co-workers by blasting this music in my bay! So much concrete reverberation! You taught me a lot of things I didn't know in this video, so bravo. Cheers
ETA - favorite song - Insight. Another fact: Joy Division couldn't keep up with demand and could only print 10,000 copies of UP at a time, and had to wait for monies to come in to fund the next repressing. This meant it was frequently unavailable, which also hurt sales.
Found this album at 14 years old and am now 25. I will still classify this at my favorite album ever. This album opened up the doors to music that came out prior to my existence. The lyricism on this album is also so dark and morbid, yet so beautiful. I'm actually thinking of getting an Ian Curtis tattoo!
With regards to the video? You killed it! Keep up the good work. You earned my subscription :)
I've played bass my whole life...Hook is a legend
Thank you. I heard this only once in my favorite record store. On multiple occasions I bought what they were playing while I was in shopping and going thru the cut out bind. What caught my attention was that Doors/Morrison sound from the record. UNFORTUNATELY, this was a near miss. The only copy that the record store had was the one that was playing. I left without it and it dropped off my radar. So I get to rely on you to tell me what I missed.
The Morrison wasn't only a similarity to Jim's voice, but that speaking in an empty studio feeling that was a part of American Prayer, Morrison's poetry album. A metaphysical aloneness. I'll have to give it a few listens. I'm 45 years away from that album addict who crossed paths with Joy Division. I still hear what I heard long ago. I'll see if I can raise the dead. I was never a real fan of Punk. It's a very long crawl from prog to punk.
You are awesome Abi! Your content on this channel is exceptional, informative yet personal. You deserve every subscriber.
thank you so much!
This album is in my top ten favorite albums
This wasn't my first Joy division album but it became my favorite, and eventually the favorite tape when I was driving to and from work. It's a great album to wallow in depression in. I can't imagine ever forgetting a word of it to be honest but I listened to it a lot longer than just college. Enjoyed your review!
You manage to bridge the yawning abyss of time and geography and, quite simply, get this album and get this band. That they achieved this, Closer, and followed on with the monumental works of New Order at such tender ages is beyond comprehension. Liked, subscribed, and eager to see what you do next. Many thanks.
Excellent transmission! I love this album! Closer is great as well.
🖤🖤🖤 Closer. Great album.
I'm now 60 years young and on the floor of the Glasgow Apollo theatre October 1979 aged 16 and going to a Buzzcocks gig the support band were Joy Division. They had menace and passion, tectonic plates were moving. I enjoyed your review.
Yes!!!!! Disorder is one of my favorites
This is my second favorite post punk/Coldwave album. My first is Borderlines by a French group from the 80s called Asylum Party. It's a rare album so it's about $80 usd, but definitely worth picking up. You won't be disappointed
Unknown Pleasures is, to me, an unsung masterpiece finally getting the recognition it deserves. People complain your generation is ruining music but that couldn't be farther from the truth. You're saving it. I would have never heard of Asylum Party, or Joy Division if it wasn't for a girl around your age that introduced me to them at work. So much great music in so many genres are coming out today you just need to know where to look.
Strawberry Studios was a really beautiful state of the art studio. It was built by 10cc .I'm Not In Love was recorded in Strawberry. I guess it was cheaper at night because it was down time. Captain and Tannille also recorded Love Will Keep Us Together there.
Great episode. Thanks for not laboring on the Nazi sex camps that the joy division name comes from - that seems to overrun every discussion that this album inspires.
I first learned of this album as a teen in the mid 80s at a party that had Chicago skinheads at it. My introduction to this album was through these cats who glorified joy division as a pro-Nazi band.
I wasn’t informed enough at the time to argue for or against that claim, but after doing some research I came down on the side that the band was just morbid and obsessed with finding pleasure and a reason to live in a doomed reality (which is what the sex slaves in the nazi camps needed to do). Find pleasure for themselves to continue with life, help find pleasure for other concentration camp prisoners, and maybe even find pleasure for their abusers in a Stockholm syndrome sort of way, who knows. But this idea that sex or music or art can serve as a temporary reprise from the agony of conscious existence that some terrible souls have, seems to be a theme of the band joy division - and I think it is a great name.
i saw..joy Division twice at erics club in Liverpool when i was 14 in 1978 they were brilliant, the other time was.supporting Magazine before they changed.their name from Warsaw to joy division
wow you saw them as warsaw? that was a really early show you're so lucky!
Yeah thanks for the reply I'm a big fan I've been collecting records since I was 9 that's 50years man your reviews are great we love em love from max and Tonia in Liverpool england
Another fantastic episode! You're absolutely right - I don't know the album, but I do know it. I've never listened to it (I'm more of a Beatles-era head), but I stock it in my record shop. And you know what? This is the first time I've been tempted to listen to it... you make a compelling case!
And hats off for calling out the mythologisation of early death. I think a lot of rock fans find it too easy to convert early death into 'cool' or 'legitimacy'; but these guys were so young, and they were just people who learned to play musical instruments, they weren't martyrs or saints or anything like that. I'd never listened to Ian's speaking voice before, but I looked up an interview and he sounds like a sweet kid. Such a shame.
it's far outside our usual realm of the beatles era but it's worth a try! it makes the 80s alt boom make 1000% more sense
it's very important to me to humanize musicians, especially those like ian who never got the chance to lay out their own legacies. they really were just like us
Another nice surprise. Thank you Abigail. I love all about Joy Division/New Order two of my favorite Alternative bands ever, also love most of the early Post Punk, dark bands especially JD, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, Ultravox, XTC, Visage, Blondie, Talking Heads, Love & Rockets, Echo & the Bunnymen, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, This Mortal Coil, etc.
Your Vinyl content is something else. It is refreshing and so much fun. Keep it up!
thanks so much!
Nice to see that someone so young knows about this album. I was never much into Joy Division, but my friend/co-author George was. He used to play them on his "Rock and Roll Alternative" show on KZEW-FM when this first came out, and was probably the only person in America playing them on the radio. He's one of the chief people to thank for anyone ever hearing about this album.
I myself am 15, I managed to convert some people to the band :3
I bought this album when it came out in 1979. Still sounds great. That was a fabulous review thanks Abi.
Great album good taste nice collection
I’m older and first got into Joy Division in the late 80s in the last year of high school. They have been the foundation of my taste in music ever since.
Yes I have the t-shirt and New Dawn Fades is my favorite song.
Hell yeah Joy Division, the First album was of course amazing but everyone seems to forget or don't listen to their second album Closer.
Not as a masterpiece as Unknown Pleasures but it's still a good listen.
It's really sad Ian Curtis passed away so early in his career.
Not the first album. They did one for RCA that was not released.
Closer is my favorite album of all time. Ian was actually singing about what was going on in his life as opposed to others. Plus they sound like they'd improved with their instruments. And Decades is a masterpiece.
As much as I absolutely love Unknown Pleasures, I love all JD, I listen to Closer more often because it is just much more honest and better. The RCA tracks are also more honest. I get why Sumner and Hook don't like what Hannett did to Unknown Pleasures.
@@b.y.2460 Closer? I bought it on cassette around Christmas 1990 and it was an incredible experience. I loved New Order first (still do) but wanted to hear what Joy Division was all about. Before that, my only exposure to Joy Division had been the video for Atmosphere and Swans cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart. Closer is a work of art.
It is so cool to see you covering some post punk. This album is so mythical, even if you don't like it you can recognized it immediately!
Hope you make some more post punk like the early U2, siouxsie and the banshees, kino, or the cure :D but this is an amazing video!
To my mind this album paints pictures of the cold war and the repressive states of Eastern Europe. Emotionally its a sad but full on experience that few if any other albums have ever visited.
The masters Ian Curtis pure genius ❤
this is a good place to hear about music i've never heard
It was my understanding that the image was picked out by either Sumner or Morris, although Sumner claims he was captivated by it cause it reminded him of the monolith from 2001, a movie he used to watch a lot because of his insomnia at the time.
This is definitely one of my favorite episodes yet. You have a way of drawing us into these albums like no one else on UA-cam. And as far as next week's episode goes. It's going to be a long 7-days wait to see your take on the greatest album of the late 60s (imo). So looking forward to that one.
Oh. My. God. One of top ten favorites of all time! Can’t wait to hear what you have to say! I freakin’ LOVE Joy Division!
I used to be really big into Joy Division in the late nineties when I would let myself wander into some really deep dark waters. As an older person now, I can't let myself feel like that anymore. Yeah, I survived but surviving might actually be the easy way out? Otherwise, there's nothing quite like their technically efficient somewhat minimal dare I say 'compartmentalized' sound. I think the word I'm actually looking for here is 'modular?' It's immediate and primal. It's state of the art at a time when there was no art really worth talking about. It's in your face even while it holds you at a distance. I'll have to check to see if my life like love doll showed-up in the mail today (laughs). I think Nico's "Camera Obscura", Iggy Pop's "The Idiot" and Lydia Lunch's "13.13" occupy a similar space.
Great video, as always. Your charisma is epic, cheers 🍻🍻
thank you so much!
Thanks for keeping the music alive and well, Abby! Would love your take on Oranges and Lemons by XTC from 1989. I think you'd love it! Thanks!🎉
Definitely one of the darkest and most mysterious Goth albums ever done, as well as one of the best.
It's hard to know how far this band would have gone on, if not for the untimely loss of Ian. But I've gotta say, I love that shirt, and the wicked design of that debut album cover.
Got the Fact 10 sleeve with the lovely white inner.
Great insights yet again! After "Odessey...", "Condiment Sarge...", "Almost Famous", "Sheer Heart Attack", and Led Zep's first pillaging of blues classics, this is the one that earns you my subscription. That's the least you deserve and I want to treat myself to. Well done, young lady! And I can only hope you keep the enthusiasm alive to continue this beautiful journey. As for me, it is on to the MC 5 video!
Been away for a few days. Boygenius - one day, I had never heard them. 2 weeks later I’ve dug into everything they’ve done. Ok Miss Abigail, you’ve done it again. My personal music curator!
As always, a good one, Abby. Love the connection with the Doors, that's what I had heard or thought at some point too.
I got this first on cassette tape, circa 1982 - this album cover looked very nice on tape, as I recall. Also, I recall that I bought this due to a comparison with heavy metal music in a book like the Rolling Stone Record Guide (the blue second edition - hope you have either the red or blue ones, they sucked after that. And hey, the Spin book was good and in my head, the Creem book would be the best).
My late 1980s - pre-Teen Spirit years "I will make you a mixtape" persona could never find places in my tapes for Joy Division. An incongruent feeling maybe with the vocals and felt the same about Sonic Youth, this being pre-Goo-times. Yet somehow it was OK to slide the Stooges & Kennedys alongside Simon & G or Aretha.
My tapes were eventually full of the stuff by mid-decade after more exposure thanks to CD technology and Tower Records becoming local, while my local high school record haunts quietly bit the dust...if I knew then what I do now...
Also, Porl (guitar dude in the Cure) kinda stole from Peter Hook and by mid-90s that became obvi to me. My opinion is that Peter Hook is the magical something that made them special - at least to me and my fretting hand.
Alternate universe - Arty Garfunkel sings an AI duo with Ian C - "Mrs. Robinson Lost Control, "The Boxer Will Tear Us Apart, "Dead Souls, Rosemary & Thyme."
Hannett had a cool sound. Seek out the stuff he did with Magazine - a very underappreciated group. A good exercise is to place Joy Division in the same environment/context as Magazine and Gang Of Four - even Ultravox, kinda - of the final years of the 70s. Then maybe land yer helicopter over in Cleveland and Ubu me, please! Somehow, "Sentimental Journey," from The Modern Dance felt like it had astral threads over to Unknown Pleasures, I think.
I have no idea what any of the 19-whatever-year-olds me were thinking either. Screw them!
Looks like we have some Stooges in our future...ehhh?
Somewhere in yet another alternate metaverse, Martin, Ken Hamman, Connie Plank and Hugh Padgham are all wringing their hands and laughing at the magic potion they made us all drink.
Favourite songs 🎵 on the album are She's lost control and Shadowplay which are perfectly recorded by Martin Hannett 👌 Also Granada TV in Manchester recorded them perfectly on So It Goes and Granada Reports teatime evening programme with Bob Greaves and Tony Wilson 👏 One of my favourite bands ever and your review is one of your best yet.
I think you are a very cool young lady because you buy albums and like Joy Division. I am a lot older than you and collecting music and music t shirts is two hobbies I enjoy. My favorite places to go is to a music store and I like shopping if my health permits it. I have really enjoyed this video and I will watch you again I am always looking for music I never heard. UA-cam and other sites entertain me when I don't feel well. Keep up the good work.
Hi!!! I’m Vasilis or Bill from Greece. You ‘ve got such a great collection!!! All are classics and musts for every serious collector. My favourite decade is 1965-1975. My favourite genre is the psychedelic rock-folk-protoprog and krautrock. Keep rolling ….till next video, PEACE AND HAPPINESS!!!!
Electricity was indeed slightly cheaper in the evening in Britain. It was also the case with phoning people after 6pm. I vaguely remember it still going on into the early nineties. Fantastic vid by the way.
2:00 Cover art design is based on the signal produced by a pulsar known as B1919+21, the first pulsar ever discovered.
I do have an Unknown Pleasures 👕 & my favorite song is closing track I Remember Nothing. A year after Unknown Pleasures was originally released , Talking Heads " borrowed " the track in mood from Joy Division ➗️ to close out their excellent Remain In Light album. Their song is called The Overload. Love Quincy Jones & Qwest Records 👍
Overload is a weird one, isn't it? Remain in light is a killer talking heads release, but it's unusual to for them to try to 'be' another band. Byrne has claimed they'd 'heard of', but not actually 'heard' Joy Division, and made a track they thought would sound like them... Sounds a bit fishy to me, but it's a good song, sounds a bit odd with the rest of Remain in Light
Great video. In addition to Unknown Pleasures I also love the "Warsaw" cd release and the compilation album Substance. Gratitude.
Great video, well researched and clearly presented. Thanks for the hard work.
I first heard it in 1985, it sounded reletness in its bleak outlook then and still does
It might even be a dangerous record to listen to if your an insular introvert but in a strange way it gave me hope.
New Dawn Fades is probably the most beautifully sad and desolate song i will ever hear.
Dearest dearest Abby: how human you are!
In 1979 my uncle was obsessed with this record. Just obsessed. Incidentally his previous favorite was....electric ladyland.
I didn't get JD until around 1986 when I was 18. I actually have that same pressing as yours except I have the proper inner sleeve. I didn't know that the cover was blue. I must look at it closer. In the sunshine.
I read that Bernie and the boys weren't positive at all about the sound of the album. All the space that Martin added, they thought, knocked the hard edges off. They considered themselves a loud and heavy band. If you listen to the single mix of 'She's Lost Control', that's how they heard themselves. Harsh and loud. It took many years for Bernie to appreciate what Martin had done for them with that record.
My faves: New Dawn Fades. I Remember Nothing.
Other favorite songs: The Eternal. Dead Souls.
What do they say about my untreated mental state?
Thank You.
I remember backtracking all the records New Order did before Confusion. It was music to my ears quite literally. I remember reading one of their books at a bookstore only to realise that New Order were in fact Joy Division. Searched and bought Joy Division records, even more music to my ears. I love Joy Division more than New Order
I was 17 when came out I didn't come across it until I was 20 and it resinated with me at the time. I'm 60 now and it seems a bit heavy now but its still a favorite of mine.
Also the was the band Shadowplay from Helsinki, Finland.
This album has a set in stone quality to it that sets it apart, plus it reflects the state of the world particularly the UK at the time.
I had a time in my life that I really liked this album and listened to it frequently. One thing I don't think I saw anyone else mention yet, is that a piece of my initial reason to check it out was the recommended listening list/essay in the old Vampire: the Masquerade Storyteller's Handbook. It lists four individual tracks "She's Lost Control Again" and "Day of the Lords" are the first two I can recall. When it gets to the fourth individual song recommended scattered among recommendations for Bauhaus, the Cure, Dead Kennedys, and Metallica, the author says just play the whole damn album.
If anyone is interested in the history of music in Manchester, especially Joy Division, I’d definitely recommend watching ‘24 hour party people’, it follows the manager of Joy Division, talks about concerts and club culture in Manchester in the 80s/90s
Yessss, Joy Division! They're one of the bands that inspired me to pick up bass.
Eta: I turned 24 last month. Wild that I'm older than him. He went way too early.
UK person here - electricity is indeed cheaper at night! I don't know if that would affect studio pricing but it wouldn't surprise me much, especially if the arrangement was more informal or haggled. Great ep btw!
I love this latest run of videos you've been making! I have the same shirt, and I'm embarrassed to say that I hadn't listened to Joy Division before getting it. I'm one of *those* people. The album is a hard listen for me, but there's no denying its genius
Joy Division put out great music I like New Order too but Joy Division was the bomb.
Great summation of a very special record Abby
I’ve always been a Closer guy. I actually knew Substance first, then Closer and then Unknown Pleasures. At first I didn’t connect with it, it’s just so cold and dark. My appreciation grew over the years, but it doesn’t occupy the same place in my personal hall of fame as Closer. Oh and it’s funny how when you’re in your 20’s, a few years seems like a decade. I was the same way. It seemed like an eternity took place for me between age 17 and 23..
I always assumed that "I've been waiting for a guide to come to take me by the hand" was a literary reference from Dante's Inferno, where the singer is waiting for their Virgil to guide them through hell.
I love this album
I was about your age when I was in a Joy Division cover band. My Unknown Pleasures t-shirt was black on white.
I randomly watched this vid a couple of days ago. I really had never listened to JD that much, but I knew they morphed into new order which is one of my favorites. Today I walked into a pawn shop that has a small record section, and sitting right there in plain sight was a used 2006 repress from Germany of this record, very good condition. I brought it home, and can’t wait to play it. I’ve never seen this record used at any record store before, especially around where I live! Was this some kind of omen or magic ? Maybe!
I think Unknown Pleasures is very good, but Closer is better on every level; one of the greatest albums ever made.
Thanks for sharing. Decades ago in college, I was friends with a New Order/Duran Duran Girl who might've led me to Joy Division (not certain). Anyway, this made me think of her. Favorite tracks on "Unknown Pleasures": "Disorder," "She's Lost Control," "I Remember Nothing" (used well in a documentary about John Belushi); "Shadowplay" (especially for the guitar solo at the end). Shawn R., Mo-Mutt Music/Sacred & Secular
My favorite song of Unknown Pleasures is 'She's Lost Control Again'.. I looove the melody & the lyrics....... I can't wait for the next Vinyl Monday or Friday,we don't know, but really???? Jimi Hendrix album????? whowwwww......😃😃😃😃😃
one of the greatest rock band🥰😍😇😇😇
"That's the most punk thing I could do." Love it! Shawn R., Mo-Mutt Music/Sacred & Secular
Loved this review, so full of honest insights into your own experience of this album through the years. It stands out from almost every album ever made a single moment captured like a super nova never before and never since seen again. You really need to seek out a UK first pressing though because it is an amazing experience just like being in that recording studio. Thanks Abigail..!
❤ Awesome!!
Awesome about youre dedication to continue through a nosebleed. That is punk rock!
Abby, I appreciate that you haven’t worn this shirt since college, but that was like 2 years ago. I own a shirt I bought in high school , 45 years ago. Demented and sad, but social.
Joy Division.... I was a late comer to them, only getting into them in 1981, but that was an excellent review Abbie. I've owned around 5 or 6 JD T-Shirts in my time, 2 of them Unknown Pleasures ones. One thing that was not exactly correct, Pete Hook sang lead on Interzone, Ian was on the backing vocals. The reason Hannett wanted to record at night, was purely down to his drug habit. He would spend most of the day scoring smack, and would only be in a fit state in the evenings, also he wanted the atmosphere of recording at night..... It was all part of his master plan for Joy Division.
I own a t- shirt that is the same as yours. I bought it because I like Joy Division. I don't own a copy of Unknown Pleasures. I'm in my sixties, and was into Punk Rock 🧷 in the late 1970s. My favorite group were British Band the Damned. I purchased a copy of Joy Divisions excellent album Closer in 1980. Their song Love will tear us Apart reached the top of our pop charts at the beginning of 1981. After Ian Curtis's tragic suicide in 1980, the group New Order were formed. I saw them in concert in 1983 here in New Zealand where I live.
For my money, this is your best episode yet, rivaled only by the “Wish You Were Here” video. Just my opinion. I’m also beginning to realize on a different level why I keep coming back. It’s not just that you have deep knowledge of these albums. It’s that you have deep understanding. And the way you articulate it is right up there with the most intelligent no-heads-up-their-asses critics. Your personal segues in both this and the WYWH review are captivating because they so thoroughly tie in with the music you’re talking about. I’m really hoping that the members of boygenius see the episode you did on them. How could they not love it?
THANK YOU for being so compassionate with Ian Curtis. The guy had fully understandable reasons for doing what he did.
I was hoping for a punk rock nosebleed, but the episode apart from that is so excellent I will overlook not getting one.
My favorite song is “She’s Lost Control,” which I think is
about Ian’s own epilepsy.
this whole comment means so much to me, thank you so much. unknown pleasures was similarly tangled with my personal history as WYWH was, for similar reasons. i'll never totally understand the music these guys made, but i can try to weave it in with the life i know.
i'm very sorry for not getting a nosebleed. i'll try harder next time.
@@abigaildevoe it’s great watching you go from strength to strength.
We had punk-rock in the sixties only we called it Garage Rock. Don't @ me, I passed by many rich-kid garages.
I have so many Joy Division/New Order CD'S and albums. Mojo and Q magazines relating to both bands. DVD's. Thanks to Hooky I play the bass. I love the irony that Barney and Hooky don't like Unknown Pleasures but Closer is one of Peter's favorite albums.