Ian Curtis: 33 Years today

[iczster]

This day in 1980 the inspirational Joy Division front man, Ian Curtis took his own life.

I would have loved to have seen this band live but it was before my time.

"Walk in silence don't walk away"

RIP Ian

 

[Buchan]

As I'm in my mid-twenties, Joy Division were also well before my time, but such is the genius of the music, I was easily dragged in. I have a six-disc changer in my car and my Joy Division cds are ones which occupy it most often.

Disorder is still my favourite Joy Division track and one of my favourite songs of all time. Glorious riff and bassline, and fantastic lyrics.


RIP, Ian.

 

[iczster]

I agree there mate Disorder is also my favourite track, its fecking rocking. I also love Exercise 1

 

[Goooose]

Yeah Disorder's a mint tune.

 

[Wibble]

I was 16 when he died and I still remember the stunned silence that his death created in Manchester.

 

[Liam147]

"A loaded gun won't set you free." A great line made so much more poignant in death.

 

[Gazza]

You could pick any song off Closer at random and it would be a lyrical beast. That second album, when he was clearly close to the edge, is incredibly powerful, the way the music and the words work together.

"This is the crisis I knew had to come, destroying the balance I'd kept"... Passover's a brilliant song.

 

[Gazza]

Don't make 'em like that anymore and all that...

 

[Irwinwastheking]

Great band mate.

 

[SteveJ]

Tweet

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[Organic Potatoes]

Time to put on Closer.

 

[Rudie]

Ceremony is awesome sang by Curtis by the bits you can hear, if only they'd got a decent recording.

 

[balaks]

Incredible legacy he has from such a short time period. I saw New Order several years ago for the first time and it was an incredible experience - they played love will tear us apart at the end under a banner saying 'Joy Division Forever' and I balled my eyes out.

 

[SilentWitness]

I don't think anyone elses voice in music can compare to his style or capture it in the way that he could, incredible musician.

I was reading a bit and saw that their last gig was played to around 150-300 people. That must be a special memory to hold for those few.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Legend.

New Dawn Fades is just amazing.

 

[SteveJ]

That's my favourite too.

 

[FrankDrebin]

I seem to remember Tom Yorke/Radiohead did a basement set and they covered a couple of Joy Division songs in 08.
I'm not usually a fan of covers but they did a great job.

 

[Buchan]

It’s nigh-on impossible to pick your favourite Joy Division masterpiece but I think if I was pushed to choose one, it would be Disorder.



“I've been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand,
Could these sensations make me feel the pleasures of a normal man?
These sensations barely interest me for another day,
I've got the spirit, lose the feeling, take the shock away.”


3:29 of pure perfection.

 

[11101]

Never heard any other singer convey emotion the way he did. Massive shame we only had a couple of years of him, one of my all time favourite bands.

 

[SteveJ]

Never heard any other singer convey emotion the way he did.

These lines Ian sang absolutely haunt me. I can't forget them:

Mother, I tried, please believe me,
I'm doing the best that I can.
I'm ashamed of the things I've been put through,
I'm ashamed of the person I am.

 

[Gazza]

The most incredible thing about Ian Curtis is how his lyrical ability and singing style both changed dramatically, almost overnight, between Warsaw's first singles (e.g. Warsaw, No Love Lost) and Joy Division's first singles. I am sure Martin Hannett had a big hand in that, but it ultimately came from the man himself. Starting probably with Digital/Glass, then Transmission and then with Unknown Pleasures, his voice dropped much deeper and his lyrics became a lot less punky and more abstract.

 

[Eckers99]

It’s nigh-on impossible to pick your favourite Joy Division masterpiece but I think if I was pushed to choose one, it would be Disorder.



“I've been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand,
Could these sensations make me feel the pleasures of a normal man?
These sensations barely interest me for another day,
I've got the spirit, lose the feeling, take the shock away.”


3:29 of pure perfection.

Yeah, the way it races out of the gates with the drum pattern and THAT bassline is good enough but it actually gets better as it goes along. What a tune.

 

[Maagge]

Incredible legacy he has from such a short time period. I saw New Order several years ago for the first time and it was an incredible experience - they played love will tear us apart at the end under a banner saying 'Joy Division Forever' and I balled my eyes out.

I wept a bit at their concert at Roskilde Festival a few years ago when they pulled that move. They had pictures of Ian Curtis too.
I wasn't even around when he was.

 

[Volumiza]

Mother, I tried, please believe me,
I'm doing the best that I can.
I'm ashamed of the things I've been put through,
I'm ashamed of the person I am.

Resonates massively!

Huge Joy Division fan. Saw New Order a few times and they’ve never played any Joy Division at any gig I’ve been to until The Blue Dot Festival last year. They played a few, Transmission (probably my favourite), Atmosphere and finished in Love will Tear is Apart to finish. Genuinely emotional.

 

[Raoul]

Spot the Ian

 

[Organic Potatoes]

The guy in the middle with the demon eyes?