R I P Ian Curtis

[albal]

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMAB3r6EjcM
29 yrs today you left us. Your music stays forever.

 

[DJ]

RIP , he was a genious and very sad he could'nt have been treated for the illness he suffered. Such a waste of a young life.

 

[dellzeqq]

29 years! What happened to all that time? And you're right, it's as fresh as ever.

I was a bit past it at the time (and living on a farm in Buckinghamshire with a small child) but the Babe tells me that Joy Division gigs were quality - fights and throwing up in the toilets being the hallmark of a great night out.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i can see his house from my bedroom window. i wish there was one of those little blue plaques on it…

 

[yello]

I sadly never got to see Joy Division as I was living in NZ. I remember hearing the news and being completely devastated. I knew nothing of him and only the music so it came out of the blue. I still can't listen to 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' without going cold.

 

[Melvil]

Some singers go through the motions. Ian Curtis had an intensity that even seeing videos of his stage performances shone right through. He believed what he was singing and performing. He had the heart. He was great and I wish he hadn't topped himself because perhaps Joy Division might have evolved into New Order with him anyway, and done stuff even better and more visionary than without.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

there's a slight parallel with kurt cobain, both struggled with the demands brought by success (slightly less in joy division's than nirvana's) and illness that both brought misery and in turn inspired their creative output.

joy division are at least as an important band as nirvana, if not more so imho.

 

[ChrisKH]

I sadly never got to see Joy Division as I was living in NZ. I remember hearing the news and being completely devastated. I knew nothing of him and only the music so it came out of the blue. I still can't listen to 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' without going cold.

Indeed, in a class of its own that one. And still fresh as dellzeqq said. Very few songs like that.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

transmission, or shadowplay would be my pick…

 

[dellzeqq]

i can see his house from my bedroom window. i wish there was one of those little blue plaques on it…

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.1501
why not propose it to English Heritage? I'd have thought they'd go for it if the 30th anniversary of his death was in the offing.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Never 'got' the whole Joy Division thing.

 

[twowheelsgood]

"Atmosphere" gets me every time. Can anyone think of a bleaker piece of popular music? It's the musical equivalent of a leaden sky over a bleak moor.

Actually there are certain phrases in many of the songs that really lay something unbearably painful bare. Not that all the songs are masterpieces by any stretch of the the imagination and frankly these days I find a whole album hard going - the substance compilation is never off my ipod though.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.1501
why not propose it to English Heritage? I'd have thought they'd go for it if the 30th anniversary of his death was in the offing.

done, will see if i get a reply. thanks for the steer dell…

 

[scook94]

Great to see so many Ian Curtis/Joy Division fans on here! While I agree Joy Division are an acquired taste, once you've got it there's very few bands who can come close! Atmosphere is the one that makes the hairs stand up for me, but I still count Twenty Four Hours and No Love Lost as my top 2 faves.

The recordings of She's Lost Control and Transmission from the TV show "Something Else" are a prime example of how Ian "lost" himself in his music. It can't have been easy to put so much into a performance considering his health issues.

RIP Ian, your legacy lives on.

 

[Melvil]

done, will see if i get a reply. thanks for the steer dell…

Good call!