Ian Curtis, the songwriter, lyricist and singer of the English post punk band Joy Division was born on this day, July 15th 1956 in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. Suffering from epilepsy and a failing marriage, Curtis committed suicide at age 23 in may 1980, on the eve of Joy Division’s first North American tour. His dark, poetic and intoxicating lyrics still to this day resonate solid because they are about real raw emotions, the angst ridden realities that life throws out which transcend time. I hope that Ian has found the serenity that eluded him here on earth and I thank him for being the artist he was.
“The emotional impact of their music was shattering and irreversible, their records an icy collision of romance and alienation. Between 1977 and 1980, they recorded the two most affecting and influential albums of their generation.
In the aftermath of punk, Joy Division invented a glacial new sound which dramatically connected with a country lurching towards an unforgiving era of Thatcherism. A band capable of touching the outer reaches of human emotion, they were driven by the wired and spinning music created by Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris and the starkly personal, often depressive, lyrics of their troubled vocalist, Ian Curtis. Even today, their music and darkly powerful sentiments echo through the work of contemporary groups such as The Verve, Radiohead, Spiritualized and Primal Scream.”
James Oldham, NME
A masterpiece, one of my favorite Joy Division song and video: Atmosphere, Directed by Anton Corbijn.
