Btw, you really have to listen to the full 2 studio albums. The songs on their own are fine, but it's a different experience entirely hearing Unknown Pleasures/Closer front to back.
For anyone who is interested, there is a book called Black Light by a SFF writer named Elizabeth Hand which is divided into three sections titled "24 Hours", "Decades", and "The Eternal", which I have always thought was quite brilliant. The drums in this song are so smart, when they come back hard before the second chorus. Also, the parallel between "asylums with doors open wide... this is the way, step inside" from the start of the album to "open then shut, then slammed in our face" is startling, to say the least. Ian Curtis was actually a Jim Morrison fan, and opening and closing doors feature in the imagery of several of his lyrics. I believe the album was actually intended to have a double meaning... "closer" as in opening and closing.
Thank you, sir. Joy Division often provides for tough listening. But it is rewarding. The general term of the synth sound is "glacial". ABBA used it as they were spltting. Thank god, they're back. And Joy Division... for sure one of the best bands ever.
I always used to refer to this album as 'closer' - as in getting closer toward something. But listening to this song at the end of the album and looking at that image makes me think 'closer' as in album-closer, or life-closing moment.Closed shop. Same word different meaning
I read about the experience of young soldiers who first broke into Belsen concentration camp near the end of WW2. Had a huge impact on me. This song always reminds me of that.
I've been into Joy Division for Decades! Never grow tired, never grow old, their works, are timeless masterpieces... Ian Curtis death was a massive loss to everyone, I can't help thinking what if... He had such a brilliant imaginative, creative and visionary mind, which was, all so dark, he'd seen too much and it had taken too much of a toll on him. When your born to see more, and absorb more, you'll feel more and that hurts, permanently!
Good review here. Joy Division's complete catalog of music is a masterpiece unto itself. Every song is a gem (to me at least). In keeping with the October theme along with Joy Division's music, there is a little known story (don't know much about it's validity) that involves this particular song just as the band had finished recording it. Sumner recounted the days when the band would convene at the studio and record all night long and then go and sleep during the day. On one particular ocassion, the band had left near dusk after a recording session and Sumner was left alone to finish recording some sounds for that session. While trying to record said sounds he noticed, only upon playback, that he had caught what was a phantom whistling the tune of _'Decades'_ on tape. He thought it odd since there was no one else in the building at that time. Thinking it was a "bad omen", the band decided to leave the whistled "phantom tune" off the final cut found on the album. There you go.. Submitted for your approval and to take from that what you will... If I may, here a small selection of what I think are some other excellent Post Punk/Goth/New Wave/Synth/Darkwave/Shoegaze/Coldwave etc. etc. bands and songs, in a similar vein as Joy Division's _'Decades'_ (and with that October/Fall/Winter feel to them), that you might be interested in checking out/reacting to: The Chameleons - _'Here Today'_ A Flock Of Seagulls - _'Quicksand'_ Blade Fetish - _'Arctic Slide'_ Winter Severity Index - _'A Sudden Cold'_ Minimal Compact - _'My Will'_ Asylum Party - _'Some Grey Mornings'_ U2 - _'The Drowning Man'_ Clan Of Xymox - _'No Human Can Drown'_ Siouxsie & The Banshees (pronounced Suzy) - _'This Unrest'_ Holygram - _'Acceleration'_ (original version) Bauhaus - _'Hollow Hills'_ Gary Numan/Dramatis - _'Love Needs No Disguise'_ Cocteau Twins - _'Serpentskirt'_ The Cult - _'Brother Wolf, Sister Moon'_ Eleven Shadows - _'Afterhours'_ (The Sisters Of Mercy cover) Tones On Tail - _'Burning Skies'_ The Psychedelic Furs - _'No Easy Street'_
Hauntingly Beautiful track .Probably the best track on "Closer" ..I also have a tendency to listen to "Heart & Soul" a lot from this album. "Atrocity Exhibition " always reminds me of John Merrick (The Elephant Man) probably incorrectly ."The Eternal "is just too close for me to Ian's death both historically & emotionally ( I lived through it..as in I was around at the time & lived in Manchester for a few months in the early 80's) I was also very moved after having heard of the inspiration to "The Eternal "coming from the Ian seeing an Intellectually disabled young boy playing alone inside a walled front garden everyday on his way to catch his train to Manchester city from the suburbs he lived in in the 70's & then nearly 10 years later being back in the area & encountering the same heartbreaking young boy in the same sad situation. In summary, Ian , Joy division & Martin Hannett simply were a group of utterly special ,unique & brilliant individuals that converged to produce some of the most sublimely touching & perfect musical art of the 20th century & probably beyond.
all produced in a very short time period. they could barely even play their instruments when they started.. a few months later and they changed the face of music
This song and many others by Joy Division sound to me like a nostalgic feeling of a past I didn't live, followed by a somewhat melancholy feeling... it's hard to describe that.
The whole album is great. You could do a cut by cut analysis for sure. Axl rose famously said of this album, " this is music to become an alcoholic to"...of course never realizing what kind of music he made(axl). The best cut is atrocity exhibition thanks for the reaction
This song is as out of this world today, as it was when it was firstly heard (live). JD sound is truly timeless. Not the sole example, not the only band case: just try Cocteau Twins' Wax and Wane from the LP Garlands
There's plenty of bootlegs out there that can give you an idea. They shine even through the (usually) poor recording quality. Though sometimes they'd be a bit too drunk and screw up lol. Their synths would overheat and go haywire often too.
They may have been punk in their career but I wouldn’t call them post punk in general because the first generation of punk was still going strong after the band’s breakup.
![Joy Division - Decades [REACTION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8IErNasaXVY/mqdefault.jpg)
Such a devastating song. Such a devastating album.
Beautiful, beautiful, haunting song.
Btw, you really have to listen to the full 2 studio albums. The songs on their own are fine, but it's a different experience entirely hearing Unknown Pleasures/Closer front to back.
For anyone who is interested, there is a book called Black Light by a SFF writer named Elizabeth Hand which is divided into three sections titled "24 Hours", "Decades", and "The Eternal", which I have always thought was quite brilliant.
The drums in this song are so smart, when they come back hard before the second chorus. Also, the parallel between "asylums with doors open wide... this is the way, step inside" from the start of the album to "open then shut, then slammed in our face" is startling, to say the least. Ian Curtis was actually a Jim Morrison fan, and opening and closing doors feature in the imagery of several of his lyrics. I believe the album was actually intended to have a double meaning... "closer" as in opening and closing.
It sounds both archaic and futuristic at the same time.
Its a beautiful album unknown pleasures is good but closer really does it for me.
Saw them as a support band in 1978.Never heard of them until that night
Thank you, sir. Joy Division often provides for tough listening. But it is rewarding. The general term of the synth sound is "glacial". ABBA used it as they were spltting. Thank god, they're back. And Joy Division... for sure one of the best bands ever.
The icy synths owe a clear debt to Bowie's album Low, which had come out two years previously.
Funny, I always hear the super happy hammond riff from The Shadows Of Night´s "Shake" in the super sad synth melody of "Decades"... !
A lifelong favourite from Joy Division...
I always used to refer to this album as 'closer' - as in getting closer toward something. But listening to this song at the end of the album and looking at that image makes me think 'closer' as in album-closer, or life-closing moment.Closed shop. Same word different meaning
nothing to say about that song or about "closer", nick. one's never the same after listening to music like that.
intoxicating.
get shivers all. the. time.
I read about the experience of young soldiers who first broke into Belsen concentration camp near the end of WW2. Had a huge impact on me. This song always reminds me of that.
I've been into Joy Division for Decades! Never grow tired, never grow old, their works, are timeless masterpieces... Ian Curtis death was a massive loss to everyone, I can't help thinking what if... He had such a brilliant imaginative, creative and visionary mind, which was, all so dark, he'd seen too much and it had taken too much of a toll on him. When your born to see more, and absorb more, you'll feel more and that hurts, permanently!
Good review here. Joy Division's complete catalog of music is a masterpiece unto itself. Every song is a gem (to me at least). In keeping with the October theme along with Joy Division's music, there is a little known story (don't know much about it's validity) that involves this particular song just as the band had finished recording it.
Sumner recounted the days when the band would convene at the studio and record all night long and then go and sleep during the day. On one particular ocassion, the band had left near dusk after a recording session and Sumner was left alone to finish recording some sounds for that session.
While trying to record said sounds he noticed, only upon playback, that he had caught what was a phantom whistling the tune of _'Decades'_ on tape. He thought it odd since there was no one else in the building at that time. Thinking it was a "bad omen", the band decided to leave the whistled "phantom tune" off the final cut found on the album. There you go.. Submitted for your approval and to take from that what you will...
If I may, here a small selection of what I think are some other excellent Post Punk/Goth/New Wave/Synth/Darkwave/Shoegaze/Coldwave etc. etc. bands and songs, in a similar vein as Joy Division's _'Decades'_ (and with that October/Fall/Winter feel to them), that you might be interested in checking out/reacting to:
The Chameleons - _'Here Today'_
A Flock Of Seagulls - _'Quicksand'_
Blade Fetish - _'Arctic Slide'_
Winter Severity Index - _'A Sudden Cold'_
Minimal Compact - _'My Will'_
Asylum Party - _'Some Grey Mornings'_
U2 - _'The Drowning Man'_
Clan Of Xymox - _'No Human Can Drown'_
Siouxsie & The Banshees (pronounced Suzy) - _'This Unrest'_
Holygram - _'Acceleration'_ (original version)
Bauhaus - _'Hollow Hills'_
Gary Numan/Dramatis - _'Love Needs No Disguise'_
Cocteau Twins - _'Serpentskirt'_
The Cult - _'Brother Wolf, Sister Moon'_
Eleven Shadows - _'Afterhours'_ (The Sisters Of Mercy cover)
Tones On Tail - _'Burning Skies'_
The Psychedelic Furs - _'No Easy Street'_
True. Brilliant band. And they had dozens of songs they never properly recorded.
May I add Judgement from The Sound to those songs?
Hauntingly Beautiful track .Probably the best track on "Closer" ..I also have a tendency to listen to "Heart & Soul" a lot from this album. "Atrocity Exhibition " always reminds me of John Merrick (The Elephant Man) probably incorrectly ."The Eternal "is just too close for me to Ian's death both historically & emotionally ( I lived through it..as in I was around at the time & lived in Manchester for a few months in the early 80's) I was also very moved after having heard of the inspiration to "The Eternal "coming from the Ian seeing an Intellectually disabled young boy playing alone inside a walled front garden everyday on his way to catch his train to Manchester city from the suburbs he lived in in the 70's & then nearly 10 years later being back in the area & encountering the same heartbreaking young boy in the same sad situation. In summary, Ian , Joy division & Martin Hannett simply were a group of utterly special ,unique & brilliant individuals that converged to produce some of the most sublimely touching & perfect musical art of the 20th century & probably beyond.
all produced in a very short time period. they could barely even play their instruments when they started.. a few months later and they changed the face of music
Best Joy Division recording, period.
This song and many others by Joy Division sound to me like a nostalgic feeling of a past I didn't live, followed by a somewhat melancholy feeling... it's hard to describe that.
I absolutely get where you're coming from
The whole album is great. You could do a cut by cut analysis for sure. Axl rose famously said of this album, " this is music to become an alcoholic to"...of course never realizing what kind of music he made(axl). The best cut is atrocity exhibition thanks for the reaction
I hate to sound very bleak but I want this song as my closing song at my funeral. I think hooky was playing his 6 string bass on most songs on Closer.
It is a perfect funeral song. I think JD has a couple of them.
masterpiece.
To think that Barney is playing these Keyboard parts, on a keyboard he made himself, this was 1980.
No that's the Powertran 2000 mono synth he built from a kit, this on Decades is the ARP Omni 2 string synthesiser,
The eerie sound is ARP Omni 2 with delay
@@TheArpomni2 I was about to say the same thing...
This song is as out of this world today, as it was when it was firstly heard (live). JD sound is truly timeless. Not the sole example, not the only band case: just try Cocteau Twins' Wax and Wane from the LP Garlands
Yet another stunning beautiful dark song. Poetry in motion.
Joy Division in a nutshell.
are you on Instagram dude?
This is such a beautiful song!! Pleasee react to Heart And Soul and Isolation from this album!
For me, Joy Division is something of a companion, in terms of song construction, to Led Zeppelin. It's about the layering of riffs.
So such a young man diying so young ❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
I love your Joy Division reactions soo much!! This is my favorite from the album, please react to Heart And Soul ❤❤
Does NOT disappoint!
musically I heard
hints of The Stranglers (Golden Brown?)
Guitar parts The Doors?
Ultravox perhaps?
Some good observations!
@@InsignificantNick You should react to I give you pain by The Sound next! beautiful slow number VERY much sounds like The Doors too! 🚪
Joy Division were immense soundwise live, I can only imagine what this sounded like live.
There's plenty of bootlegs out there that can give you an idea. They shine even through the (usually) poor recording quality. Though sometimes they'd be a bit too drunk and screw up lol. Their synths would overheat and go haywire often too.
Reaction to Joy Division - Heart and Soul
Reaction request for Strobe Light by the B52’s. Such a great fun song.
They may have been punk in their career but I wouldn’t call them post punk in general because the first generation of punk was still going strong after the band’s breakup.
Not that hard to categorize they we're Post-Punk band Post-Punk is the roots for Goth Rock which is why they sound so eerie and gloomy
This track is like looking over the edge...
So fucking tight, not a note too much, still strong after 35 yrs +
You should check out the Peter Hook and the Light version of this !.
Closer is art/poetry.
i have zero idea why the rest of the band didnt realise it was a suicide note
It does make you think about how they never really inspected Ian's lyrics.
Sometimes you can be too close to someone to fully realise how low they are.
Musicianship
10/10. C
Please react to Atmosphere next :)
Yesss
Best Joy Division song ever. 👍
Go Leafs Go!
How many sentences started this guy? How many did he actually finish? And what did he actually wanted to say because he totally lost me
Sub spanish please nothing do this in spanish