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. 😢❤
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
I bought Unknown Pleasures yesterday in Lincoln on the back of YT comments played through once and instantly replayed it! I haven't done that in years. And I'm 69! Robin Witting
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 RUclips for the depth of analysis and insight you display, keep up the good work aye.
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.
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 genuinely love how you're nostalgic for the you of two or three years ago! Hold on to that feeling - the years will begin to mush in to each other all to soon.
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
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!
I remember electricity being cheaper for 7 hours every night (if you had two meters) which meant you could save money by running washing machines and heating hot-water tanks at night. When I was a little kid in the 80s, this was a thing. It was encouraged because it took the strain off power stations during the day, in times of an energy crisis and industrial action from coal miners.
From Wiki: "Economy 7 is the name of a differential tariff provided by United Kingdom electricity suppliers that uses base load generation to provide cheap off-peak electricity during the night. Houses using the Economy 7 tariff require a special electricity meter which provides two different readings - one for electricity used during the day, priced higher, and the other for the night, priced lower. The night (off-peak) period lasts for a total of seven hours, hence the name; however it may not be a continuous period,[citation needed] as it may alternate between the two prices during the night. The term was coined by Jon Marshall. The first mention of Economy 7 is in 1978"
I actually didn’t get this album the first time I heard it as a teenager. Now I’m 27 and have lived through some hard times, and it sounds different on re-listen. I think it goes to show how our lives can recontextualize an album and make us understand the emotions conveyed on the album more.
thats so cute. I did buy it the first time when I was a teenager ,that was a long time ago. I belong to a rifle club and one of the ladies who works there was wearing that tee shirt , I said "great tee shirt"
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.
Very interesting take on this near mythical album , I do however think that their second album Closer is their sonic masterpiece . The Heart and Soul box set is essential as it just seems to confirm that 40 odd years on they still sound like the future . I love your reviews , keep them coming !!!!
Definitely need to revisit this album now. Shadowplay was my favorite on first listen because of how groovy it was…plus the guitar is KILLER. Disorder is also a super iconic album opener and does an excellent job of introducing you to the albums tone and vibes.
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 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
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.
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!
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
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
Great perspective, thank you! Your experience with this record resonates with mine. I saw Hooky perform both UP and Closer last year and while they're both works of art, UP was fantastic to hear live
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.
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.
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!
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!!!!
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 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.
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.
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
Again, a great insightful dig into this week's musical choice. I was 15 in 1979 and living overseas and I wasn't introduced to Joy Division until way after I moved back to California in 1981. I was a hard rock kind of guy, so when I was first introduced to their music, it pushed me away. It wasn't "party music" like hard rock was. To me, it was depressing and filled with angst and doom. That wasn't my scene. I was a teenage boy and I wanted to party and make-out with girls and just have a good time. Then around 1984, 85, 86, I discovered Siouxie and the Banshees and I fell into a rabbit hole that introduced me to this kind of music. Joy Division was one of the groups, but I never dug deeply into their discography. I really only scratched the surface. But after watching your video today, that will all change. Thanks again for your insight, Great job!
This is definitely one of my favorite episodes yet. You have a way of drawing us into these albums like no one else on RUclips. 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.
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.
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 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!
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
In 1981, I was 24 years old, stationed with the USN in Scotland and someone lent me the Unknown Pleasures cassette, said it would be interesting. Was walking around the backroads of Dunoon at night with my Walkman on and yes it was very interesting. But what really stopped me in my tracks was the screaming guitar drone at the end of Day Of The Lords, I rewound and played it a dozen times and to this day that guitar and whole song plays over in my head whenever I have a lost and dark moment, which Joy Division alone can only fully capture.
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!
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 was a Joy Division fan from the start. The style appealed to me. Martin Hannet was an incredibly talented creative person. Peter Saville's artwork reminded me of my parent's house and my dad's books. When books had wax paper between the photos.I saw Peter Hook in Vancouver with New Order. He was very quiet and shy. I found that quite touching.
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.
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’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.
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.
Wait a minute Abigail, when I discovered your channel several months ago, I said to myself, “How does this early 20 something young woman know so much about 60/70/80s music?? NOW you tell us you were listening to stuff circa 78-80, when it first came out?? I know it’s impolite to ask a woman their age, but how the heck old are you anyway?? I assumed no more than 24-25! Thank you for your wonderful channel. You are teaching me more about classic albums than this 65 year old learned on his own. Thank you Abby!!
I appreciate your reply! It’s just that I thought you said you listened to “Unknown Pleasures” when it first came out, but maybe I misheard. I appreciate your research and musical knowledge, and what I believe are your handmade outfits that complement the spotlighted album!
@@abigaildevoe I can't do Closer either 🙂 Basically the only Joy Division that's not going to mess me up is Transmission or the Warsaw stuff. It feels important that it exists but it's to remain on the shelf, at least for now. I feel a similar way about Little Earthquakes (the album) by Tori Amos, although it's a different emotion. I guess Joy Division is despair and Little Earthquakes is... maybe loss? Then there are occasional songs by other Artists - like Save Me by Aimee Mann, or All Dead, All Dead by Queen. But they're more like 'I know I'm gonna cry' songs, whereas Joy Division is more like 'I'm going into the abyss'. On a lighter note, I was wondering why you have your turntable so high up, but then I realised from other videos that you present from the floor...
I once took a some painkillers while I was in a hotub and I had this album on, the doctor told me I should take 2 and 3 muscle relaxers at first (never doing that again) the experience was incredibly numb and when I told my friend what happened he told me if I listened to closer I'd drown myself out of sadness. Having tried listening to it sober I get what he meant. Ian Curtis tried so hard to control his pain and his music is proof that this pain is unavoidable. Working at the college radio station there isn't a day that goes by that I don't bother the shit out of my teacher to add joy division to the catalogue among other bands. It really depressed me when I got the show and so many of these bands who reached college kids like me just aren't represented anymore. Rest easy Ian we all understand now.
I saw Joy Division in Leeds in 1979. Defining event in my life of discovering music. Agreed that Closer was even better. Ian's death was depressing and was completely unexpected at the time.
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..!
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 agree that it was launched out of the blue, but people were expecting it, and it had a fanfare in the new musical Express as well as Sounds, the band were also massive with regards to Underground venues and a cult following. It wasn’t quite as quiet or abrupt as you would’ve been told. However once it come out it exploded
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 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
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.
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......😃😃😃😃😃
Never own this T-shirt, but around most of the Joy Division stuff, are used to go and watch them in the pubs and clubs in Manchester in the north of England and occasionally venture down south if they played. This continued with New Order. I’ve still got the vinyl now
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.
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.
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!
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.
Good review - but you need to study the influence of the BBC John Peel sessions between 1970 to 1980. These sessions gave bands the experience of a studio and the opportunity to try different versions before the official stuff. The Cure, the Slits, the banshees, etc. al
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.
I seem to remember that they did used to run economy energy plans where you could get cheaper off-peak energy. Although it may just have been that the studio had premium and non-premium booking times maybe?
i heard from another british viewer that yes there was an economy energy plan instated in ‘78, and the studio had non-premium time (in the middle of the night)
This is one o' those albums I picked up, looked it over, appreciated the artwork 'n decided to buy not knowin' a thing but intrigued by the aural possibilities. Two others like that were the first Yes album 'n the first Led Zeppelin album. In retrospect...three wise decisions! I'm likin' yer Shake It Up book in the background. I bought it several months ago 'n look forward to spendin' some quality time therein.
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.
Nice one! I was 19 in 1979 and I bought the album after hearing the single Love will tear us apart! Which the band I was involved with attempted to cover!! No it's not on the album!! Classic album! (Electricity is cheaper at night here) 😂 great choices Abi hint listen to any of the first 3 Wire albums!! Great stuff Ian
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.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
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. 😢❤
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.
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.
"Though a lot of this record sounds like a death march"..... I think Closer gets that award.
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.
Atmosphere was and is one of the most beautiful songs
INDEED
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
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.
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.
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).
I bought Unknown Pleasures yesterday in Lincoln on the back of YT comments played through once and instantly replayed it! I haven't done that in years. And I'm 69! Robin Witting
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 RUclips for the depth of analysis and insight you display, keep up the good work aye.
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.
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."
Painful and beautiful vid. So great. Really understands the time Joy Division was king.
I genuinely love how you're nostalgic for the you of two or three years ago! Hold on to that feeling - the years will begin to mush in to each other all to soon.
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
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
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
Definitely
I remember electricity being cheaper for 7 hours every night (if you had two meters) which meant you could save money by running washing machines and heating hot-water tanks at night. When I was a little kid in the 80s, this was a thing. It was encouraged because it took the strain off power stations during the day, in times of an energy crisis and industrial action from coal miners.
From Wiki: "Economy 7 is the name of a differential tariff provided by United Kingdom electricity suppliers that uses base load generation to provide cheap off-peak electricity during the night.
Houses using the Economy 7 tariff require a special electricity meter which provides two different readings - one for electricity used during the day, priced higher, and the other for the night, priced lower. The night (off-peak) period lasts for a total of seven hours, hence the name; however it may not be a continuous period,[citation needed] as it may alternate between the two prices during the night.
The term was coined by Jon Marshall. The first mention of Economy 7 is in 1978"
I actually didn’t get this album the first time I heard it as a teenager. Now I’m 27 and have lived through some hard times, and it sounds different on re-listen. I think it goes to show how our lives can recontextualize an album and make us understand the emotions conveyed on the album more.
thats so cute. I did buy it the first time when I was a teenager ,that was a long time ago. I belong to a rifle club and one of the ladies who works there was wearing that tee shirt , I said "great tee shirt"
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.
Very interesting take on this near mythical album , I do however think that their second album Closer is their sonic masterpiece . The Heart and Soul box set is essential as it just seems to confirm that 40 odd years on they still sound like the future . I love your reviews , keep them coming !!!!
yes, it's amazing how accidentally forward-thinking their sound was
Definitely need to revisit this album now. Shadowplay was my favorite on first listen because of how groovy it was…plus the guitar is KILLER. Disorder is also a super iconic album opener and does an excellent job of introducing you to the albums tone and vibes.
They did a great version of Shadowplay on the Granada programme ‘So it Goes’. Presented by Tony Wilson of course
You are awesome Abi! Your content on this channel is exceptional, informative yet personal. You deserve every subscriber.
thank you so much!
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 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
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.
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!
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
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
Great perspective, thank you! Your experience with this record resonates with mine. I saw Hooky perform both UP and Closer last year and while they're both works of art, UP was fantastic to hear live
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.
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.
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!
Excellent transmission! I love this album! Closer is great as well.
🖤🖤🖤 Closer. Great album.
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!!!!
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 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.
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.
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.
Again, a great insightful dig into this week's musical choice. I was 15 in 1979 and living overseas and I wasn't introduced to Joy Division until way after I moved back to California in 1981. I was a hard rock kind of guy, so when I was first introduced to their music, it pushed me away. It wasn't "party music" like hard rock was. To me, it was depressing and filled with angst and doom. That wasn't my scene. I was a teenage boy and I wanted to party and make-out with girls and just have a good time. Then around 1984, 85, 86, I discovered Siouxie and the Banshees and I fell into a rabbit hole that introduced me to this kind of music. Joy Division was one of the groups, but I never dug deeply into their discography. I really only scratched the surface. But after watching your video today, that will all change. Thanks again for your insight, Great job!
This is definitely one of my favorite episodes yet. You have a way of drawing us into these albums like no one else on RUclips. 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.
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.
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 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!
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
Your Vinyl content is something else. It is refreshing and so much fun. Keep it up!
thanks so much!
I bought this album when it came out in 1979. Still sounds great. That was a fabulous review thanks Abi.
In 1981, I was 24 years old, stationed with the USN in Scotland and someone lent me the Unknown Pleasures cassette, said it would be interesting. Was walking around the backroads of Dunoon at night with my Walkman on and yes it was very interesting.
But what really stopped me in my tracks was the screaming guitar drone at the end of Day Of The Lords, I rewound and played it a dozen times and to this day that guitar and whole song plays over in my head whenever I have a lost and dark moment, which Joy Division alone can only fully capture.
i love when people share stories like yours in these comments, thank you so much
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!
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 was a Joy Division fan from the start. The style appealed to me. Martin Hannet was an incredibly talented creative person. Peter Saville's artwork reminded me of my parent's house and my dad's books. When books had wax paper between the photos.I saw Peter Hook in Vancouver with New Order. He was very quiet and shy. I found that quite touching.
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.
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’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.
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
Great job as usual - iconic nix cover & t-shirt.
Great album good taste nice collection
2:00 Cover art design is based on the signal produced by a pulsar known as B1919+21, the first pulsar ever discovered.
"That's the most punk thing I could do." Love it! Shawn R., Mo-Mutt Music/Sacred & Secular
Wait a minute Abigail, when I discovered your channel several months ago, I said to myself, “How does this early 20 something young woman know so much about 60/70/80s music?? NOW you tell us you were listening to stuff circa 78-80, when it first came out?? I know it’s impolite to ask a woman their age, but how the heck old are you anyway?? I assumed no more than 24-25!
Thank you for your wonderful channel. You are teaching me more about classic albums than this 65 year old learned on his own.
Thank you Abby!!
i'm 23! you're not the first person to get tripped up by the historical context i make sure to add in
I appreciate your reply! It’s just that I thought you said you listened to “Unknown Pleasures” when it first came out, but maybe I misheard. I appreciate your research and musical knowledge, and what I believe are your handmade outfits that complement the spotlighted album!
I haven't listened to this album in years now. I just can't. Just listening to you talk about it for half an hour has made weird emotions come up.
i feel that, i'm the same way with closer. just way too close to comfort. be gentle with yourself ok?
@@abigaildevoe I can't do Closer either 🙂 Basically the only Joy Division that's not going to mess me up is Transmission or the Warsaw stuff. It feels important that it exists but it's to remain on the shelf, at least for now. I feel a similar way about Little Earthquakes (the album) by Tori Amos, although it's a different emotion. I guess Joy Division is despair and Little Earthquakes is... maybe loss? Then there are occasional songs by other Artists - like Save Me by Aimee Mann, or All Dead, All Dead by Queen. But they're more like 'I know I'm gonna cry' songs, whereas Joy Division is more like 'I'm going into the abyss'.
On a lighter note, I was wondering why you have your turntable so high up, but then I realised from other videos that you present from the floor...
Great video, as always. Your charisma is epic, cheers 🍻🍻
thank you so much!
I once took a some painkillers while I was in a hotub and I had this album on, the doctor told me I should take 2 and 3 muscle relaxers at first (never doing that again) the experience was incredibly numb and when I told my friend what happened he told me if I listened to closer I'd drown myself out of sadness. Having tried listening to it sober I get what he meant. Ian Curtis tried so hard to control his pain and his music is proof that this pain is unavoidable. Working at the college radio station there isn't a day that goes by that I don't bother the shit out of my teacher to add joy division to the catalogue among other bands. It really depressed me when I got the show and so many of these bands who reached college kids like me just aren't represented anymore. Rest easy Ian we all understand now.
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've played bass my whole life...Hook is a legend
Also the was the band Shadowplay from Helsinki, Finland.
Great video, well researched and clearly presented. Thanks for the hard work.
I saw Joy Division in Leeds in 1979. Defining event in my life of discovering music. Agreed that Closer was even better. Ian's death was depressing and was completely unexpected at the time.
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..!
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.
Great video. In addition to Unknown Pleasures I also love the "Warsaw" cd release and the compilation album Substance. Gratitude.
I agree that it was launched out of the blue, but people were expecting it, and it had a fanfare in the new musical Express as well as Sounds, the band were also massive with regards to Underground venues and a cult following. It wasn’t quite as quiet or abrupt as you would’ve been told.
However once it come out it exploded
Great review. The complete bbc sessions are a great companion piece.
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 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
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.
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......😃😃😃😃😃
Never own this T-shirt, but around most of the Joy Division stuff, are used to go and watch them in the pubs and clubs in Manchester in the north of England and occasionally venture down south if they played. This continued with New Order. I’ve still got the vinyl now
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.
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.
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!
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.
this is a good place to hear about music i've never heard
Good review - but you need to study the influence of the BBC John Peel sessions between 1970 to 1980. These sessions gave bands the experience of a studio and the opportunity to try different versions before the official stuff. The Cure, the Slits, the banshees, etc. al
Got the Fact 10 sleeve with the lovely white inner.
Always wondered what that image was. Thanks for the info!
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.
Yes!!!!! Disorder is one of my favorites
I seem to remember that they did used to run economy energy plans where you could get cheaper off-peak energy. Although it may just have been that the studio had premium and non-premium booking times maybe?
i heard from another british viewer that yes there was an economy energy plan instated in ‘78, and the studio had non-premium time (in the middle of the night)
Great summation of a very special record Abby
I was about your age when I was in a Joy Division cover band. My Unknown Pleasures t-shirt was black on white.
This is one o' those albums I picked up, looked it over, appreciated the artwork 'n decided to buy not knowin' a thing but intrigued by the aural possibilities. Two others like that were the first Yes album 'n the first Led Zeppelin album. In retrospect...three wise decisions! I'm likin' yer Shake It Up book in the background. I bought it several months ago 'n look forward to spendin' some quality time therein.
Awesome about youre dedication to continue through a nosebleed. That is punk rock!
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.
Nice one! I was 19 in 1979 and I bought the album after hearing the single Love will tear us apart! Which the band I was involved with attempted to cover!! No it's not on the album!! Classic album! (Electricity is cheaper at night here) 😂 great choices Abi hint listen to any of the first 3 Wire albums!!
Great stuff
Ian
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.