The Aesthetic & Social Roots of Joy Division-Part 1

Hello, this is an introduction to my attempt to contextualise Joy Division.


00:00 Introduction
01:22 Two Subgenus
03:10 A Short History of Manchester.
05:00 'God's Cop'.
06:15 A Sense of Loss.
08:00 Dirty Old Town.
09:53 Ian Curtis Early Life.
12:33 'The Lads' in Salford.
17:45 Stephen Morris' early life
21:20 Outro

Over the summer i've been Re-reading the primary sources and also thinking on the themes at play in their history.

For me it's an endlessly fascinating story. Here were four different personalities that combined into a hive-mind.

Each had their own distinct energy, inspired by their upbringing. In this video I talk about the city the conurbation that gave birth to them. How it's decay and pathos was integral to Joy Division's music.

Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook were brought up in Salford. The heart of the industrial revolution. And now a stark post-industrial landscape.

Ian Curtis and Stephen Morris we're suburban kids. Arty types, but not academic.

The different personalities combined in a way that continues to inspire.

If you want to read a text version of this visit my website, there are lots of other posts too (not just about Joy Division):

https://johnsongreen.media/2023/09/13...

One thing with Joy Division is there is a wealth of primary historic sources to work from.

Peter Hook's is arguably the most fun:

  / unknown-pleasures  

I really respect Bernard Sumner, but I suspect he's the most guarded:

  / chapter-and-verse  

Stephen Morris Book is great fun:

  / record-play-pause  

We can count Deborah Curtis' 'Touching from a Distance' among those too.

  / 401939.touching_from_a_distance  

Jon Savage's oral History of Joy Division comes highly recommended (by me especially).

  / this-searing-light-the-sun-and-everything-...  

I'm a little surprised that Jon has not already done the kind of thing I'm doing here.

His 'England's Dreaming' is in many ways my model for this series. It took that most primal of musical forces and contextualised them in a manner that for me stuck the perfect balance.

  / 330729.england_s_dreaming  

He's written extensively on the band, and what's more he was THERE.

It's easy to get intoxicated by theory. But Jon never loses sight of how the job of pop music is to release dopamine into the brain. For me Savage strikes the perfect balance (his 1966 and Teenage are also great books). Unlike Paul Morley...

There's a collection of Morley's writing on Joy Division.
  / 758107.joy_division  

I'll be honest I struggled with it. Paul Morley was even more THERE than Jon Savage. Tony Wilson took him to see Ian Curtis lying in state because 'You'll be writing the book on Joy Division'.

This is an unappealing taste of Wilson's personality for me. We'll be coming to him. He'll have his own episode. I think he was great btw, and an utter TW@.

This video has been a little time coming. I won't lie the creeping popularity has taken me by surprise a little.

On a personal note, I'm not sure how long it will be before I get the next episode done.

I always have a pause in the hottest months (I live in Spain and am a parent), also a month ago my PC died so had to reinitiate. I'm always writing though. Soon i want to be making music again...

I'm not quite sure how long it will be before the next episode in this series, it's written, as are more but...

I have a terminal illness in the family. It's something I need to deal with (exact date TBA). Sometimes dealing with issues of mortality in Joy Division might be something I need to not think about. I'm a quick worker though

Anyway, till then, thanks for your support and enthusiasm

Take care

PS

Here's links to some of the source material.

Manchester "Slum" Clearance/The Three Crows music "Oh Hattersley"
   • Manchester "Slum" Clearance/The Three...  

Early 1970s Manchester at Night
   • Early 1970s Manchester at Night  

Manchester High Rise Post War Social Housing
   • Manchester High Rise Post War Social ...  

Manchester Street Scene (1901) | BFI Archive
   • Manchester Street Scene (1901) | BFI ...  

Manchester Pictures 1970s England
   • Видео  

1969 Traditional Skinheads
   • 1969 Traditional Skinheads  

Santana - Soul Sacrifice 1969 Woodstock live concierto HQ
   • Santana - Soul Sacrifice 1969  Woodst...  

Hippies At Bath Blues Festival 1970, 16mm | Premium Footage
   • Видео  

William S. Burroughs, the Life Thereof
   • Видео  

1970 WH Smith Record Store
   • 1970 WH Smith Record Store  

#joydivision #iancurtis #postpunk #manchester #salford #musichistory #aesthetic #factoryrecords #gothic #goth