Joy Division

Questions like "what's your favourite colour?" and "what's your favourite film?" really get me. I can be a moody person and I'm happy with that. Why should society dictate that feeling good one day and bad the next means people are subject to "mood swings" and labelled as nutters? LOL. Today it was sunny and then it "chucked it down" with rain. That's how I can feel too. Changing with the weather and the seasons is totally natural. It's the ones who don't, won't, can't change that you have to be wary of...

So one day blue is cool, the next it might be black :)

Anyway... If there was going to be a "favourite band" I really think that Joy Division would be the ones. Of all the people whose passing we lament; Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Marc Boland, Bob Marley, Freddie Mercury, Kurt Cobain - they are all big stars and they're dead. I miss all of these artists because they were bone fide geniuses (genii?), great musicians and reallly interesting people too. Unfortunately I managed to miss ALL of them in concert.

But what about Ian Curtis?

Ian Curtis was the frontman of Joy Division, a band originally formed as "Warsaw" soon after a Sex Pistols gig and later named Joy Division, after Karol Cetinsky's novel "The House of Dolls" about women kept in concentration camps for the pleasure of on-leave Nazi officers in World War II.

Joy Division grew out of the punk scene and got labelled post-punk - but they were a genuine and massively influential band. Look at who has covered their work - Bush, The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, Primal Scream, Simple Minds...

...not to mention New Order who are Joy Division minus Ian Curtis.

I still have a major soft spot for Joy Division. I got into them as a young tape-swapping teenager and probably still have have some bootlegs somewhere - Efenaar, Eindhoven anyone?

I remember stuffing my headphones on and turning Joy Division up full blast rather than having to listen to Slim Whitman, Charlie Pride and "Those you have Loved" on those 4 hour car journies to see the relatives. But rather than stay with us, Ian Curtis took his own life on 18 May 1980.

So if you're still wandering who the hell Ian Curtis is and what all the fuss is about then why is anyone thinking of casting Jude Law in the upcoming Joy Division film?

"Dead Souls" - Joy Division

Someone take these dreams away,
That point me to another day,
A duel of personalities,
That stretch all true reality.
And keep calling me.
They keep calling me.
Keep on calling me.
They keep calling me.

When figures from the past stand tall,
And mocking voices ring the hall,
Imperialistic house of prayer,
Conquistadores who took their share.
And keep calling me.
They keep calling me.
Keep on calling me.
They keep calling me.

x2 Calling me, calling me.
They keep calling me.
Keep on calling me.

x2 They keep calling me.

The Best collection of Joy Division work is on the "Heart & Soul" boxed set - 4x CDs and a book of history and discography too.