If I’d been having that conversation with you 25 years ago I’d have probably suggested that it wasn’t such a far-fetched idea. There’s a ready-made narrative and complementary soundtrack as well as the opportunity to scratch beneath the surface of a deeply tormented soul.
But I’m biased because I was a huge fan at the time and can still remember the sense of shock I felt when John Peel broke the news of his death. On the anniversary of Curtis’s death, Peel said nothing but opened his show with ‘New Dawn Fades’. It’s funny how you remember these little things.
I think you underestimate the legacy of Joy Division. A few years back I was genuinely surprised when a friend of mine (he’s a few years younger than me and would have been about 7 when Curtis died) began enthusing about the band. I assumed the music and the band’s legacy meant little to anyone who wasn’t around at the time. But they endured in a way that few if any of their contemporaries did. Death, as you say is often a good career move, but I think in Curtis’s case it also conferred a degree of veracity and depth upon his music.
I remember seeing the ‘So It Goes’ performance, but when I think of the band I always think back to the photos Corbijn took for the NME in about 1979. They captured a brief moment in time. When I think back to the grey 70s, I often think of those images. In a way the inter-related story of Joy Division, New Order and Wilson is the story of Manchester and the north. It was the end of a grim decade, the end of the industrialised north and the beginning of the hedonistic Thatcherite 80s. Of course the fact that Curtis’s death occurred when it did was mere coincidence, but nonetheless I think it carries symbolic significance for people of a certain age.
I haven’t seen Control yet, but judging by the reviews it’s a terrific film, beautifully filmed with great performances from the two main characters.
Now, it can only be a matter of time before we get the Malcom Owen Ruts biopic :-)
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Date: 2007-10-10 01:30 pm (UTC)If I’d been having that conversation with you 25 years ago I’d have probably suggested that it wasn’t such a far-fetched idea. There’s a ready-made narrative and complementary soundtrack as well as the opportunity to scratch beneath the surface of a deeply tormented soul.
But I’m biased because I was a huge fan at the time and can still remember the sense of shock I felt when John Peel broke the news of his death. On the anniversary of Curtis’s death, Peel said nothing but opened his show with ‘New Dawn Fades’. It’s funny how you remember these little things.
I think you underestimate the legacy of Joy Division. A few years back I was genuinely surprised when a friend of mine (he’s a few years younger than me and would have been about 7 when Curtis died) began enthusing about the band. I assumed the music and the band’s legacy meant little to anyone who wasn’t around at the time. But they endured in a way that few if any of their contemporaries did. Death, as you say is often a good career move, but I think in Curtis’s case it also conferred a degree of veracity and depth upon his music.
I remember seeing the ‘So It Goes’ performance, but when I think of the band I always think back to the photos Corbijn took for the NME in about 1979. They captured a brief moment in time. When I think back to the grey 70s, I often think of those images. In a way the inter-related story of Joy Division, New Order and Wilson is the story of Manchester and the north. It was the end of a grim decade, the end of the industrialised north and the beginning of the hedonistic Thatcherite 80s. Of course the fact that Curtis’s death occurred when it did was mere coincidence, but nonetheless I think it carries symbolic significance for people of a certain age.
I haven’t seen Control yet, but judging by the reviews it’s a terrific film, beautifully filmed with great performances from the two main characters.
Now, it can only be a matter of time before we get the Malcom Owen Ruts biopic :-)
Best.
Jamie