Joy Division (3½ Stars)

After watching "Control" yesterday I thought it would be appropriate to watch the Joy Division documentary again. "Control" is based on the biography written by Ian Curtis's widow Deborah, "Touching from a distance", whereas the documentary is based primarily on interviews with the other band members.

Peter Hook (bass guitar), Bernard Sumner (guitar and keyboards) and Stephen Morris (drums) were all 50 in 2007 when this documentary was made. They've obviously distanced themselves from their days playing in Joy Division. Speaking of Joy Division's first album, "Unknown Pleasures", Hook says he doesn't understand why people like it because he thinks it's shit (or rather shite, as in Manchester's dialect). It's true, the band's music style became very different when they changed their name to New Order. They abandoned their gothic style (even though "gothic rock" wasn't a commonly used term at the time, because people didn't over-categorise music the way they do now) and turned to electropop. I find it sad that they are effectively rejecting the influence that Ian Curtis had on them, like it was a burden to be cast off.

Even judging by their own words, the other band members had limited communication with Ian Curtis. He spent his evenings reading books by Kafka, Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre. These were the main influences for his lyrics. 20 years later someone explained the song texts to the band and they said, "Wow! Is that what we were singing about? We never paid much attention". It's a sad, sad legacy for Ian Curtis, that even those closest to him didn't understand his thoughts.

Interestingly, Annik Honore denies that she had an affair with Ian, despite his wife's claims that this was the reason for the marriage's breakdown. She says they were just good friends. My opinion on the matter is that both women are unreliable sources, and the truth needs to be verified by someone else. It's typical for a wife with a distant husband to blame the problems on another woman. It's also typical for a woman having an affair with a married man to pretend it never happened. My personal opinion, after hearing both sides of the story, is that Ian felt a bond with Annik because she was the only one he could talk to. He probably didn't sleep with her, as his wife claimed. I'm sure that for a person like Deborah a sexual relationship would have been the worst form of infidelity, but for a person like Ian sex was secondary. Having fellowship with another woman on an intellectual level was more dangerous to his marriage.

I've added a "Documentary" label to my list of labels at the bottom right. There are now enough of them on my blog that it's worth it.

Love will tear us apart

When routine bites hard,
And ambitions are low,
And resentment rides high,
But emotions won't grow,
And we're changing our ways,
Taking different roads,

Then love, love will tear us apart again.
Love, love will tear us apart again.

Why is the bedroom so cold?
You've turned away on your side.
Is my timing that flawed?
Our respect runs so dry,
Yet there's still this appeal
That we've kept through our lives.

But love, love will tear us apart again.
Love, love will tear us apart again.

You cry out in your sleep,
All my failings exposed,
And there's a taste in my mouth,
As desperation takes hold,
Just that something so good
Can't function no more.

But love, love will tear us apart again.
Love, love will tear us apart again.
Love, love will tear us apart again.
Love, love will tear us apart again.