Last night we saw the movie, Contol, about Ian Curtis the lead singer of Joy Division, a leading post-punk band that was big in the very late 70's. Curtis wound up killing himself, crushed by the demands of celebrity, increasingly severe epileptic seizures, and the problems that ensue due to an ongoing affair that his wife threatens to leave him over. (Other accounts discuss severe mental illness, which seems to make more sense - the movie leaves you wondering what led him to feel so utterly trapped and without hope.) Shot in black and white, the movie does a good job of capturing the bleakness of his homelife from adolescence to the end. Great music throughout. I think that "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is one of the best songs of this genre. Joy Division reformulated under the apt name New Order after Curtis' death and went on to produce some interesting early electronica / dance music.Fun Fact: The name Joy Division is taken from a brothel frequented by German soldiers during WW II.
1 comment:
not so fun fact - 'joy division' actually refers to a group of female Jewish prisoners forced to have sex with their nazi captors.
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