Leaders Of Men

Now on to what everyone has been awaiting on baited breath for. Joy Division. You’ve already gotten a bit of what I wanted to say. So here is the rest. Mike has said that Joy Division is really only relevant today because they spawned New Order and lyrically. Content and not delivery. I’ll address that first. With the popularity of Bloc Party and others (Wolf Parade, Art Brut) one cant help but think of the minimalist synth lines that dominated the early eighties underground scene. And Mike would be right about lyrical delivery there. These bands sound more like Sumner than Curtis, however the sound that paved the way for this re-emergence of the post-punk sound (New York’s sixth or seventh Renaissance, not including Danny’s) was indeed inflected with Curtis’ off beat delivery. Think Interpol (Stella was A Diver, Obstacle 1), some of the Strokes demo stuff and even one or two tracks from the White Stripes Elephant when Jack White manages to stop being a nasally bastard. Alright even if you don’t buy that argument you’ll have to give me this one. Goth is founded heavily on the lyrical delivery, content and musicianship of Joy Division. Mike sort of claims it for New Order but if you listen to a band like VNV Nation or Kulture Culture arguable two of the more popular bands in goth. If you don’t hear the ghost of Ian in those voices then I think your crazy.
Now to turn to Hannet. This guy basically made Joy Division. He was the one who organized the bands sound and gave them an actual work ethic. His use of the Moog and the ADMS gave the entire Closer album, along with every Peel session they ever did actual weight. The distancing techniques that he used (recording not only the individual instruments but the cords themselves alone), was almost imperceptible but somehow important for the ethos of the band I think. Without him they would have stayed a band like Warsaw, which was only a cheap knock-off of the Sex Pistols when you come right down to it. Digital was the first thing Hannet did and it completely changed the sound not only of the area (making the Manchester scene), but of the band itself. Some will argue t was Tony Wilson but he only played the stuff on his TV show, Hanntet made the music. From then on Curtis knew what he wanted. Alright now to rag on New Order. Sort of. Basically the band gets kind of ruined for me when they take over half of Factory. I don’t know why but it ends up seeming so disingenuous compared to Joy Division how endured Wilson and his McLaren-like shenanigans. Granted music need to change; post punk was stale and the only thing really happening was no wave, even that was getting a bit hacky. Still there is something about Truth off of their first album Movement that pisses me off. Pop is pop and its commercial but they were just ripping off their old sounds and Sumner was trying to sound like Curtis so desperately at points its just kind of sad. I’m glad they found New York. If they didn’t I have a feeling every in Manchester would have strung them up. Thank god for power lies and corruption. Another Movement and I think even Mark Smith would have beaten them up, not that he has a problem with getting in fights or anything. Alright that’s enough I thought it might have been a bit better and I don’t think I really defened my point very well but its all just opinion anyway. I comes down to weather you think New Order could have happened without Joy Division. And f you feel history and influnces are more important then the organic growth that happens in a long lived band like New Order.

Listening to the Game’s Documentary oddly enough.

And yes Mike I get some of this from that book I read…