Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
1980 was a sad year in music. Multiple bands lost members at young ages and they took different approaches in how they’d move forward. AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott passed away on 9 February, aged 33. They continued with Brian Johnson, formerly of Geordie, releasing Back in Black on 25 July 1980. Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham passed away on 25 September 1980, aged 32. That led to the breakup of Led Zeppelin. Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis died on 18 May 1980, aged 23. The following day they were to tour the United States. Rather than continue as Joy Division or break up, the remaining band members did a secret third thing, change their name and their sound to reflect the changing times and music trends. Goodbye post-punk and hello to the sound of the future: rock and roll meets electronic dance music. But this evolution in sound didn’t happen overnight, nor was it by design. They just did it and a new sound was born.
I’ve always believed that “Ceremony” was New Order’s “I Fought The Law” moment. In case you’re confused by the analogy, “Ceremony” was one of the last songs written by Joy Division and it became New Order’s debut single. Every time I listen to that song, I think of Ian Curtis and I can imagine him singing the vocals. “I Fought The Law” was a song written by Buddy Holly’s friend Sonny Curtis and recorded by The Crickets (Buddy Holly‘s former band) in May 1959, just months after The Day The Music Died. Similarly, every time I hear that song, I think of Buddy Holly singing the vocals. Unfortunately in the case of “I Fought The Law”, there is no recording of Buddy Holly on vocals, but there is a recording of Ian Curtis singing “Ceremony”.
There’s sort of a connection between these seemingly unrelated songs and that’s punk rock. In 1965, The Bobby Fuller Four covered The Crickets’ “I Fought The Law” and got a top 10 hit in the US and a top 40 hit in the UK with it. It wasn’t the only Buddy Holly connection, they also covered “Peggy Sue”, “Love’s Made a Fool of You”, and “Think It Over” . Fourteen years later, The Clash covered it in a punk rock style after hearing the Bobby Fuller version on a jukebox at The Automatt studios in San Francisco. Coincidentally, both Bobby Fuller and Ian Curtis died at the age of 23, not far off of Buddy Holly, who died at the age of 22.
In my opinion, in classic rock all roads lead to David Bowie. David Bowie was born just in time to grow up alongside the birth of rock and roll, enjoying all the rock songs as they were coming out and seeing the popular music world transform. Throughout his 50+ years in music, he made songs in a wide variety of genres, truly showing the diversity in sound of rock and roll. This is why so many musicians across genres and many walks of life cite Bowie as an influence. Joy Division were no exception to this. Ian Curtis loved the album Low. Before they were Joy Division, they were Warsaw, which is a reference to one of the tracks from Low. In fact, the last album Ian Curtis ever listened to was Iggy Pop’s The Idiot, recorded during Bowie’s Berlin era and produced by David Bowie. David Bowie was also a musician who wasn’t afraid to embrace technology. New Order, taking musical inspiration from Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder, similarly were keen to adopt new technologies in creating their innovative, ever-evolving sound that went from post-punk to synthpop to techno/electronica.
The first time I ever heard a New Order song was “Age of Consent”, from the album Power, Corruption, and Lies, an album title that perfectly describes the political landscape we’re in right now. I had stumbled across the song on Tumblr and decided to give it a listen because I loved the floral album cover. The album cover is eye-catching, mixing old and new, Henri Fantin-Latour’s 1885 painting A Basket of Roses and a colour code representing the band’s name and album title. It makes an impact much like a Hipgnosis cover. The genius of Peter Saville! From there, I got into other New Order and Joy Division songs, opening my mind to electronic music. While I wouldn’t call myself a die-hard fan, I really like their music and it’s a shame they’re still not in the Rock Hall (yet!).
This book, simply titled Joy Division and New Order is not a track-by-track book, but rather a retrospective that tells the stories behind their albums and what was going on around that time, band wise. Each album has a chapter dedicated to it from Unknown Pleasures to There are highs and lows, peaks and valleys, and author Mayer Nissim isn’t afraid to share his opinions, whether they’re positive or negative. The book is well-written, well-researched, and I appreciate the appendix at the end with a full discography and a list of sources cited. What I really think is the highlight of the book are all the interviews, which each get a dedicated chapter and are done in a sort of Q&A format, although instead of questions, it says “on [insert topic here]”. And there are some excellent interviews adding to the credibility to this book, original band members Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook, graphic designer Peter Saville, guest vocalist on “Jetstream” Ana Matronic (of Scissor Sisters), producer Stephen Street, recording engineer Michael Johnson (who famously worked on “Blue Monday”), Joy Division (2007) director Grant Gee, and “Confusion” music video director Charles Sturridge. These discussions are all insightful and the questions are well thought out. After reading this book, I’m confident that New Order and Joy Division fans will love this book. If you’re a casual listener you’ll learn a lot and enjoy the great storytelling, but if you’re a big fan you’ll especially appreciate the new interviews.
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