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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 7:00:54 GMT -7
Elegia - Ian Kevin Curtis 1956 – 1980This song New Order mourns the early death by suicide on 18 May 1980 of Ian Curtis the frontman of New Order's predecessor Joy Division. Curtis reached the age of 23 years old and committed suicide just before his 24 the birthday leaving behind a mother and child. Ian Kevin Curtis (15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980) was an English musician. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the post-punk band Joy Division and recorded two albums with the group: Unknown Pleasures (1979) and Closer (1980). Curtis was known for his bass-baritone voice, dance style and songwriting typically filled with imagery of desolation, emptiness, and alienation.
Ian Curtis with his later wife Deborah Woodruff in 1973
Curtis had epilepsy and depression and committed suicide on the eve of Joy Division's first North American tour and shortly before the release of Closer. Shortly after his death, the three surviving members of the band reconstituted themselves as New Order.
Despite their short career, Joy Division have exerted a wide-reaching influence. John Bush of AllMusic argues that they "became the first band in the post-punk movement by ... emphasizing not anger and energy but mood and expression, pointing ahead to the rise of melancholy alternative music in the '80s".
Elegia, Moving and beautiful, is a very good made elegy for Ian Curtis by the band members of New Order, whom where Curtis fellow band members and friends. Warsaw and Joy Division lived on in New Order."Elegia" is an instrumental musical piece composed by Peter Hook, Gillian Gilbert, Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner for the British rock band New Order. It is an instrumental in A minor with a time signature of 12/8 and uses samples from E-mu Emulator II. It was recorded at CTS Studios, Wembley in a single, 24 hour session. It can be found on their third studio album, Low-Life (1985). The band have stated that the song was written in memory of Ian Curtis, lead singer of the band's former incarnation, Joy Division. Elegia is Greek for elegy. The 17 minute version
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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 7:21:38 GMT -7
Comments viewers:
Blondiegrrl
This photo makes me sad. It was taken about 5 days before he committed suicide -- I think it was the last time he saw his daughter (per Deborah's book).
Alan Rodger
A number of people have commented with surprise about what a normal bloke he sounds. I met Ian a couple of times, and 'normal' is exactly how he was....he seemed unaffected in any way by the success of his career, and made jokes such as about how he used to go to clubs in Macclesfield to amuse himself watching the less hip elements of the population dancing. So, a sense of humour for sure, and his feet seemingly on the ground...so different to how the insights in his lyrics make you imagine he'd be. Still think of him often.....thirty-four years this month since he departed.
Cyaneyed77
Amazing that he referenced Bauhaus, I only especially liked a couple of Bauhaus songs, but Peter Murphy's solo career is genius and incredibly underrated, much like Joy Division and New Order (New Order less so, but in the wider public conscious it's fair to say they should be known better and for more than Blue Monday and a world cup)!
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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 7:50:44 GMT -7
Ian CurtisIan Kevin Curtis (15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980) was an English musician. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the post-punk band Joy Division and recorded two albums with the group: Unknown Pleasures (1979) and Closer (1980). Curtis was known for his bass-baritone voice, dance style and songwriting typically filled with imagery of desolation, emptiness, and alienation.
Curtis had epilepsy and depression and committed suicide on the eve of Joy Division's first North American tour and shortly before the release of Closer. Shortly after his death, the three surviving members of the band reconstituted themselves as New Order.
Despite their short career, Joy Division have exerted a wide-reaching influence. John Bush of AllMusic argues that they "became the first band in the post-punk movement by ... emphasizing not anger and energy but mood and expression, pointing ahead to the rise of melancholy alternative music in the '80s". According to critic Simon Reynolds, Joy Division's influence has extended from contemporaries such as U2 and The Cure to later acts including Interpol, Bloc Party and Editors. Rap artists such as Danny Brown and Vince Staples have cited the band as an influence.Early lifeCurtis was born on 15 July 1956, at the Memorial Hospital in Stretford, Lancashire, and grew up in a working-class household in Macclesfield, Cheshire. He was the first of two children born to Kevin and Doreen Curtis. From an early age, Curtis was a bookish and intelligent child, displaying a particular flair for poetry. He was awarded a scholarship at the age of 11 at Macclesfield's independent King's School. Here, he developed his interests in philosophy, literature and eminent poets such as Thom Gunn. While at King's School, he was awarded several scholastic awards in recognition of his abilities, particularly at the ages of 15 and 16. The year after Curtis had graduated from King's School, the family purchased a house from a relative and moved to New Moston.
As a teenager, Curtis chose to perform social service by visiting the elderly as part of a school programme. While visiting, he and his friends would steal any prescription drugs that they found and later take them together as a group. On one occasion when he was 16, after consuming a large dosage of Largactil he and his friends had stolen, Curtis was discovered unconscious in his bedroom by his father and was taken to hospital to have his stomach pumped.
Curtis had held a keen interest in music since the age of 12, and this interest developed greatly in his teenage years, with artists such as Jim Morrison and David Bowie being particular favourites of his, and thus influencing his poetry and art. Among Curtis's earliest experiences with music was in a church choir as a young kid, in his hometown of Macclesfield. Curtis could seldom afford to purchase records, leading him to frequently steal them from local shops. By his mid-teens, Curtis had also developed a reputation among his peers as a strong-willed individual, with a keen interest in fashion.
Despite gaining nine O-levels at King's School and briefly studying A-Levels in History and Divinity at St. John's College, Curtis soon became disenchanted with academic life and abandoned his studies to commit himself to finding employment. Despite abandoning his studies at St. John's College, Curtis continued to focus on the pursuit of art, literature and music, and would gradually draw lyrical and conceptual inspiration from ever more insidious subjects.
Curtis obtained a job at a record shop in Manchester City Centre, before obtaining more stable employment within the civil service. His employment as a civil servant saw Curtis initially deployed to Cheadle Hulme, where he worked for several months with the Ministry of Defence, before he was offered alternative employment within the Manpower Services Commission in a building at Piccadilly Gardens. He later worked as a civil servant in Woodford, Greater Manchester although, at his request, approximately one year later Curtis was posted to Macclesfield's Employment Exchange, where he worked as an Assistant Disablement Resettlement Officer.
On 23 August 1975, Curtis married Deborah Woodruff, to whom he was introduced by a friend, Tony Nuttall. Ian and Deborah initially became friends and then began dating in December 1972, when both were 16 years old. Their wedding service was conducted at St Thomas' Church in Henbury, Cheshire. Curtis was 19 and Woodruff 18. They had one child, a daughter named Natalie, born on 16 April 1979. Initially, the couple lived with Ian's grandparents, although shortly after their marriage the couple moved to a working-class neighbourhood in Chadderton, where they paid a mortgage while working in jobs neither enjoyed. Before long, the couple became disillusioned with life in Oldham and remortgaged their house before briefly returning to live with Ian's grandparents. Shortly thereafter, in May 1977, the couple moved into their own house in Barton Street, Macclesfield, with one of the rooms of the property becoming colloquially known between the couple as Curtis's "song-writing room".On 23 August 1975, Ian Curtis married Deborah Woodruff, after that marriage known as Deborah CurtisIan Curtis daughter Natalie Curtis Mother and daughter Deborah Curtis and Natalie CurtisJoy DivisionAt a July 1976 Sex Pistols gig at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall, Curtis encountered three childhood school friends named Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Terry Mason. The trio informed Curtis—whom they had seen at earlier punk gigs at The Electric Circus—of their intentions to form a band and Curtis informed them of his then-recent efforts to do likewise, before proposing himself as both their singer and lyricist. Initially, Mason became the band's drummer, but his rehearsal sessions were largely unproductive and he briefly became the band's manager. The group then unsuccessfully attempted to recruit several drummers before selecting Stephen Morris in August 1977. The band was later managed by Rob Gretton, who—having already seen Joy Division perform live at local venues such as Rafters—offered to become their manager in 1978.
Initially, the band named themselves "Warsaw", from the title of a song on David Bowie's then-recent album Low, but as this name somewhat conflicted with that of a London-based group named Warsaw Pakt they renamed themselves Joy Division. This moniker was derived from the 1955 novel The House of Dolls, which featured a Nazi concentration camp with a sexual slavery wing called the "Joy Division". The cover of the band's first EP depicted a drawing of a Hitler Youth beating a drum and the A-side contained a song, "Warsaw", which was a musical retelling of the life of Nazi leader Rudolf Hess.After founding Factory Records with Alan Erasmus, Tony Wilson signed the band to his label following its first appearance on the TV music show he hosted, So It Goes, in September 1978. This appearance had been largely prompted by an abusive letter sent to Wilson by Curtis and saw the band play the song "Shadowplay".
While performing with Joy Division, Curtis became known for his quiet and awkward demeanour and a unique dancing style reminiscent of the epileptic seizures he began experiencing in late 1978. Although predominantly a singer, Curtis also played guitar on a handful of tracks (usually when Sumner was playing synthesizer; "Incubation" and a Peel session version of "Transmission" were rare instances when both Sumner and Curtis played guitar). Initially, Curtis played Sumner's Shergold Masquerader, but in September 1979 he acquired his own guitar, a Vox Phantom VI Special which had many built-in effects used both live and in studio.[38] This included a repeat effect misspelled as "replat" on the control panel. Curtis used the guitar on Joy Division's early 1980 European tour and in the video for "Love Will Tear Us Apart".Personal lifeRelationshipsCurtis's widow has claimed that in October 1979, Curtis began conducting an affair with the Belgian Annik Honoré who had been working at the Belgian embassy in London before becoming a journalist and music promoter. They had first met at a gig held in Brussels that month. Despite the fact he had for many years exhibited a somewhat controlling attitude within their relationship (which had included minimising any opportunity for his wife to come into contact with other men), Curtis was consumed with guilt over this affair due to being married and the father of their baby daughter, but at the same time still yearning to be with Honoré. On one occasion in 1980, Curtis asked Bernard Sumner to make a decision on his behalf as to whether he should remain with his wife or form a deeper relationship with Honoré; Sumner refused. Honoré claimed in a 2010 interview that although she and Curtis had spent extensive periods together, their relationship had been platonic. Deborah Curtis has maintained that it was a sexual and romantic affair.Ian Curtis Belgian girlfriend Annik Honoré who had been working at the Belgian embassy in London before becoming a journalist and music promoterEpilepsyCurtis began having epileptic seizures in late 1978; he was officially diagnosed with the condition on 23 January the following year, with his particular case being described by doctors as so severe, his "life would [be] ruled to obsolescence by his severe epilepsy" without the various strong dosages of medications he was prescribed. Having joined the British Epilepsy Association, Curtis was initially open to discuss his condition with anyone who inquired, although he soon became withdrawn and reluctant to discuss any issue regarding his condition beyond the most mundane and necessary aspects. On each occasion it became apparent a particular prescribed medication failed to control Curtis's seizures, his doctor would prescribe a different anticonvulsant and his wife noted his being "full of renewed enthusiasm" that this particular formulation would help him bring his seizures under control.
Throughout 1979 and 1980, Curtis's condition gradually worsened amid the pressure of performances and touring, with his seizures becoming more frequent and more intense. Following his diagnosis, Curtis continued to drink, smoke and maintain an irregular sleeping pattern—against the advice given to those with the condition. The medications Curtis was prescribed for his condition produced numerous side effects, including extreme mood swings. This change in personality was also observed by Curtis's wife, family and in-laws, who noted how taciturn he had become in his wife's company. Following the birth of his daughter in April 1979, because of the severity of his medical condition, Ian was seldom able to hold his baby daughter in case he compromised the child's safety."He saw it (Joy Division) going on without him. He felt very removed from it. With the epilepsy, he just knew he couldn't carry on with the performances. He'd sort of hit a pinnacle with Closer, and he knew he couldn't go on."—Lindsay Reade, on Curtis's brief period of recuperation at her rural Bury household shortly before his suicide in May 1980.
At the time of the recording of the band's second album, Curtis's condition was particularly severe, with him enduring a weekly average of two tonic-clonic seizures. On one occasion during these recordings, Curtis's bandmates became concerned when they noted he had been absent from the recording studio for two hours. The band's bassist, Peter Hook, discovered Curtis unconscious on the floor of the studio's toilets, having hit his head on a sink following a seizure.[59] Despite instances such as this, Hook stated that, largely through ignorance of the condition, he, Sumner and Morris did not know how to help. Nonetheless, Hook was adamant that Curtis never wanted to upset or concern his bandmates, and would "tell [us] what [we] wanted to hear" if they expressed any concern as to his condition. In one incident, at a concert held before almost 3,000 people at the Rainbow in Finsbury Park in April 1980, the lighting technicians at the venue—contrary to instructions given to them by Rob Gretton prior to the gig—switched on strobe lights midway through Joy Division's performance, causing Curtis to almost immediately stagger backwards and collapse against Stephen Morris's drum kit in the throes of an evident seizure. He had to be carried offstage to the band's dressing room to recuperate.
When Curtis had recovered from this first seizure, he was adamant the band travel to West Hampstead to honour their commitment to perform their second gig of the evening at this location, although some 25 minutes into this second gig, Curtis's "dancing started to lose its rhythmic sense and change into something else entirely" before he collapsed to the floor and experienced the most violent seizure he had endured to date.
Stage performances
Curtis's onstage dancing was often reminiscent of the seizures he experienced and has been termed by some to be his "epilepsy dance". Throughout Joy Division's live performances in 1979 and 1980, Curtis collapsed several times while performing and had to be carried off stage. To minimise any possibility of Curtis having epileptic seizures, flashing lights were prohibited at Joy Division gigs; despite these measures, Bernard Sumner later stated that certain percussion effects would cause Curtis to have a seizure. In April 1980, Terry Mason was appointed as a minder to ensure Curtis took his prescribed medications, avoided alcohol consumption and got sufficient sleep.
Regarding the choreography of Curtis's stage performances, Greil Marcus in The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs quotes Jon Savage from Melody Maker: "Ian's mesmeric style mirrored the ever more frequent epileptic spasms that Deborah Curtis had to cope with at home." Marcus remarked that Curtis's performance "might also have been a matter of intentionally replicating fits, re-enacting them, using them as a form of energy and a form of music."
Curtis's final live performance with Joy Division was on 2 May 1980 at the High Hall of Birmingham University and included Joy Division's first and only performance of "Ceremony", later recorded by New Order and released as their debut single. The final song Curtis performed on stage with Joy Division prior to his death was "Digital". Depression and initial suicide attempt
Following Curtis's first definite suicide attempt on 6 April 1980, Tony Wilson and his partner, Lindsay—expressing deep concerns as to Joy Division's intense touring schedule being detrimental to Curtis's physical and mental well-being[69]—invited him to recuperate at their cottage in Charlesworth in Derbyshire. While there, he is known to have written several letters to Honoré, proclaiming his love for her as he recuperated.
By early 1980, Curtis's marriage to Deborah was floundering, as she had commenced divorce proceedings after he had failed to cease all contact with Honoré. Curtis enjoyed solitude, but had never been mentally equipped for living alone. He was having difficulty balancing his family obligations with his musical ambitions and his health was gradually worsening as a result of his epilepsy, thus increasing his dependency upon others. On the evening before his death, Curtis informed Bernard Sumner of his insistence upon seeing his wife that evening. He had also made firm plans to rendezvous with his bandmates at Manchester Airport the following day, before their departure for America.Singer Ian Curtis on stage in 1980 with Joy DivisionDeathCurtis's grave marker at Macclesfield CemeteryOn the evening of 17 May 1980, Curtis asked Deborah to drop her impending divorce proceedings; she replied that it was likely that he would have changed his mind by the following morning and then—mindful of his previous suicide attempt and also concerned that his state of anxiety and frustration might drive Curtis into an epileptic seizure—offered to spend the night in his company. Deborah then drove to her parents' home to inform them of her intentions. When she returned to the couple's home at 77 Barton Street in Macclesfield, Cheshire, his demeanour had changed and he informed his wife of his intentions to spend the night alone, first making her promise not to return to the house before he had taken his scheduled 10 a.m. train to Manchester to meet up with his bandmates.
In the early hours of the next morning, Curtis committed suicide at the age of 23. He had used the kitchen's washing line to hang himself after having written a note to Deborah in which he declared his love for her despite his recent affair with Honoré. Deborah found his body soon after. In her biography, Touching from a Distance, Deborah recalls finding her husband's body and initially thinking that he was still alive before noticing the washing line around his neck. According to Tony Wilson, Curtis spent the few hours before his suicide watching Werner Herzog's 1977 film Stroszek and listening to Iggy Pop's 1977 album The Idiot. Stark notes the significance of this album, as Pop's title was inspired by Dostoyevsky's novel The Idiot about the spiritually sensitive epileptic prince who was driven mad by the tragic and violent society in which he lived. His wife recollected that he had taken photographs of their wedding and their baby daughter off the walls, apparently to view them as he composed his suicide note.
At the time of Curtis's suicide, Joy Division were on the eve of their debut North American tour. Deborah has stated that Curtis had viewed the upcoming tour with extreme trepidation, not only because of his extreme fear of flying (he had wanted to travel by ship) but also because he had expressed deep concerns as to how American audiences would react to his epilepsy. Deborah has also claimed that Curtis had confided in her on several occasions that he held no desire to live past his early twenties. He had expressed to both Deborah and Honoré his deep concerns that his medical condition was likely to kill him, in addition to causing him to receive mockery from audiences, and that this mockery would only increase when performing before American audiences on the upcoming tour.
According to Lindsay Reade, Curtis had informed her shortly before his death of his belief that, with his epilepsy, he could no longer perform live with the band. In addition, he had claimed that with the impending release of Closer, he believed the band had hit an artistic pinnacle.
In a 2007 interview with The Guardian, Stephen Morris expressed regret that nobody had realised during Curtis's life the distress he was in, even though it was evident in his lyrics. Bassist Peter Hook reflected on the tragedy of the timing of Curtis's death, just before what might have been a breakthrough to fame. Hook also claimed that, prior to the release of the 2007 documentary Joy Division, a specialist in epilepsy had viewed the combination of drugs that Curtis had been prescribed for his condition and expressed concerns about the drugs' safety.
Curtis's body was cremated at Macclesfield Crematorium on 23 May 1980, and his ashes were buried at Macclesfield Cemetery. A memorial stone, inscribed with "Ian Curtis 18–5–80" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart", was placed above his ashes. This memorial stone was stolen in mid-2008. A replacement, bearing the same inscription but in a sans-serif typeface, was placed in the same location. A central "mowing" stone used to hold floral tributes was reported stolen from the grave in August 2019.
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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 8:51:17 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 9:02:40 GMT -7
Before Joy Division and New Order there was Warsaw. When people hear New Order music, they have to realise that music comes from the same guys that made the Warsaw and Joy Division albums and worked together with Ian Curtis. Curtis the lyricist/songwriter, poet singer, guitar player whom was very influential not only inside Joy Division, but also on the British music world, and Continental European and American music and musicians as well. That is their foundation and their roots.
This is a rare recording of The Drawback, also known as "All of This For You" from the self-titled album Warsaw, released in 1994.
Recorded at Arrow Studios, Manchester, England, May 1978.
There are few clips of the early Joy Division when they were known as Warsaw.
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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 9:19:20 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 12:22:05 GMT -7
Joy Division - Music Documentary Film 2007Joy Division - In-depth to look at the brief but vital trajectory of a band that died with its frontman, Ian Curtis. only to be reborn as the equally influential New Order. Features interviews with all surviving band members and explores the Manchester origins of this revolutionary act, their partnership with Factory Records founder Tony Wilson, and collaboration with producer Martin Hannett. The film assembles TV clips, newsreel, pictures of modern Manchester and Manchester in the late 1970s, and interviews include the three surviving members of the group.
Anthony Howard Wilson (20 February 1950 – 10 August 2007) was a British record label owner, radio and television presenter, nightclub manager, impresario and a journalist for Granada Television and the BBC. As a co-founder of the independent label Factory Records and founder-manager of the Haçienda nightclub, Wilson was behind some of Manchester's most successful bands, including Joy Division, New Order, and Happy Mondays. Wilson was known as "Mr Manchester", dubbed as such for his work in promoting the culture of Manchester throughout his career.
Joy Division were an English band formed in Salford in 1976. Salford is a city and the main settlement of the wider City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Joy Division consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attending a Sex Pistols concert. While Joy Division's first recordings were heavily influenced by early punk, they soon developed a sound and style that made them one of the pioneers of the post-punk movement.
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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 13:33:55 GMT -7
The story of Joy Division and New Order shows like many other pop bands, rock bands, New Wave Bands, Heavy Metal bands was typical a story of working class boys whom became adult men as musicians, rockers, touring people and music experts. Rock and Pop music is really a sort of uplifting and Renaissance of Working class culture, like you had it's 19th century and early 20th century versions. It was and is peoples music and the Folk music of the late 20th century and early 21th century really. I am not such an expert on American music, but in Europe the British Beat Music, Mersey beat was really peoples music coming from London, Liverpool and Manchester working class area's. Music made by working class and lower middle class kids. The British English conquered the world with their music. I think about the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Roxy Music, Queen, the Sex Pistols, the Police, and Joy Division and New Order.
Joy Division entered my life in my late teens during the late eighties when I got a cassette tape from a guy from my rowing club in the provincial Zeeland town of Middelburg. It was not a place where you had a lot of Underground, Alternative, Anarchist, creative, different, energetic, musical, weird, exiting music I was searching for as a teenager. My sporting (Rowing) mate introduced me into a different musical world. I got Joy Division albums, Nina Hagen records and Frank Zappa albums from him. Via that connection I got connected to the Old David Bowie (Joy Division > Warsaw > David Bowie > the Velvet Underground > Lou Reed and etc.
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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 14:11:05 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 15:35:52 GMT -7
Folks,
I was really fascinated by the British english spirit of the Punk Rock, New Wave and British rock music of the sixties and seventies, Joy Division/New Order, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Eurythmics, David Bowie, Roxy Music, the Police, The Pretenders, Magazine, The Cure, the Cocteau Twins, Japan, Anne Clark, the Irish rock band from Dublin U2, and other Britisb bands like the Glam rock band Queen (Their earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works by incorporating further styles, such as arena rock and pop rock), Ph.D. (band), Yes (Band), Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Kate Bush, Elton John, Deep Purple, Motörhead, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Saxon, and the British Punk bands The Clash, The Damned, The Jam, The Stranglers, Generation X, The Buzzcocks, Sham 69, and the Scottish Punk band The Exploited, nex to of course the American Punk Rock of Iggy and the Stooges, the Ramones, Blondie and the Angry Samoans. Being ecclectic, an unusual kid, I didn't belong to any subgroup or tribe of kids, like you had the rockers, disco's, Rasta's, Ska music lovers and Elvis fans back then in Zeeland in the South-West of the Netherlands. I realise that the musical upbringing and musical taste of our typical American (Yankee) friends is different due to their American musical upbringing and growth with less British and continental European (Dutch, German, Belgian, Scandinavian - Abba and Aha-, French, Italian and Polish influences like I had). Jaga will have had a different musical youth in Communist Poland and maybe partly Post communist Poland as well?
Brirtish and Continental European (Dutch/German/French) Punk rock or new wave bands overwhelmingly expressed their dissatisfaction with the prevailing rock trends of the day. They viewed bombastic progressive rock groups like Emerson Lake and Palmer and Pink Floyd with disdain, and instead channeled their energies into a more stripped back sound…The media, however, portrayed punk groups like the Sex Pistols and their fans as violent and unruly, and eventually punk acquired a stigma—especially in the United States—that made the music virtually unmarketable. At the same time, a number of bands, such as the Cars, the Police and Elvis Costello and the Attractions, soon emerged who combined the energy and rebellious attitude of punk with a more accessible and sophisticated radio-friendly sound. These groups were lumped together and marketed exclusively under the label of new wave.
In the early 1980s, new wave gradually lost its associations with punk in popular perception. Writing in 1989, music critic Bill Flanagan said; "Bit by bit the last traces of Punk were drained from New Wave, as New Wave went from meaning Talking Heads to meaning the Cars to Squeeze to Duran Duran to, finally, Wham!". Virtually every new pop rock act, and particularly those that included synthesizers in their sound, were tagged as "new wave". Starting around 1983, the US music industry preferred the more generic term "New Music", which it used to categorize new movements like New Pop and New Romanticism. In Britain, journalists and music critics largely abandoned the terms "new wave" and "new music" in favor of subgenre terms such as "synth-pop".
New wave was closely tied to punk, and came and went more quickly in the UK and Western Europe than in the US. At the time punk began, it was a major phenomenon in the UK and a minor one in the US. When new wave acts started being noticed in the US, the term "punk" meant little to mainstream audiences, and it was common for rock clubs and discos to play British dance mixes and videos between live sets by American guitar acts. By the 2000s, critical consensus favored "new wave" to be an umbrella term that encompasses power pop, synth-pop, ska revival, and the soft strains of punk rock. In the UK, some post-punk music developments became mainstream. According to Music critic David Smay writing in 2001: " Current critical thought discredits new wave as a genre, deriding it as a marketing ploy to soft-sell punk, a meaningless umbrella term covering bands too diverse to be considered alike. Powerpop, synth-pop, ska revival, art school novelties and rebranded pub rockers were all sold as "New Wave."Bromley Contingent The Bromley Contingent were a group of followers of the English Punk Rock band, the Sex Pistols. The name was coined by Melody Maker journalist Caroline Coon, after the town of Bromley where some of them lived. They helped popularize the fashion of the early UK punk movement. Most of them were fans of David Bowie and Roxy Music, also British English musicians. MembersThe group included Siouxsie Sioux, Steven Severin, Billy Idol, Soo Catwoman, Simon 'Six' Barker, Debbie Juvenile (née Wilson), Linda Ashby, Philip Sallon, Simone Thomas, Bertie 'Berlin' Marshall, Tracie O'Keefe, Stuart Maule, James Black, Thomas Collins, Michael Maunsell, Michael Wakefield, Richard Georgiades, Adam Timms, Alistair Black, David Westlake, and Sharon Hayman. There were other members who, although very important to the group, did not become more recognised within the later punk scene; names such as Angel and Ruth were remembered, especially by Siouxsie. Punk rockers did anything to shock and thus also wore swastica's, whether they were painted or drowm correcty or wrong didn't matterSiouxsie Sioux left with another Punk rock girlHistoryThe Bromley Contingent term first appeared in the UK music press after the Sex Pistols gig in Paris on 3 September 1976, when journalist Caroline Coon decided to write an article about "the fans rather about the band". The label was a bit of a misnomer as they came from all over the place - Kentish Town, Orpington, Bromley, and Burnt Oak. Siouxsie was from Chislehurst. Severin, Barker and Berlin were the ones who came from Bromley. Severin stated: "we certainly never referred to ourselves as that". Siouxsie said: "After we got back from Paris, resentments from some of the other people we used to see began to creep in. Those people all thought we'd called ourselves the Bromley Contingent, when we hadn't".
The Bromley Contingent attained a degree of notoriety on 1 December 1976 when Siouxsie, Severin, Thomas and Barker appeared on ITV with the Sex Pistols on Thames Television's early evening television programme Today. Interviewed by television journalist Bill Grundy, Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten used the word "nuts". Siouxsie then teased the presenter by telling him "I've always wanted to meet you", to which he replied; "Did you really? We'll meet afterwards, shall we?" This comment provoked guitarist Steve Jones to call Grundy a "dirty sod", a "dirty old man", a "dirty bastard", a "dirty f***" and a "f*** rotter".
That was the first time in the history of UK television that viewers had heard swearing at this hour of the day. Although the programme was only seen in the Thames Television region, the ensuing furore occupied the tabloid newspapers for days and shortly after the Sex Pistols were dropped by their record label, EMI. This episode changed the face of music in Britain. Up until December 1976, punk rock was a relatively low-key fashion, apart from appearing from time to time in small parts in music papers. In the following week, Siouxsie appeared on the front page of the Daily Mirror with the legend "Siouxsie's a Punk Shocker". The last time Siouxsie and Severin attended a Sex Pistols gig was at Notre Dame Hall in London on 15 December 1976.
The notoriety of the Bromley Contingent in the press continued in June 1977, when Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren rented a boat for the band and fans to sail down the River Thames during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee anniversary celebration. When the police forced the boat to dock, several Pistols fans were arrested and injured in the melee. Bromley Contingent members Juvenile and Tracie O'Keefe (both employees of McLaren in his King's Road clothing boutique Seditionaries) were charged with obstruction and assaulting a police officer. Juvenile was acquitted. O'Keefe was sentenced to one month's imprisonment, later acquitted on appeal. O'Keefe died unexpectedly in early 1978 of bone marrow cancer at the age of 18.Aftermath Many of the Bromley Contingent went on to form bands themselves: Siouxsie and Severin respectively became singer and bassist of Siouxsie and the Banshees and Idol became the leader of Generation X. The fashion statements made by Siouxsie, in particular, incorporating fetish and bondage clothing, and her innovative style of makeup, had a lasting influence.
Barker became a photographer, using the nickname 'Six'. Bertie 'Berlin' Marshall became a writer, publishing a novel, Psychoboys in 1999 and a memoir Berlin Bromley in 2001 which received favourable reviews from The Guardian and Time Out London magazine. Philip Sallon became a fixture of the New Romantic club scene in the early 1980s alongside the likes of Steve Strange and Boy George.Proto-punkIn August 1969, the Stooges, from Ann Arbor, premiered with a self-titled album. According to critic Greil Marcus, the band, led by singer Iggy Pop, created "the sound of Chuck Berry's Airmobile—after thieves stripped it for parts". The album was produced by John Cale, a former member of New York's experimental rock group the Velvet Underground, who inspired many of those involved in the creation of punk rock. The New York Dolls updated 1950s' rock 'n' roll in a fashion that later became known as glam punk. The New York duo Suicide played spare, experimental music with a confrontational stage act inspired by that of the Stooges. In Boston, the Modern Lovers, led by Jonathan Richman, minimalistic style gained attention. In 1974, as well, the Detroit band Death—made up of three African-American brothers—recorded "scorching blasts of feral ur-punk", but could not arrange a release deal.[60] In Ohio, a small but influential underground rock scene emerged, led by Devo in Akron[ and Kent and by Cleveland's Electric Eels, Mirrors and Rocket from the Tombs.
Bands anticipating the forthcoming movement were appearing as far afield as Düsseldorf, West Germany, where "punk before punk" band Neu! formed in 1971, building on the Krautrock tradition of groups such as Can. In Japan, the anti-establishment Zunō Keisatsu (Brain Police) mixed garage-psych and folk. The combo regularly faced censorship challenges, their live act at least once including onstage masturbation. A new generation of Australian garage rock bands, inspired mainly by the Stooges and MC5, was coming closer to the sound that would soon be called "punk": In Brisbane, the Saints evoked the live sound of the British Pretty Things, who had toured Australia and New Zealand in 1975.
I often wondered later on, being more mature why the young kidn (teenager) I was searching for the rough sound, tough music, hard and loud music, while most kids and folks liked and searched for more melodic, romantic, soft or swinging music. The music probably eased my temper, anger, irritations, frustrations and struggle with life in the provincial corned of the Netherlands I lived in which wasn't as progressive and liberal as I was back then. I didn't fit into the Ultra-Conservative Calvinist environment, the bourgeois Middle class provincial people, and I also didn't fit into the working class people of my working class town Vlissingen I lived in. I later learned through study, work, Mindfullness, psychology and art and culture to address my rage, anger, fury, frustration, irritation, feeling of exclusion, aggression in a positive non-destructive manner. Going back to Zeeland, taking care of my parents and being relaxed there and liking the peninsula means that I have beaten the negative images and experiences of the past and am superior to them and to the Zeeland people that rejected me as a child and teenager. I went to primary school, higschool and public libraries there a lot and learned a lot already in these 20 Zeeland years. I sported a lot, read a lot, had my radio, worked in a restaurant, and have walked, cycled and rowed, swam and wind surfed, tennised a lot and went out a lot there as kid and teenager. You fight for your rightful place as a kid and teenager, and I did, and that's why I am here today in Arnhem with my Zeeland, Amsterdam and the Hague experience. I feel inspired by artists and writers like Ian Curtis, Vincent van Gogh, David Byrne, David Bowie, Andy Warhol, Karel Appel, the Danish artist Per Kirbey (with his beautiful brick sculptures), Bill Viola, Mike Kelley, Nam Jun Paik, Stephen Shore, Robert Frank, people from the novels of Tadeusz Konwiczky, Jerzy Andrzejewski, Czesław Miłosz, Franz Kafka, Gunter Grass (artist and writer), Anselm Kiefer, Max Beckmann, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Nikolai Gogol, Lou Reed, Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders), Annie Lennox (Eurythmics) Suzan Sontag and Patti Smith.
Later in life I started to understand these people and myself as a day dreaming, quite naive romantic, fantasizing, sensitive, maybe nerdy, idealistic, Utopic, disconnected kid whom lived in his own life of his books, his drawings/water color paintings on paper, and his own music and own radio program taste. Of course in that unrestful years of a restless and creative teenage boy whom felt out of place in the Zeeland comfort zone or standard (bourgeois) living people -with their belonging to or characteristic of the middle class, typically with reference to its perceived materialistic values or conventional attitudes. "a rich, bored, bourgeois family" - as a searching teenage kid I felt tremendously connected to songs, the lyrics of Ian Curtis of Joy Division about alienation, Dead Souls, Darkness, somberness and that English Manchester atmosphere of their lyrics. Just like I recognized myself in the song 'Once in a Liftime' of the American Band Talking Heads of the amazing David Byrne, Jerry Harrison, Chris Frant and Tina Weymouth. And later I became a huge fan of the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed solo (I love the somg 'Sad song'), Johnny Cash, and liked realy a lot of African music and white American music. And I became to understand that the Beat Music (Mersey Beat) came existence in the sixties when young British musicians influenced by the American Rhythm and blues and Rock 'n Roll started to make their own typical British English music. And they toured America and sold records there and influenced the American musicians and music buyers and lovers back.
My parents were upper Middle class people and import people from the Holland (South-Holland Rotterdam region) and Warsaw (Poland). I felt diffently ethnicaly, in language, culture and mentality, and tried to fit in, integrate, assimilate and being invisible as a kid in the anonymous sense. You don't want to be different, don't want to be an alien, but I was different and alien and probably exentric, weird and socially awkward. In Amsterdam I learned that it was okay to be different, good in art and to have an investigative mind. I wasn't suited to small town provincial life and better fitted in larger cities. So I had no local/regional historical family roots and no family there outside my father, mother and sisters, and didn't spoke with the regional accent or dialect. Later I realised in a psychological sense that that made me feel like an outsider and alien, and that my social and professional life started in Amsterdam when I was 20 and left Zeeland. That anger was put into Rock Music, Heavy Metal (Motörhead/Iron Maiden) and the sombre melancholic music of Joy Division I recognized mysself in. I din't felt at home in the first 20 years of my life. I did like the Peninsula, the dunes and the sea, but didn't like the people I couldn't get connected too.New WaveNew Wave developped from the Post-Punk music genre which came after the raw British working class Punk Rock of the 1976-1978 years.
New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. Later, critical consensus favored "new wave" as an umbrella term involving many popular music styles of the era, including power pop, synth-pop, ska revival, and more specific forms of punk rock that were less abrasive. It may also be viewed as a more accessible counterpart of post-punk.
Common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, the use of electronic sounds, and a distinctive visual style in music videos and fashion. In the early 1980s, virtually every new pop/rock act – and particularly those that employed synthesizers – were tagged as "new wave". Although new wave shares punk's do-it-yourself philosophy, the artists were more influenced by the lighter strains of 1960s pop and were opposed to the generally abrasive, political bents of punk rock, as well as what was considered to be creatively stagnant "corporate rock".
New wave commercially peaked in the late 1970s and the early 1980s with numerous major artists and an abundance of one-hit wonders. MTV, which was launched in 1981, heavily promoted new-wave acts, boosting the genre's popularity. In the mid-1980s, new wave declined with the emergence of the New Romantic, New Pop, Synth Pop, New Music, Industrial and Noise genres. Since the 1990s, new wave resurged several times with the growing nostalgia for several new-wave-influenced artists.
Cheers, Pieter
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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 17:05:26 GMT -7
The Joy Division songs that had an immense influence on New Orders later music and succes;
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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 17:10:42 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 17:12:25 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 17:14:50 GMT -7
Lyrics
A legacy so far removed One day will be improved Eternal rights we left behind We were the better kind Two the same, set free too I always looked to you I always looked to you I always looked to you We fought for good, stood side by side Our friendship never died On stranger waves, the lows and highs Our vision touched the sky Immortalists with points to prove I put my trust in you I put my trust in you I put my trust in you A house somewhere on foreign soil Where aging lovers call Is this your goal, your final needs Where dogs and vultures eat Committed still, I turn to go I put my trust in you I put my trust in you I put my trust in you I put my trust in you In you, in you, in you Put my trust in you, in you
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Post by pieter on Sept 3, 2022 17:16:25 GMT -7
This is one of my favorite Joy Division songs, it is from their album Closer, recorded in March 1980 and released on 18 July 1980, one month after Ian Curtis death. It has some magic.
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