Ian Curtis, lead singer of the seminal U.K. post-punk band Joy Division, would’ve turned 52 this month. He committed suicide by hanging himself on May 18, 1980 - a day before the band was to set out for their first ever American tour.
He set the template for plenty of gloomy (and downright silly) Goth kids writing tortured poetry and hoping to form their own bands. Curtis touched a lot of souls with his dark and brooding lyrics, so very different from the two-minute tantrums the punk bands were churning and spitting out. Rewind to 1976: the setting is the depressed landscape of Britain; public services are in a state of near-collapse due to constant strikes. Unemployment is at its worst for 30 years. World War 2 is still evident in the capital, as there are bomb sites to be found everywhere. A pervading sense of doom grips the capital, and out of that environment would be born the most potent form of music ever to shake up the status quo: punk rock. Like most youth his age, Ian Curtis was intrigued by this new form of loud and obnoxious music. Punk rock was a loud, 3-chord barrage of discontent, played fast and short to audiences tired of the rock n’ roll clichés that were, until 1976, threatening to bore audiences to death with its tiresome antics (suddenly, you didn’t have to study music to be in a band - anybody can just pick up a guitar and form their own band).
Out of this scene, the band Warsaw was born, later to be renamed Joy Division. Along with friends Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris, Joy Division carved out a niche for themselves by playing their own brand of gloomy rock and roll. They managed to release a 7″ (remember those?) under their own Enigma label (later changed to Anonymous), in keeping up with punks’ do-it-yourself ethic. Joy Division was soon noticed by Tony Wilson, who was harassed by Curtis himself, a TV host of the infamous show “So It Goes.” They were soon signed to Wilson’s own Factory Records (in Wilson’s own blood, as the legend goes) and were starting to get much attention until that dreadful Sunday when Curtis hanged himself. Curtis’ style was distinct from other bands with his strange dancing (echoing an epileptic seizure, which he suffered from) and a uniquely baritone voice not heard from anyone else. In Wilson’s hands, the band reached their peak creatively, releasing album after album of dense, haunting melodies. Alienation has never sounded as eloquent and as urgent before. They amassed a loyal following and impressed various mavericks in the industry, one of which was the late John Peel, DJ of BBC Radio 1.
Marital breakdown and his continuing epileptic seizures pushed Curtis over the edge, and he committed suicide. The rest of the band continued as New Order and have gained the success and recognition Joy Division never had. But Ian Curtis continues to be revered by fans and musicians, both old and new, for the legacy he’s left behind.
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