Unknown Pleasures

On the first day on set, Aislinn wore a jumper with Love Will Tear Us Apart written on it. The jumper usually gets a good reception, but people across the entire spectrum love the song, even New Order fans who seem as though they should be in diametric opposition to Joy Division's angsty grumbling, but strangely never are. One older member of the cast did ask her: "doesn't love actually bring us together?" Maybe this is the truth that brings New Order and Joy Division into one cohesive group: there is something to love about the ship of Theseus, even if when it is the ship of Theseus no longer. Or maybe the truth is that people love Love Will Tear Us Apart and the rest of Joy Division and New Order get pulled along for the ride. When I was younger, I instinctively thought I should like New Order more. Perhaps the reverence around Joy Division put me off. Perhaps I simply wanted to will myself into being upbeat. However, there is no denying that Joy Division is the grander artistic project. Curtis's voice, however one reacts to it, is hardly the insipid, hesitant instrument of Bernard Sumner. His lyrics, while they may be overwrought, are certainly declarative and intentional, unlike Sumner's embarrassing vagaries. And Martin Hannett's production is considered, where New Order's is exploratory. On every album except the debut, Movement, which Hannett produced, New Order seems to arrive everywhere by luck. Hannett, like Curtis and his books and his poetry and his weltschermz, means design. The two bands are, ultimately, very different prospects. And one almost feels as though Curtis and Hannett are hampered by the rest of them. Yet, for all that, I can't get over how completely out of tune the bass is on Disorder. Once I picked up on it - most egregious in the choruses - I found it almost impossible to listen to Unknown Pleasures. Every reassuring assumption that Hannett was a steady hand and that Joy Division was more deliberate than the scattergun of New Order went out the window. In fact, when you listen closely, it is a much rougher, less controlled product than history implies it is. Shambolic, really. If the New Order trio initially rejected the album for not sounding like their live shows, then how rough must their live shows have been? A few percussive blasts of an aerosol can and the whooshes on Insight hardly make this a vacuum-sealed studio product. It is, rather, as tentative as any New Order, but, because of Curtis and Hannett, there is sense of an artistic persona, even if it isn't full there. I like much of the rest of Unknown Pleasures well enough, but that fault in the stars really makes it unappealing to put on start to finish. 2.5 Because I listened to Joy Division today, and possibly said ‘Joy Division’ aloud at some point in conversation, I can probably expect to encounter a few days worth of ads for the Unknown Pleasures t-shirt on my phone. The Reddit app also helpfully flagged r/joydivision for my attention. This wasn’t entirely unwelcome though because the article that came up on my feed recounted Billy Corgan’s statement last year that Joy Division were the second most influential band ever, behind The Beatles, and I am always amused when Billy Corgan goes superlative - or nearly superlative in this case. I suppose Joy Division might well be. If such influence is verifiable in consensus by pop historians then I would hardly know - I don’t read much pop history. I can only refer to my own experience here in saying that Joy Division have never meant anything to me nor, to my knowledge, to those many friends over the years with whom I have discussed and exchanged and argued over and played music. Everyone likes The Beatles right enough. Except my friend Harry, but I’ll fix him. It wouldn’t surprise me though, and perhaps it will surprise you to hear this, if Billy Corgan turned out to be wrong. Unknown Pleasures has a terrific cover. I can’t deny that. But for all its palpable ‘atmosphere’ and production experiments it sounds to me like what it is - young men, still working out how to write songs and play their instruments, quickly knocking out their first album. Good luck lads. Did subsequent generations of countless musicians really sit and pore over this music bar by bar and have Unknown Pleasures as their totem alongside Revolver and Sgt Pepper’s? Listening to it today, it really is difficult to believe that. 2/5

The only Joy Division album that came out during lead singer Ian Curtis' tragically short life, this is a dark record that is full of atmosphere and menace. This is goth music without the black hair and makeup. As simple as Hooky's basslines can be, they are so distinctive and memorable. You can hear Stooges influence on the guitar tone as it cuts through the frosty mood Ian, the keyboard and the rhythm section bring. It is impossible to imagine what music would sound like if Curtis's deep, distinctive and pained voice wasn't put onto wax and influenced the generations that followed.

Wasn’t doing anything for me

Seminal. One of the most influential albums in pop music history. Poor Ian Curtis had way too much existential angst. I remember reading a review of Unknown Pleasures in Rolling Stone and rushing out to the record store to buy it. Two weeks later Ian Curtis had committed suicide. Even the name Joy Division was provocative. The Joy Division were the Jewish prostitutes who served their Nazi masters in concentration camps. The cover is quite good. Ian Curtis’s voice sounds like the voice of doom. There is a nice combination of real and electronic instruments. Joy Division is clearly influenced by Kraftwerk. The production is immaculate. Every song is good on this album. The album starts off with a bang with Disorder. It is such a good song. Listening to it put me in a state of ecstasy. Then there is She’s lost control. Curtis was a social worker and he is talking about one of his clients who had epilepsy. Of course, Curtis has a lot of empathy for his client because he himself has epilepsy. Insight is another good song. The lyrics are great. Full of doom and doom. The last song is I remember nothing. It is chilling. My only complaint I have about the album is the song Transmission is not on the album. It was released as a single before the album came out but for some reason it is not on the album. It must have been for some stupid reason. This is a great album. Five stars.

Oh, this album is a well known pleasure of mine.

Precis som Joy Division, var jag under mina tonår goth utan de mörka kläderna och det dramatiska sminket. Många av låtarna är en del av mitt ungdomssoundtrack och jag har därför en svårt att bortse från det. Det är ett riktigt bra album, mörkt och atmosfäriskt och även om jag ofta kan uppskatta en enformighet, blir det lite väl same same för att det ska vara top notch. Men nästan!

While I much prefer New Order to Joy Division, their first record, 'Unknown Pleasures', is as good as it is iconic for its artwork. The dark instrumentation, the basslines, and Ian Curtis' vocals are the stepping stone for much of 80s New Wave and for that I think the album's influence cannot be understated. 9/10 [KEEP]

Strats string with Disorder which is the closest to pop New Order ever got. It’s dark but there are enough strong tracks and if you are in the mood for something sparse and dark it’s just the drop. 4.1

Overall this album is actually pretty amazing. It definitely has patchy moments, but once you lock in, it's a haunting, jagged masterpiece. 4.4/5.

I have tried with this album before but I just don't like it. It's the production I think. The drums sound so unnatural and mechanical, and overall it's just really hollow sounding.

Hard to say just how much of this is crafted by Hannett. Hook and Barney’s playing and creativity is pretty lacking at this stage, very amateurish work, but Ian is already on another level. Disorder remains my favourite JD moment, especially the live versions and Bedhead cover. The rest of UP, however, is a blueprint that better songwriters and groups improved on.

Unknown Pleasures was MUCH better than Closer, but I'm now certain I enjoy New Order a LOT more than Joy Division.

Biblical

I love the cover but New Order tops

that bass sound holy

Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures sounds like what you might get if you took the punk essence of The Stooges, added the gothic atmosphere of The Cure, and dropped it into an expansive, relentlessly moody soundscape. That’s probably the best way I can describe it, because putting the actual sound into words proved surprisingly difficult. I never really got into Joy Division. No one around me was listening to them, and their relatively brief existence on the popular music scene—and the tragic death of Ian Curtis—happened before I was old enough to really connect with what they were doing. Maybe if I’d discovered them during my more impressionable teenage years, I would have identified with it more. Maybe. Or maybe I would have just recognized the album cover, which at this point has probably achieved a level of cultural recognition that surpasses the popularity of the album itself.

I'm more familiar with the album cover than the music. After listening, the album cover is better than the music. This began and ended without my noticing anything interesting. This is an album you can also listen to.

One of the best new wave / 80s albums

Boring

An album with a great atmosphere that defined the sounds of 80s new wave. The foreboding guitars sound straight off of Black Sabbath’s debut at times and when they become more energetic it makes for some of the best tracks on the record. The laser sounds in Insight did not age well and are incredibly jarring on the first listen. Ian Curtis has a very distinct voice that sends itself amazingly to the sound of Joy Division.

i've known the cover art for years but never listened to the album and I guess I'll never listen to it again. Nothing for me

What a classic.

Balsas toks meh, bet nuzika pati nicee

Didn't know the album, but instantly recognize the cover art. Iconic. I know New Order much better, more my era. First listen was meh. But I gave it a couple more listens, especially the bass. So great basslines, but different than other basslines, moody vocals. Dunno, it's a real sound. Totally grew on me.

Ok music but I get the historical importance based on what came from this band

Good but didn't wow me.

I am hard pressed to think of an album whose visual iconography supersedes it's musical content, at least here in the states. Everyone knows at least one dark side of the moon track. The material on here is often fantastic. It's often morose and firm. The upright vocal delivery and rigid instrumentals provide a gothic backdrop for the occasional breakthrough of genuine emotion, like on "Insight". There's also a perfect amount of electronics used on this record to add texture, once again "Insight" is a great example. Soft 4/5 undeniable even for a guy who likes the warm electronics of New Order more

The goth are not very Tampa Bay Lightning.

Favorite songs: Disorder, Day of the Lords, New Dawn Fades, Shadowplay, Interzone, I Remember Nothing

Not bad. ★★★

At least it looks cool on a T-shirt......

Closer is better. This one is not as dark or as intimate as Closer would be. It's dark, yes, but only in the way that most post-punk is on the darker side of things in the first place. In other words I have a more difficult time fully enveloping myself in the music here than I do with its successor, for whatever reason. Also, last track is the longest and unfortunately the weakest. Still, this is still an absolutely essential album, and if you're missing it, you really have a lot to account for.

Niet per se helemaal mijn ding. Maar het is Joy Division. Kom op. Dat moet je leuk vinden. Op een gegeven moment heb je jezelf wijs gemaakt dat je dat leuk vind, dus kom maar op met die geit. Snap je!?

Objectively this is probably not a 4/5, but I’m giving it a 4 because 1. Iconic album cover 2. Its outsized influence on early alternative new wave 3. Nostalgia

No my vibe it was very hard to get through, I’m sure this is good music for the people that are into this genre but I could not they is no rhythm, the lyrics are bland, and it’s basically the same beat throughout the whole song very boring. Sorry 1/10

Like the rawness, like the bassline’s, like the simplicity. Need to get used to the vocals

Maybe didn’t listen to it in the right setting, but it didn’t do that much for me. 3/5

I’ve heard this before and somehow I don’t own it. I also don’t own a tshirt with the cover art on it or one with a riff on the cover art. I guess I had half of it on a mixtape that disappeared at some point in high school and I never replaced it. This is one of the foundational goth albums that influenced nearly everything else in the genre except maybe The Birthday Party, who were off doing their own thing in Australia. A couple years ago one of my friend’s kids said he wanted to be goth, so my friend put on this album and the kid says “dad, this is old people music”. But I digress. The gloomy synths, the chorused guitars, the melodic bass lines, the added on drum machines, and the dark lyrics are all there and done perfectly. You don’t have to love this album to be goth but it certainly helps.

not as good as Joni Mitchell’s Blue

Damn this is a real bummer of an album, wouldn't be a problem if it was at least interesting. It's gloomy and boring. I know this is a beloved album judging by all the tshirts I see with this album cover but I really don't understand why after listening to this. I like plenty of other albums that are a bummer like Bauhaus and other goth bands but they at least feel like they have some life to them and do interesting things. This just sucks.

A classic in every way. Genre defining.

Late 70s post punk. Debut. Only album with that front man. Interesting sound effects. Quite gothy.

Required multiple listens to dig deeper as this aligns more with the style of Punk that I don't align with. I absolutely adore Atmosphere from their follow up album but struggled much more on this one. It's very spacious and presents a lot of low key musical droning with dark moody singing from a corner in the basement kind of emotion. The vocals here which work well for me later pull me out much in the way Public Image Ltd did, so its certainly an issue with style on my end. On follow up listens that darkness grew on me, took on a form of its own which was easier to accept and recontextualize. This may be my entry point for this particular style of punk in the future to help train my ears on something I initially pulled away from.

Pretty good. Lots of filler though.

I'm sort of in and out with Joy Division. I prefer the later New Order albums, but that was about a band and a half ago between Unknown Pleasures and that era. My early impressions of Joy Division were that they were a bit overrated and I didn't quite get Unknown Pleasures as an album, based on late 2000's computer monitor speakers and being in high school at the time. 10 years later I would get into postpunk, but never bothered to relisten to Unknown Pleasures because it's a bit slower than I like from the genre. I think Unknown Pleasures is one of those albums that really does benefit from being remastered, newer remasters make the instruments stand apart in the mix far better than Martin Hannet's innovative though faulty at times approach to engineering. Or maybe I just have much better equipment to listen to music and can approach it with a more open mind with older age. I'm hesitant to call this anything close to a masterpiece, and while Ian Curtis is a brilliant songwriter, his voice just doesn't fully do it for me. Then again, I like Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart's voices, so maybe I can't complain too much about singer's voices. I think it's much better then I remember, but I prefer more uptempo postpunk then the vibes from Unknown Pleasures tends to give off, save for Interzone. Still, it's probably one of the top 100 most important albums in music history and lives up for it, unless you're a normal happy optimistic person that only likes the cheeriest of pop music. Then you should probably listen to something new and exotic like Jimmy Buffett.

Probably the most overrated album I've ever listened to.

This album, and this band for that matter cannot, for me, be looked at in isolation. The time, coming out of punk, the members of the band, the tragedy that was so close and the fallout from it are all intertwined. The music is dense and gloomy, of course, but it is also charting a new path and it is a perfect time capsule of Britain at the turn of the new decade.

Waauw wat een album. #WhereTheGothGirlsAt

The first three songs are honestly really good, rest of the album falls a little flat

I don't know that I'm a sufficiently depressed person to really fully appreciate all this has to offer but I can imagine how awesome it would be if I was really truly depressed. This is an album that lives in the shadows and makes them habitable. Shadowplay is a perfect song. This is perfect album art. 4.5/5

Not really into this. But it's not terrible.

Another mood piece. I respect it, but don't love it.

Didn't like it. Don't know what the hoopla is about.

First listen didn’t blow me away but I like it more and more as I give it more listens.

Probably my favourite album cover in history, atop an incredible album full of emotions

Very vibey album. I enjoyed it a lot. There were a couple songs here and there that missed the mark for me, but the others were super well constructed and very much up my alley.

I have so much love for Joy Division, and Ian Curtis was gone way too soon. This band is near and dear to my heart, and I love Unknown Pleasures to a fault. It's atmospheric, it's gothic, it's just great.

3, clearly influential

I was a fan of New Order in high school and then learned in college that New Order was made up of the band members from Joy Division after their lead singer passed away. I remember Joy Division posters hanging in so many dorm rooms and I finally checked them out. This album is really strong and feels like early alternative music taking root. The lead vocal is so haunting and I connected lyrically with the songs as well. I was particularly drawn to “Insight” and “Shadowplay” but enjoyed the whole record. The opening music of “Disorder” clearly influenced The 1975’s “Give Yourself A Try” and “Come Undone” by Duran Duran feels like a nod to “New Dawn Fades.” The 1975 pay a partial royalty for their use of the guitar riff, but there is no documented connection for the Duran Duran song.

5.6/10. This is my second time listening to the album, and I don't know what changed, but I didn't think it was explicitly bad this time, more of just a meh, so I bumped up my ranking by a full point. The music wasn't terribly interesting, but the vibe was something refreshing, and it just had a new energy. Enjoyable enough on a slow morning, but not something I feel drawn to listen to again, it just doesn't excite me in any way.

Another all-timer for me. The grandfather of post-punk and emo music. It’s a go to record for me and I hold a special place for it in my heart.

The more I listen to this album, the more I realize what a great album it is. There are musical works that are outside genre that seem to be a door way to what is coming next. AKA…Unknown Pleasures. Simple, yet it has depth, rhythmic, interesting and restless undertones.

It's petty good. Sadboy stuff

Oh, beautiful, sad Joy Division. Truth be told, my heart will always be with your spin-off/hybird/cousin/brother New Order, but this is still great stuff.

Okay.

Atmospheric.

Oh so that's why everyone worships this album, it rules.

It was so good I want to drive to H&M to buy the t-shirt.

Repeat listen

Nope

Dark and scary but not in the smiths kind of way

liked it

Сара 2,5 Марко 2,5

This is like some new age, post-punk Doors. Comparisons to Jim Morrison are obvious on some of the songs. I think it’s a very cool sounding record. The bass and drums sound fantastic together. The songs are fine. Definitely grew on me over the course of the record. There is a lot more going on musically than what it first sounds like. I’m intrigued, 4/5.

Album #290 Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures Joy Division really were the band that just kept on giving. Despite their aesthetic as very nihilistic and carefree, it was clear from the beginning that Ian and the band cared very much about the music that they made. In hindsight, it is kind of crazy that the amount of talent within the band was able to meet and create the music they did in the short timeframe in which Ian was at the top of his songwriting powers. Unknown Pleasures has become one of those albums where the imagery is more iconic than the sound; people see the simple album cover, maybe hear Disorder, and learn of Ian’s death, and that’s enough to draw them to the band; not to say that’s a bad thing, but it is kind of funny that this album of all the late 70s post-punk has stayed so culturally relevant, since on paper its sound is somewhat inaccessible. But truthfully, it really isn’t the sound of the album which is why Unknown Pleasures is still so beloved today, but rather the feeling; no other album is able to represent what it feels like to be hopeless yet reluctant to let go of whatever remaining hope you have left better than Unknown Pleasures. Because despite how cold his lyrics come off, Ian was a man who felt very strongly about his art, and that care that he put in is why this album stands above all of its contemporaries. One of the most important albums of all time, from what I consider to be one of the greatest bands of all time. Their ability to persevere and reinvent themselves as New Order, and in my opinion, somehow get better, will forever make me consider these guys legends. Best Songs: Disorder, She’s Lost Control, New Dawn Fades Worst Song: None Score out of 10: 10

This album has started to grow on me more. Still think there's more melody in this than Closer and far less than any New Order but still interesting and good.

Glad I took the time to listen!

For a band called joy division their music is very melancholy

Not for me. I found it too boring and I couldn’t finish it

goth rock

Uno de los álbumes favoritos de mi vida. Recuerdo tener cerca de 15 o 16 años la primera vez que lo escuché y fue obsesión instantánea, nunca en mi vida había escuchado algo así, algo tan lúgubre, pero a la vez lleno de energía juvenil. Demarcó un antes y un después, una exploración y búsqueda en la música por el mismo sentimiento implantado en cada letra, acorde o demostración en un intento fútil por entenderme a mi mismo en ese momento a través del arte, a pesar de no encontrarme sí supe quien era yo mismo.

Can't believe I was 51 before listening to this. Unsure what the longevity of appeal is all about here. It's like someone said "He we are making a semi erotic European vampire movie and we need a track for a nightclub scene". And we got 10.

This is a masterful album, I didn’t get into JD early on, but when I did, omg, Ian Curtis🙏🏼, the songs are so powerful, and wonderful

joy division songs are best listened to when performed by another band. Ian Curtis’s pseudo-Morrison sounds particularly bad here

(7.1)

Everyone has the t-shirt, but the record itself is an amazing snapshot of a musical moment. So lo-fi, but such a great example of "use what you have".

I don't care for Joy Division

one of THE albums

Great album, I listened to this and am saddened that the lead singer, didn't make more music and enjoy the notoriety that came with the success.

I just don't get it.

I really liked this. It's moody, it's dark. It's from the early 80s, but it still sounds relevant. Overall really, really good.

Amazing album! Hooky’s signature bass right up front. Stephen and Bernie’s minimalist guitar and drums. Ian’s lonely lyrics. Various bleeps and blorps in the background. So atmospheric. So great!

Nah, I don't understand the appeal of doomer music

first song is decent, rest was mid

Strange

A deep, dark, transcendent masterpiece.

Love the bass and the space in the drums. The flat vocals are less my thing.

Forever the band that I am told I am supposed to love, but don't.

Turns out I don't care that much for Joy Division. The album was fine, kind of forgettable.

I got it the more I listened to it. Joy Division is to Joy what the Truth Ministry is to Truth in "1984". The mood and feel they set is both unsettling and comfortable. The music itself is on the lower side of skill, but very high on the imagination and richness. I will surely give this many more relistens. I don't know why I never listened to it before, maybe because of all of the t-shirts with the cover.