Joy Division+New Order

Eric Wright

Eric Wright

Nomad
I'm really not sure how well Joy Division is liked on this forum so I made this so I could find out :p

Closer is one of my favorite albums ever and I love it for the dark brooding atmosphere and cyclic basslines and riffs. Just chock full of raw emotion and texture. JD's music isn't terribly complex to say the least: it revolves around the simple but memorable/catchy basslines and cyclic drum beats and riffs. But the simplest music can be the most beautiful oftentimes. Ian Curtis sang out of tune 99.9% of the time, no joke, but his voice was so charismatic and haunting he might actually be one of my favorite vocalists ever.

Even though there are only two studio albums (which are awesome enough on their own IMO) there are so many classic singles like "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and B-Sides such as "Ice Age" so there's so much to listen to.

I haven't listened to New Order nearly as much as JD and basically know nothing about the band post-Ian Curtis to be perfectly honest.
 
My knowledge in regards to these bands are limited to Bizarre Love Triangle and Blue Monday by New Order. I love the former a lot.
 
My wife introduced me to these names (well, especially Joy Division; I knew some New Order hits already, especially Blue Monday!)
Interesting bands. The film Control I found very intriguing.
 
I don't have very strong feelings about either band, but there's no denying that Joy Division in particular were compelling. I prefer to listen to them a few songs at a time though, their albums get a bit repetitive.

Speaking of movies, if anybody's interested in a comedic take on this whole era of British pop music I can recommend 24 Hour Party People. Had mixed feelings about Control - parts of it are good but all the montages set to Joy Division songs felt a bit kitschy to me.
 
New Order is generally more poppy and electronic than JD, but certainly still good. I've met many people who prefer NO to JD. It all depends on what you want out of your post-punk.
 
MintyFishbowl said:
New Order is generally more poppy and electronic than JD
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I think of New Order as basically dance music. I wasn't that big a fan at the time they were popular -- if it wasn't heavy, I wasn't interested -- but in hindsight it's quite good, with some catchy hooks. My GF in high school (in the late '80s) had a copy of Substance that she listened to all the time, so I knew a lot of those songs. It's a 2-disc compilation of 12" dance-club singles, which might not be a bad place to start exploring. I think the album versions are a little (but only a little) less electronic. In addition to the two songs mentioned by Flash, I really like the songs "Temptation" and "True Faith" -- those are the four biggies, you may recognize them.

Less familiar with Joy Division, will check them out. I've heard "Love Will Tear Us Apart," but that's all I can recall.
 
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I love Peter Hook's driving, melodic basslines, and the atmosphere of those JD albums. NO were a bit electronic for me too, but I remember seeing them once at Reading Festival and they were fantastic.
 
2Mins said:
I love Peter Hook's driving, melodic basslines, and the atmosphere of those JD albums. NO were a bit electronic for me too, but I remember seeing them once at Reading Festival and they were fantastic.
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Not to mention Hooky's bass tone is impeccable.
 
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