Joy Division - She's Lost Control

Ian Curtis, far left
lots more excellent Joy Division pix by same photog here

Just saw the Joy Division movie, Control, the first feature film by Dutch photographer (U2, Bowie, REM, Kurt Cobain, David Byrne) and video director (Echo and the Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, U2, Nick Cave, Mercury Rev, At the Drive-In, Travis, Coldplay--the list is LONG) Anton Corbijn, who also shot Joy Division back in the day (1976-1980).

JD frontman Ian Curtis makes a fascinating subject and the movie's quite well done in gritty black and white to match the bleak Manchester backdrop. The four actors playing the band actually perform the songs and they sound almost exactly like the real versions.

We really do like to destroy our most sensitive artists, don't we. Curtis, an epileptic who suffered from grand mal seizures off and onstage, was only 23 when he hanged himself the night before the band was to leave on their first American tour. Joy Division and its successor, New Order, continue to be immensely influential 30 years later (see Interpol. Editors).

Below, the song that gave the film its title. It's about a girl having an epileptic seizure.


MP3 Joy Division - She's Lost Control (from 1979's Unknown Pleasures)