I admit it, I am obsessed with Joy Division and most particularly doomed front man Ian Curtis. Who can blame me? I bought 'Control' after its many shimmering reviews and thoroughly enjoyed it, the way Curtis is played by Sam Riley made me admire this singer who fought against everything holding him back to produce music. Then again it made me hate him aswell, the way he treats his wife Deborah is almost sickening and he knows it too, see the regret in his tears after she discovers his affair. Of course, thats just a dramatised film. I then went out and bough 'Touching from a Distance' the biography of Ian written by Deborah.

With that book, I took in as much information as I could, it is testament to the bravery of Deborah Curtis to dig up all the information and reveal hsi secrets, writing mostly unbiased opinions on his actions. It is a sad book, you'd be easily fooled to believing this was the life of an unfortunate Coronation Street character or the like because of the amount of drama and the events involved with Ian Curtis.

After both the film and the book I have come to see Ian Curtis as an idol, to me he is one of my heroes and that is for the music. In the film Control the cast excellently perform the songs themselves really capturing the live essence of Joy Division. Take a look at the performance of 'Dead Souls' below



I've painted 'HATE' onto the back of my backpack, Curtis' attempt at being a punk, (I didn't really want to buy a donkey jacket) and painted two portraits of Curtis for my GCSE art exam piece. They both turned out really good, along with my substanial explanations on why he was relevant to the project.

The music reaches out to me and I really enjoy nearly all of thier songs that just show Ian's emotions truly. Reading the lyrics at the back of 'Touching from a Distance' reveals how secretive he is, I think as no one took the lyrics seriously before his death he used the songs to vent his feelings that he would otherwise hide away.

Here are a few tracks, 'No love lost' is the ultimate track to listen to while walking!

Joy Division - No Love Lost
Joy Division - Disorder
Joy Division - Colony