Is our experience of music influenced by what we are told to expect from it? I won’t answer that question , other than to say probably. Back in 1983 when I was first getting into music in a big way there was obviously no internet, and I hardly knew anyone who listened to anything outside obvious chart music. You could read reams of “purple prose” in music magazines about artists before you actually happened to hear them on the radio.
One band that I kept reading about long before I heard them were Joy Division. Tony Wilson had said that Joy Division “said what they felt and for some reason everyone found it earth shattering!” There were plenty more quotes from journalists about their “stormy mental landscape”, “ice sculpted beauty” (probably – pretty sure I read that somewhere) and their “bloodlust turbulence” (I definitely read that one!). So quite a lot to expect from one band. Then one day I was pretty sure I heard Peter Powell introduce a record by “Joy Division”. The record wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but as I listened it began to make sense. It did seem quite bleak and to be describing an emotional trauma. The illusion was shattered at the end of the record when I realised I’d misheard. Here is my mistaken impression of Joy Division….
The 'Spill 
See if this version plays instead https://youtu.be/5jXFzJEviWU
That’s quite a contrast … I was never very interested in joy Division until someone loaned me ‘Touching from a Distance’ by Deborah Curtis, which shed a whole new light on things. ‘Love will tear us apart’ is such a powerful song.
It is, and yet in my 13 year old head it made some kind of sense.
Love Will Tear Us Apart was played at our wedding disco, much to my wife’s amusement. Personally my favourite is Transmission. I’ve never been a massive fan, although I like bits. I suspect somewhere in my subconscious it’s a reaction against them being on a pedestal. If they were much more obscure maybe I’d have all their stuff and nominate them week in week out on the Song Bar.
I try to stay away from reading reviews as much as I can. I don’t want to see anyone’s opinion about it before I make up my own. I feel like it’s detrimental to my own experience. I obviously don’t mind recommendations, but I find more in-depth analyses completely irrelevant to me and my appreciation of the music. I think the best “review” I ever heard, which actually made complete sense to me, was someone describing REM’s Country Feedback as “the song Neil Young would kill for.” That’s helpful, as opposed to the “bloodlust turbulence” and general random descriptions which, at best, only make sense to the reviewer.
Music journalism was full of that sort of stuff in the early 80s, very excitable and very pretentious, but it’s not easy to write about music. Reviews aren’t usually that helpful, but these days at least if it provokes your curiosity you can check something out online.
That description of Country Feedback is bang on though – I’m not a huge REM fan but that’s a good song.
A quick shout for Peter Hook and his band ‘Hooky and the Light’ as in the awful pun ‘I’ve seen the light’
Saw them a couple of times last year and its non-stop dance, even Love will Tear us Apart, where the crowd go a bit crazy ape bonkers. Playing a full album of New Order then a full Joy Division, we got ‘Substance’ so all the hits. Fantastic, would watch them anytime they come near me.
I saw them at Rebellion last year, playing a Joy Division set, although unfortunately the sound wasn’t great. There was indeed a beery singalong to Love Will Tear Us Apart, which was a bit strange.
Was caught by the heading ‘Great Expectations’ as its on me mind at the mo’
Edddie Izzard begins a show at the Edinburgh Fringe this weekend where he is reading from the Dickens book of that name.
Sold out in seconds, but I got tickets for some later shows in Oct and, as is my habit, did some T-shirts for us to wear.
The theme being to imagine the Muppets doing it as a movie with Izzard as the guest, like Michael Caine did for Christmas Carol.
Turns out the shows in Oct are nothing to do with Dickens.
Those readings are just a couple of shows at the Fringe and we’ll be seeing his general touring show.
No-one will understand what the hell the t-shirts are on about.
Anyhap i’d attach a copy of the art work .. but I haven’t a clue how … there doesn’t seem to be a button for it
At least you didn’t , like my mate’s sons, tuen up to a Motorhead gig with homemade t-shirts saying “Moterhead”