More about: Joy DivisionPeter HookPeter Hook And The Light
Joy Division bassist disagrees with ex-bandmates
Joy Division's Peter Hook has shown his support to the campaign to turn late frontman Ian Curtis' home into a museum in his memory.
Fans launched the campaign after the Macclesfield home went on the market, however, due to the fact that it was the location of the troubled singer's suicide, fellow bandmate Bernard Sumner disagreed - arguing that it would become a 'ghoulish monument to suicide'.
Now, estranged former New Order bandmate has thrown his weight behind the idea.
"I think it’s a great compliment if someone wants to make it into a museum for a group that culturally changed music, not once but twice," Hooky told The Guardian. "Ian has such a fantastic legacy and the fact people are inspired by it all around the world can only be a good thing. So I think someone should turn it into a bloody museum. We should have a bloody museum in Manchester, too, instead of us having to go to the Hard Rock restaurant to see anything to do with music in Manchester.
"I know Bernard said it would be disrespectful to Debbie, but that’s rubbish, how can it be disrespectful? I’d have thought it was more respectful to your great choice in a husband, love."
Last month, it emerged that the house was for sale on Rightmove for £115,000. 77 Barton Street in Macclesfield is where Curtis, wife Debbie and daughter Natalie lived in his later years - as well as being the site of his tragic suicide in 1980.
Watch Joy Division's Peter Hook perform and tell the story behind 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' for Gigwise below
Meanwhile, Peter Hook has just announced a UK tour - in which he'll play a set of Joy Division classics before performing New Order's Low Life and Brotherhood in full. Tickets are on sale now, see below for details.
SEPTEMBER
17 - The Venue, Derby
18 - Gloucester Guildhall
19 - The Picturedrome, Holmfirth
24 - The Art School, Glasgow
25 - Hull City Hall
26 - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
OCTOBER
1 - Chinnerys Southend
2 - The Brook, Southampton
3 - Leamington Assembly Rooms, Leamington Spa
12. 'The Eternal': This is suggestive of the musical direction that Joy Division were expanding towards. This penultimate track on their second album and shows a mature edge. They introduce keys, and unusual samples to create an other-worldly, but majestic cut.
11. 'A Means To An End': Proof that Peter Hooks cyclical riffs have a trance-like quality that absorbs the listener allowing a meander closer to Ian Curtis' intriguing lyrics.
10.'Twenty Four Hours': This has a desolate feel and evokes a lot of the depression Curtis was experiencing in his life.The music that accompany his deep poetic introspective lyrics is equally moving. (Photo: Kevin Cummins)
9. 'New Dawn Fades': The same descending bass riff is looped throughout the track. Curtis' vocals rise and have a wide atmosphere . He really throws himself into this track. The guitar solo at the end has a majestic Led Zeppelin-esque power.
8. 'Transmission': NME places this as No.20 of greatest indie anthems of all time and it shows the band at their most anthemic and danceable. We can't help but agree.
7. 'Disorder': Taken from the 1979 debut album Unknown Pleasures that was released via Factory Records. This is quintessential listening for anyone into the post punk pioneers.
6. 'Digital': This shows Joy Division at their punkiest. It's Buzzcocks-esque fun with angular riffs that are hard not to imagine a room full of punks losing themselves to and throwing each other around the room.
5. 'Shadowplay': A catchy repetitive bass riff, and occasional flashy solos on the lead guitar interact to create a poignant sound that feels very informed by the post-industrial financial decay of Northern England in the time of Thatcher.
4. 'Isolation': This is a highlight from their second album, Closer. The LP wasn't released until after Curtis passed away. However, it showed the band not succumbing to that difficult second album narrative that so many bands today appear to suffer and ensured they'll be remembered as one of the greatest bands of all time.
3. 'Candidate': A dark and experimental track that evokes Curtis' influence Jim Morrison at his angriest and bluesiest. It's got a slow tempo and has an intensely emotional bleak, Gothic, and psychedelic sound.
2. 'She's Lost Control': Bassist Peter Hook's tendency to play high melodies on the bass informs a lot of Joy Division's sound and he's at his catchiest here. In combination with Curtis' simple lyrics (which document a girl having an epileptic seizure - a condition Curtis himself famously struggled with) it creates a powerful and ominous mood.
1. 'Love Will Tear Us Apart': This is their most well-known and influential song, ranking among Echo And The Bunnymen's 'Killing Moon' as one of the greatest alternative pop songs ever. It's sheer miserably majesty is unparalleled - setting the template for the dizzying heights that alternative pop was capable of reaching. A true masterpiece.
More about: Joy DivisionPeter HookPeter Hook And The Light
Photo: WENN
