wither in the light

25 years ago today, Ian Curtis watched a Werner Herzog film, put Iggy Pop on the record player, and hung himself with a clothesline in the kitchen of his Macclesfield home. He was a few months short of his 24th birthday and a few hours short of hopping on a plane for Joy Division's first US tour. He was the heart and soul of a band that is still influencing musicians 25 years later, despite the fact that Joy Division was and still is relatively unknown in proportion to their influence.



Some of that might change soon if the rumors are true that Jude Law is set to play Ian in a biopic based on Touching From A Distance, the 1996 biography by Ian's widow Deborah Curtis. I feel some trepidation about this upcoming film... the first half of 24 Hour Party People was an excellent portrayal of the band and Factory Records and the cultural context beside which Joy Division stood out in stark, perhaps even harsh, light. They'd have to tread very softly to make a film that painted a picture as true as that one and didn't go about glorifying or martyrizing Ian.

The good news is that the film is going to be directed by Anton Corbijn, who has done amazing photos of a lot of people as well as the brilliant video for Joy Division's 'Atmosphere'.

If any of you have Malcolm McLaren's mashup of Joy Division's 'Love will tear us apart' and Captain & Tenille's 'Love will keep us together', please send it to me. I can't believe it hasn't made the P2P rounds yet, someone's got to have it.