UNKNOWN PLEASURES..

1979 WAS A VERY PIVOTAL YEAR FOR MUSIC. THAT MAY BE SAID OF ANY YEAR BUT IN NO WAY CREDIBLE AS 79. ..

DISCO WAS DYING FAST, PUNK ROCK WAS LIVING AND GROWING FAST AND NEW WAVE WAS EMERGING  (with borrowed disco sensibilities)... SOME OF THE ALL TIME GREATEST AND MOST SIGNIFICANT ALBUMS WERE RELEASED IN 1979.

THE TOP 40 MEDIA DARLINGS WERE AIR SUPPLY,  GLORIA GAYNOR, PEACHES AND HERB. THEN THIS SHIFT STARTED CREEPING IN AND CAMPS WERE ESTABLISHED. YOU WERE EITHER A GOOD OLD ROCKER OR A PUNKER NEW WAVE DORK. THE FRINGE LISTENED TO AIR SUPPLY AND HAD NO CAMP.

THE POLICE AND THE CARS WERE EXCELLENT "CROSSOVER" TYPE BANDS TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWIXT ROCK N PUNK WAVE. BOTH MUTUALLY ACCEPTABLE TO THE WARRING FACTIONS. THEN A FEW BANDS GAVE US SOME ALBUMS THAT ARE UNCHALLENGED BY ANY AND REMAIN OBJECTS OF AUDIO WORSHIP TODAY.

1. =THE CLASH= LONDON CALLING

2. =THE PRETENDERS= PRETENDERS

AND NOW THE REASON FOR THIS RETRO-REVIEW OF SORTS

3. =JOY DIVISION=

UNKNOWN PLEASURES 

THIS WAS NOT A NEW AMAZING A DIFFERENT RELEASE. THIS WAS DIFFERENT. THIS WAS SERIOUS. AS St. BONO SAID.... "THIS WAS CHURCH"

MINIMALIST DESIGN.  BLACK AND WHITE IMAGERY  THAT WAS HYPNOTIC AND HARDLY A PICTURE TO BE SEEN OF THE BAND MEMBERS UNTIL THE 3RD RELEASE.

JOY DIVISION WAS THE SAVIOR OF THE SIMPLICITY AND ANGER OF PUNK. THE ANTITHESIS OF POST PUNK HAD STARTED THE POST PUNK MOVEMENT. LYRICALLY AND MUSICALLY WE HAD NOW RECEIVED SOMETHING OF INCREDIBLE CREDIBILITY AND SUBSTANCE.

A NEW SOUND A NEW FEEL AND NEW DEPTHS WERE PERMANENTLY ESTABLISHED.

WHAT WOULD AMERICA DO WITH THIS BAND ? THE SEX PISTOLS WERE A HORRIFIC HOAX THAT DIDNT FLY IN AMERICA (except in album sales)..

JOY DIVISION WOULD BE THE LITMUS TEST OF THE AMERICAN LISTENER IN REGARD TO SOPHISTICATION AND TASTE. KISS AND DEVO WERE THE TOP SELLERS IN MAY OF 1980 WHEN THE PROLIFIC PROPHET AND SINGER OF JOY DIVISION, IAN CURTIS TOOK HIS LIFE JUST HOURS BEFORE THE BAND WAS TO EMBARK ON THE USA.

TORTURED BY HIS UNPREDICATBLE EPILEPTIC SEIZURES AND HIS ADULTEROUS RELATIONSHIP IAN CURTIS HUNG HIMSELF AND WE HAVE NO NEED TO SPECULATE ON WHAT WOULDVE BEEN.

WE HAVE 4 ALBUMS TO VENERATE TO. TWO OF WHICH WERE RELEASED POSTHUMOUSLY.  ALL 4 ARE BEYOND IMPORTANT AND NAMED BY ALL MUSICIANS AS MOST INFLUENCIAL TO THIS DAY...MORE BOOKS, FILMS, AND DOCUMENTARIES ARE PRODUCED ABOUT THE "UNKNOWN PLEASURES' ALBUM AND THE BAND JOY DIVISION THAN ANY OTHER BAND SINCE THE BEATLES. 

LEXINGTON H.