By: Blerim Shala (article published for the first time in the "Zëri" Weekly in 1998)
The impossibility of musical and artistic preoccupation with death without consequences for life, made Joy Division, after the suicide of Ian Curtis, transform into the New Order group. Indeed, it seems that here the names of the group were mixed up: the first one, with Curtis, was more suited to the name New Order (as a reaction to the old order of seventies rock), while the second one became unity, pleasure.
In the history of rock, such a transformation can hardly happen again, a U-turn, an immediate, merciless turn towards itself and towards the fans.
This turn was made over death communicated in the form of suicide, that is, the end chosen by will, or the will to choose the end, death.
We are talking about Ian Curtis, about the groups Joy Division and New Order.
Curtis wanted to be like Jim Morrison, his widow Deborah would whisper later, when it was all over.
Punk as discontent with a pretext
There was a time, there, towards the end of the seventies and the beginning of the eighties, when the glitter (shine) and glamor (fun, abundance), as preliminary definitions of rock at that time, was erased from the page of the stage (and the earth) by the mess of punk, which commemorated that intervention long-hair to the Halabaks at a formal luncheon, in Miloš Forman's anthology film "Hair". That whole movement was called New Wave, which movement wanted to restore that pact of rock with dissatisfaction, with the unknown, with protest, with the tendency to play with death, even with death, that is, if in this way rock must be saved, which in the meantime became a business, was dressed in enlightenment, said goodbye to dissatisfaction and adapted to the circumstances of an order that is unstoppable and permanent progress. This intention to re-sign this pact was done through screaming and spitting, in the Sex Pistols, The Clash and many other punk bands that sprouted like mushrooms after the rain (or spitting in bulk), or through a new sensitivity to darkness, which is again revealed after being dazzled by that brilliance of the seventies, sensitivity to life dressed in ordinary clothes, which again emerges as a verse, as a stanza, as a song, after the nakedness, the stripping of the glitter-rocker's colorful clothes, who without exception, Non Stop (according to the cafe hours), sings and laments and rejoices in loves of all kinds.
In these second ones, that scream was a consequence, a result of everyday life, and not a tool (as in punk) for expressing hatred towards the same everyday life, included groups like The Jam and Joy Division.
Joy Division (Joy Division, in translation), recorded only two albums, managing to "settle" (or "take shelter") in the years since the group's formation, until May 18, 1980, when Ian Curtis, at the age of 24, announced the end of the group's life through his suicide.
These two albums "Unknown Pleasures" and "Closer" are evidence of the helplessness of Ian Curtis's confrontation with life's offers (it is no wonder that on his jersey, in his first concert appearances, the word "Hate" was written), with the frustrations of everyday life, they are confirmation of the impossibility of accepting human helplessness, of the inability to seek rest in communication with life through prayer, through words, art, pleasure, a morning coffee, a drink on a summer evening, a flirtation, or a group of children left behind. Joy Division's songs are Curtis's sparks, they are lightning, they are like gold nuggets, shining in the depths of the mine, to break through the darkness and light, where there is no sunlight. At the same time, those songs are a flashy, fragile, breakable shield that breaks like a glass pane.
Fame as rest under pretext
Curtis ended just like Morrison, even with a death four years younger than him (Morrison died aged 28), with an acknowledged defeat, with the one-sided cessation of attempts to survive the anguish that is the carbon dioxide of human spiritual respiration. and not believing in the oxygen of this breath, in hope.
And, after Curtis's death, the great turning point of the survivors of the Joy Division group occurs. Bernard Sumner, the group's guitarist, will then conclude: "Joy Division's music has represented, in effect, the death of optimism, the death of childhood, the death of the society in which we grew up ...".
With the death of Curtis, the surviving members of Joy Division saw that they could no longer stay in the grave, without ending up like Ian.
The impossibility of musical and artistic preoccupation with death without consequences for life led Joy Division to transform into the New Order group. Indeed, it seems that here the names of the group were mixed: The first one, with Curtis, was more suited to the name New Order (as a reaction to the old order of rock of the seventies), while the second one became a unit altogether , because of pleasure. New Order brought synthesizers into the game, the rhythm machine, declared a pact with life through dance music, became famous, made money, climbed the charts, and even one of their songs became the official anthem of the England football team at the World Cup. Italy, in 1990.
The cover of New Order's 1993 album "Republic" better than words could explain the band's transformation: on the left is a rundown house, on the right is a couple enjoying themselves on a beach. New Order was defined by fun, by life. The memory of Curtis adds a bit of black to the multiplicity of colors of New Order. /Telegraph/
