The Secret Side of Me: Ian Curtis and Joy Division

Approximately, about one and a half year ago, I was strolling around the The Guardian post when an article about Ian Curtis, the front man singer from the former post-punk band called 'Joy Division', suddenly caught my attention. The article was nothing in particularly interesting, it's about the late singer kitchen table (the one he had at his home when he first moved into the house with his wife, Deborah being auctioned on e-bay or whatnot), but later this one single line caught my interest and made me continue to read until the end;

"The late singer kitchen table sold in online auction for £8,400"

As a normal person would usually react; my first impression when I read this was ... Well, this is NUTS! 8,400 euro? For real yo? 8, 400 Euro? Are they nuts?  I mean, why would anyone paid for large sum of money over some singer stupid kitchen table, right? Give it to me for free and I would asked them to keep it. And the table kitchen wasn't anything grand either, just a normal kind of table that people use to have their meal on it... So what the deal? Buy a new table cause it really wasn't worth the trouble...

And so, that's what I thought....

But, as much as I want to argue about the pricing being reasonable or not; I still try to suppress that kind of thought and avoid passing any judgment before finish reading the whole article. All for my love to The Guardian, the online site I declare as legit (at least to my own standard) aside from The Huffington Post, Telegraph and WikiLeaks (lolz). So, I thought - what the heck, right? Let's finish this article and see what's all about. It wasn't after reading, that everything started to become apparent to me. This isn't just like any usual story about making fast money by using celebrity fame (related, though not something I want to stress here), but I'm actually about to discover something else here. It's the fact that this particular kitchen table seems to have a history embedded upon it.

And it wasn't a very happy, cheerful history or anything like that either. This is something else...

Apparently, on 18 May 1980 around early morning - Ian Curtis killed himself inside of  his home kitchen. He was all alone when he did it, but guess what... the table was also there to witness the whole thing. Now, for someone who may not have encounter with such topic before (suicide), this can deterred their spirits to further reading, but it's a different case with me. Rather than closing the browser and try to find something else light to read; I was intrigue with all sorts of questions. Among of many is who's Ian Curtis, what's Joy Division, and why does people bid to buy his kitchen table to the extent of paying a whole good money for it? Other related questions includes, what's the reason that made him so famous (cult icon), and the impression of him and his existence last even after more than three decades of his death?  Well, these sort of questions my friend, are nothing but fascinating and irresistible to me that I can't help but finding out more about him on the internet as the night drags on...

To dig the story and event that happened to someone famous from the past is not so difficult nowadays, as it might have been twenty years ago. That's what internet are there for, right guys? And so, with that knowledge on my mind - I managed to find out a little bit stuff about this band and the tragic demise of its front man. Videos, Pictures, Books, Movies - those were a good start. A good start to get to know something that you never had laid your eyes on, and what later brings me to fall in love with this band and its ethereal music despite manage to release only 2 albums before being disbanded.

Below are some of the music that I enjoyed from this band;

1.) Isolation (Closer, 1980)
2.) She's Lost Control (Unknown Pleasures, 1979)
3.) Atmosphere (Licht und Blindheit, 1980)
4.) Dead Souls  (Still, 1981)
5.) Digital  (A Factory Sample, 1978)
6.) Disorder (Unknown Pleasures, 1979)
7.) Love Will Tear Us Apart
8.) New Dawn Fades (Unknown Pleasures, 1979)
9.) Shadowplay (Unknown Pleasures, 1979)
10.) Transmission  (Transmission, 1979)

To think of the origin of how did I came across with this band could seems a little bit grim, but rather to think it that way - I would happily say that thanks to that Guardian article, I also manage to gain a new interest on the other type of music; punk. This is a new territory to me for sure, but after listening to the songs time after time - I could say that my interest are really genuine and it wasn't just for show. I usually don't like rock and roll or techno, let alone punk - but for this, I'll have to make an exception because the songs produced by this band are far too awesome to ignore that even after a year and half later - I'm still pretty much in love with them.

Joy Division members. From left, Morris, Hook, Curtis and Sumner.

The late Joy Division front man: Ian Curtis
1957-1980 (RIP)

Also, aside from the music, I have to give a credit to this band for allowing me to meet one of my current favorite actor; Sam Riley. For those who don't know or don't care enough to know - Sam Riley, a British actor who had starred in movies such as Thirteen (13), Brighton Rock, On the Road, Maleficient and so on, got his first taste of becoming an actor from playing Ian Curtis in the 2007 Anton Corbijn biopic, "Control". Winning almost eight awards in total after more than a dozen nomination from this film alone, Sam Riley become a fast-favorite actor on my list (which not so easy to achieve since I'm very picky with my choice).

Imitation or not - this guy is AWESOME!!

Since I'm a huge book lover, I also had read a couple of books written by people who're directly involved, either personally or professionally (music) with Ian Curtis. These two books are among few that I recommended to get to much deeper insight on Joy Division and Ian Curtis.

A book written by one of the ex-member of Joy Division, Peter Hook (Hooky, Guitarist),
and a memoir of Ian Curtis written by his widow, Deborah Curtis. 

When I look back at how much I (secretly) like this band and level of awareness that I had for them - you can easily say, that the evidence is overwhelming. To be frank, I'm almost as half-obsessed with them, but not to the point of travelling to Macclesfield to meet the remaining former member itself (I'm just too shy), Anyway, to sum it up, it's the kind of obsession that come from time to time, caught me when I'm totally unaware and vulnerable. Loneliness, is quite one way of putting it. Anyway, truth be told - the secrets is out now. For those who're interested, THIS IS THE SECRET SIDE OF ME.  Ian Curtis and Joy Division and I put it on this blog for everyone to see.

This has been one of my humble confession: Mimi Said.