Cuttings

THE 20 BEST MANCHESTER ALBUMS 1 JOY DIVISION CLOSER Factory (1980) IAN Curtis was beset by health, psychological and personal problems when Joy Division entered Britannia Row studios to record Closer in March, 1980. Their second tour de force was far removed from its predecessor: side two particularly revealed a new, breathtaking, almost supernatural, symphonic music. Painfully honest and unflinchingly emotional, Closer was Joy Division's triumph and Ian Curtis’ personal testament. By the time of its release, he’d committed suicide.  (Un?)intentional parting message to bandmates:  " You take my place in the showdown. I'll observe with a pitiful eye ” (“ Heart And Soul ”)  Highest UK chart position: 6 3 JOY DIVISION UNKNOWN PLEASURES Factory (1979) FOR...

Torn apart Joy Division and the death of Ian Curtis Joy Division were the most crucial of all the post-punk bands. But, on the eve of their first US tour, lead singer Ian Curtis committed suicide. Within a year, they regrouped as New Order to become one of the key acts of the Eighties. Now, two decades on from their live debut, Joy Division release a definitive box set, and original members Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner talk about the rise and demise of Manchester's greatest export before Oasis. By Dave Simpson Futurama, Queens Hall, Leeds, September 1979. "The world's first science fiction music festival" - in an oversized tramshed reeking of beer and glue. But the future hasn't arrived yet, so people mill around, waiting for it to happen. Suddenly, a besuited 30-ish-year-old who, it turns out, is Granada Television presenter and fledgling record company boss Tony Wilson, emerges onstage to announce "The awesome Joy Division". The awesome who? A b...

GETTING AWAY WITH IT When Manchester rock titans BERNARD SUMNER and JOHNNY MARR formed Electronic in 1990, they were determined that their new band would live up to the glories of New Order and The Smith, even if it killed them. Which it very nearly did. By Stephen Dalton AS LIVE DEBUTS GO, THIS IS TURNING OUT to be legendary. A legendary fuck-up, that is. When the call came through five months ago. Electronic thought it would be a good idea to unveil their gleaming rock-disco roadshow in front of 60,000 hyped up Depeche Mode fans at LA's enormous Dodgers stadium. They only had three or four tunes ready but. what the hell, the two shows were five months away. But now that August has rolled around, they still haw only seven or eight numbers at a push. And most of them don't even have names. More importantly, by this point Bernard Sumner barely remembers his own name. He has filled the dressing- room shower basin to the brim with fresh puke before hanging a hand-made sign a...