John’s Album of the Month: Unknown Pleasures

John Holscher, Arts Writer

JOY DIVISION – UNKNOWN PLEASURES

RELEASE DATE: JUNE 15TH 1979

GENRE: POST PUNK

When I finally got around to checking this album out, I was not disappointed. Great post-punk album with very icy production. The album has a lot of very beautiful song writing done by singer Ian Curtis (Rest In Peace) about depression, loneliness and all around existential gloom. The album’s track list stretches 10 songs, and every single one on here delivers. I can really feel Ian’s pain on songs such as “Disorder”, where he talks about having some kind of disorder that prevents him from being a normal human and being able to have happy feelings or even interact with other humans. On the song “She’s lost control” which features a crazy drum rhythm played throughout the entire song, along with a very insane bass line that really drives the song and very much compliments Ian’s very gloomy lyrics about a girl who has finally gone over the edge and lost control over herself. All in all, I enjoyed this album very much. Even to the point where I purchased it on vinyl. I highly recommend this to anyone who is trying to get into the genre of post-punk.