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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
"He Said He Was All Right So We Carried On."
"I should call the book that, shouldn’t I?"
"Hindsight" would better fit Joy Division's more oblique reputation. Peter Hook's detailed account of the band's rise succeeds by reflecting more of the mundane reality and less of the myth.
"I should call the book that, shouldn’t I?"
"Hindsight" would better fit Joy Division's more oblique reputation. Peter Hook's detailed account of the band's rise succeeds by reflecting more of the mundane reality and less of the myth.
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Joy Division are one of the few bands whose music is timeless, but also massively representative of a particular time and place. Their music is a glorious reflection of the sparse concrete towns surrounding Manchester in the late 70s, bleak, but captured with a sense of real beauty. Peter Hook's basslines were part of that unique sound, bass pushed to the forefront, creating a greater sense of resonance, driving the melody, while the thin, reedy guitar tones added a splash of colour in the background. So, when contemplating the driving forces behind the music, what sort of lifestyle and vision led to such an intense artistic statement, you're unlikely to have thought you'd encounter an anecdote about Margi Clarke's tits. And now that anecdote is burnt deeply into my hippocampus, and will forever ruin my enjoyment of Joy Division's music. And I get the feeling that Peter Hook would be quite pleased with that.
You see, I never really bought into any kind of myth about Joy Division, the notion of a romantic suicide is quite frankly a horrible nonsense, and I really never cared that much about who the personalities behind any band were. The music stands alone. I'm not sure Peter Hook shares that sentiment, but he sure as hell isn't going to let anyone project their own mythology onto the band. This is Joy Division from the viewpoint of the van-driver, struggling with trying to earn a wage, kip in squalor, and getting bloody annoyed at the costs of a broken rear axle. It's a story of petty grudges, drinking piss, and fighting in under-attended gigs. And Margi Clarke's tits. It comes across as honest, to the extent that Hook actually points out that this is all his view on the time, and he's probably quite unreliable anyway. I get the feeling he'd be quite pleased I only bought this book because I saw it cheap in a charity shop in Didsbury, aside from the fact he made no money out of me. It seems very fitting with the whole narrative.
Whether this book is informative or not, probably depends on what you want to get out of it. The one interesting fact for me as a huge music geek, is that it seems apparently true that Ian Curtis was a friend of Genesis P'Orridge, and that they really did like Throbbing Gristle quite a bit. It lends a bit of credence to Gen's claims of speaking to Ian about forming a separate band, and talking about not going to America. Even so, Gen is one of the few people Hook speaks about in fairly positive terms, but he still doubts him on these points.
So, all in all, it's not massively well-written, but I wasn't expecting a bassist to be Nabokov. It's not massively revealing, as most of the facts are known, or certainly aren't surprising. But what it is, is engaging, and a nice change of tone from the usual self-regarding autobiography of a band. And I quite like it, for all it's rough and readiness.
You see, I never really bought into any kind of myth about Joy Division, the notion of a romantic suicide is quite frankly a horrible nonsense, and I really never cared that much about who the personalities behind any band were. The music stands alone. I'm not sure Peter Hook shares that sentiment, but he sure as hell isn't going to let anyone project their own mythology onto the band. This is Joy Division from the viewpoint of the van-driver, struggling with trying to earn a wage, kip in squalor, and getting bloody annoyed at the costs of a broken rear axle. It's a story of petty grudges, drinking piss, and fighting in under-attended gigs. And Margi Clarke's tits. It comes across as honest, to the extent that Hook actually points out that this is all his view on the time, and he's probably quite unreliable anyway. I get the feeling he'd be quite pleased I only bought this book because I saw it cheap in a charity shop in Didsbury, aside from the fact he made no money out of me. It seems very fitting with the whole narrative.
Whether this book is informative or not, probably depends on what you want to get out of it. The one interesting fact for me as a huge music geek, is that it seems apparently true that Ian Curtis was a friend of Genesis P'Orridge, and that they really did like Throbbing Gristle quite a bit. It lends a bit of credence to Gen's claims of speaking to Ian about forming a separate band, and talking about not going to America. Even so, Gen is one of the few people Hook speaks about in fairly positive terms, but he still doubts him on these points.
So, all in all, it's not massively well-written, but I wasn't expecting a bassist to be Nabokov. It's not massively revealing, as most of the facts are known, or certainly aren't surprising. But what it is, is engaging, and a nice change of tone from the usual self-regarding autobiography of a band. And I quite like it, for all it's rough and readiness.
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
As a fan, I have to enjoy learning the many details in this book and Peter Hook keeps it light with anecdotes of raucousness. Yet, when the story of Joy Division ends with the suicide of Ian Curtis, I expected something more profound at the end of this book.
Hooky’s very casual style comes immediately across in these pages, almost as if he’s sat down next to you at the pub to tell you the story. He’s clearly someone who can be nothing more or less that who he is, which is both refreshing and a reminder of why he seems to fight with everyone else. His sense of self, and perhaps self-importance, is highly evident and makes one realize how necessary it is to get the story from many sources in order to acquire a fuller sense of what actually happened in those early years. Entertaining and quick, it’s a punchy (literally) tale of working class rebels whose talent sparked generations of angst-ridden boys and girls to explore their depressive natures with carefully concealed pride.
This was really a great insight into Joy Division, exactly like what I want a book about a band to be like. Honest, candid, just like sitting in a room with Peter Hook telling the story from his point of view. No mythologizing.
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced