Best Joy Division Poll

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Two studio LPS, two JD comps, one pre-JD comp, and none of the live stuff. All the same, which one -- and, if yer so inclined, WHY?!?

Poll Results

Option	Votes
Unknown Pleasures.	34
Closer.	11
Substance.	8
Still.	2
Warsaw.	1

― Eisbaer, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 00:26 (eighteen years ago)

"Substance" is probably the best, but I refuse to vote for compilations. So, "Closer" then.

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 00:28 (eighteen years ago)

Nothing will ever match the impact I felt the first time I heard "Unknown Pleasures." The sound on Warsaw bugs me and I haven't heard Substance.

Closer never really did anything for me outside of "Isolation," which of course is really fucking great.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 00:35 (eighteen years ago)

Oh damn you for making me decide between Warsaw & Substance.

― Bimble, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 00:38 (eighteen years ago)

missing the option for '"Love Will Tear Us Apart" is great but I can do without the rest.'

― milo z, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 00:39 (eighteen years ago)

Closer never really did anything for me outside of "Isolation," which of course is really fucking great.

-- BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 10:35 (3 minutes ago)

what about 24 hours?? A means to an end? and so on.
Actually, every song's great on Closer

But I go with Substance. Digital and Novelty = best JD songs.

― Drooone, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 00:43 (eighteen years ago)

I used to be a Closer hater for some reason but I love it now. I still have to go with Unknown Pleasures though.

― Curt1s Stephens, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 00:45 (eighteen years ago)

geir is of course otm as he is 100% of the time

well except its 'unknown pleasures'

but yeah including substance is cheating

― deeznuts, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 00:46 (eighteen years ago)

i included substance because even though it's a compilation, the singles on substance aren't available elsewhere (except on singles) and they are some of joy division's best-known/best-loved songs. i thought that excluding it would be unrepresentative (as opposed to the standard-issue compilation which is a largely best-of collection of stuff already available).

i voted for unknown pleasures because IMHO it's better focused than closer (which while i like a lot i've never TOTALLY warmed up to b/c it's a bit more abstract and unfocused), not to mention that i liked JD best when they were at their most black sabbath-y (and unknown pleasures has the most sabbath-y JD songs, like "new dawn fades" and "day of the lords"). i could've gone for substance on the strength of its 1st side alone, but i'm not overly fond of too much of side 2 for it to be my favorite JD record.

― Eisbaer, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 01:01 (eighteen years ago)

i dunno, I heard closer first, and nothing matches it.

― akm, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 03:27 (eighteen years ago)

if you hear closer first you are probably dead

― deeznuts, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 03:30 (eighteen years ago)

Hmm. I think I heard Closer first, too, actually. "24 Hours" was what reeled me in.

― Bimble, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 05:04 (eighteen years ago)

yeesh, Substance easily. as far as proper LP's are concerned, I suppose Closer narrowly edges out UP for me.

― circa1916, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 06:02 (eighteen years ago)

I'm going to vote for Still. Not because it's the best overall, but because the first nine tracks (not Sister Ray or the live crap on disc 2) are too good to ignore.

― StanM, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 06:30 (eighteen years ago)

i guess i'll vote Closer, but i mainly listen to the BBC recordings these days (pun intended) when i need my JD fix..

― poortheatre, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 06:32 (eighteen years ago)

hmmm, there's no way i'm gonna vote for a compilation, with jd being one of my very favourite bands at all.

i'm going to go with unknown pleasures, which is about as good as records get.

― Charlie Howard, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 06:38 (eighteen years ago)

i mainly listen to the BBC recordings these days

I like the BBC recordings the best, as long as we're counting comps.

― the Dirt, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 10:36 (eighteen years ago)

'No Love Lost' is my favorite song, so I voted for Warsaw.

― nicky lo-fi, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 10:54 (eighteen years ago)

er, sonic perfection v all the stuff that might be genius but still isn't "closer". this isn't too tough.

― grimly fiendish, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 11:04 (eighteen years ago)

All genius but......Closer for me.

― Dr.C, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 11:31 (eighteen years ago)

Unknown Pleasures

― Tom D., Tuesday, 24 April 2007 11:31 (eighteen years ago)

Closer

― Sandy Blair, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 19:50 (eighteen years ago)

substance, closer and unknown pleasures are all good. i guess i listen to substance more than the others, which i rarely take out. Generally not in the mood for music that utterly bleak.

― deej, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:14 (eighteen years ago)

Unknown pleasures for me. I actually heard Substance 1st.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:16 (eighteen years ago)

isnt closer the only truly suicide-inducing album in their repetiore? i dont see unknown pleasures as incredibly depressing.

― deeznuts, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:26 (eighteen years ago)

p.s. the Unknown Pleasures version of "She's Lost Control" is way better.

― Curt1s Stephens, Friday, 27 April 2007 16:35 (eighteen years ago)

results

― JN$OT, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 07:50 (eighteen years ago)

MAD result! How did UP get 3 x the votes of Closer? UP is obviously great, but Closer is surely more fully realised, more the true essence of JD? Oh well.

― Dr.C, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 08:03 (eighteen years ago)

Why are so few people voting in these polls generally? And does the low voter turnout render them non-viable?

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 08:09 (eighteen years ago)

They're falling off the new answers page to quickly. Therefore, not enough people seem to even be aware they exist.

― JN$OT, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 08:19 (eighteen years ago)

too

― JN$OT, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 08:20 (eighteen years ago)

i am quite surprised that unknown pleasures won so clearly. and i didn't even vote! my favourite versions of my favourite songs of unknown pleasures are mostly not on up though. disorder (les bains douches), day of the lords is, insight is, new dawn fades (les bains douches), she's lost control (2nd bbc session).

― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 09:43 (eighteen years ago)

This was probably the Best Joy Division Poll.

― blueski, Tuesday, 1 May 2007 09:48 (eighteen years ago)

I don't like the results of this poll. I want to mess with the numbers and fix it.

― Bimble, Sunday, 6 May 2007 21:13 (eighteen years ago)

oh take it to the rnc

― vodka chthonic, Sunday, 6 May 2007 21:20 (eighteen years ago)

They're falling off the new answers page to quickly. Therefore, not enough people seem to even be aware they exist.

Is there a way to see threads that are just a little too old for the new answers page? At least old ILX had the "show all updated" link. I was wondering what happened in the Rush poll.

― Sundar, Sunday, 6 May 2007 22:28 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah look, I'm only a "newbie" (but a looooong time lurker) but the length of the current New Answers page would embarrass most male pRon stars.

― SeekAltRoute, Monday, 7 May 2007 10:00 (eighteen years ago)

A deserved winner.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Monday, 7 May 2007 19:15 (eighteen years ago)

eight years pass...

Honorable mention: In Silence by Fra Lippo Lippi (1981).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjvw5aQYIJ0

― 3×5, Thursday, 17 September 2015 04:17 (ten years ago)

Whenever I put Closer on after not listening to it for a while, I always find myself getting stuck on it and find myself playing it over and over for days - this never happens with Unknown Pleasures. Both Closer and Unknown Pleasures are rightly considered to be classics, but I still think that Closer is a step ahead and a stronger record. A lot is made of the lyrical content and that it's the last album Ian made with the musicians that would go on to form New Order, but for me the appeal of Closer lies more in the strength of the production, the rhythms, the vocal melodies. For such a "down" record, it's still incredibly catchy and (for the most part) danceable - and I can't ever see the day when I don't find the 'The Eternal' powerful and moving.

― Turrican, Thursday, 17 September 2015 08:44 (ten years ago)

Our Amber found my "Unknown Pleasures" 2CD and recognised the t-shirt pic, so felt she should at least play it before committing herself to the fashion item.

She didn't like it much. So, ..

WHICH IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO!

― Mark G, Thursday, 17 September 2015 11:10 (ten years ago)

(I think she'd have liked a "best of" more, but that's not UP, is it?)

― Mark G, Thursday, 17 September 2015 11:10 (ten years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.