Best Song on Unknown Pleasures

it's not i remember nothing, that's all i can say for the time being.

"New Dawn Fades."

Oh yes. NDF.

This is tough. Going with New Dawn, though -- first JD song I ever heard.

This is a fantastic use of polls, by the way.

New Dawn Fades is the easy "right" answer.

Disorder.

very, very hard to say.

For a second I reached for "Shadowplay," but "Disorder" kicks so much ass. Top 10 Peter Hook basslines.

man not to be corny or nothin but hearing "disorder" for the first time when i was around 13 i guess was the exact moment when i realized i was going to be listening to different music than most of my friends for the next few years.

disorder is definitely one of the greatest album openers of all-time. but somehow i cannot imagine it being the greatest song of u.p. as that would mean the album would go down from the beginning on which cannot be true.

"Shadowplay" -- Bernard's fiercest guitar work.

She's Lost Control, even though I prefer the Substance version over it. Disorder and New Dawn Fades perfect as well.

I was about to go for "Shadowplay" too.

UP She's Lost Control >>>>> Substance She's Lost Control, but I'm probably one of few people to hold that opinion

nah i def. hold that opinion as well - the substance v. sounds super awkward to me

i'm not even going to attempt to answer this until i've listened to it again. even then, i'm not sure i can. hmph.

provisionally it's "i remember nothing".

I'm not afraid anymore...

"best song on closer" would have been much easier.

(cue FITE)

I kind of regret not voting for Interzone now. Today is a day of poll second-guessing for me.

"disorder is definitely one of the greatest album openers of all-time."

i always (for years) used to play the other side first. so in my world, she's lost control is the greatest album-opener of all-time. therefore, in my world, new dawn fades is the greatest album closer of all-time. (i never owned a cd copy until i bought the box set)

and i have no idea why i did this, cuz the inner-sleeve clearly states that the outside side goes before the inside side.

New Dawn Fades will win this by a landslide.

Actually, the worst song on UP and Closer would make an interesting poll. I can't think of many bands whose output was so consistently good. Of the 40 or 50 songs, there are only 2 or 3 I think are truly mediocre.

i always (for years) used to play the other side first. so in my world, she's lost control is the greatest album-opener of all-time

oh shit, you too?!? My best friend in high school copied UP second side first, so for years I assumed that "She's Lost Control-Shadowplay-Wilderness-Interzone-I Remember Nothing" was the greatest A-side in history.

the worst song on UP and Closer

does not compute. The greatness of all these tracks is intransitive, therefore NDF > Shadowplay > Interzone > NDF etc.

Interzone got my vote

So difficult again. But New Dawn Fades ftw, even though not voting for Shadowplay is heartbreaking.

Even though Disorder is a fabulous album-opener, I'm going for Insight with the great electronic percussion bits and the opening lines that New Order answered on Movement.

oh my...this is the hardest poll ever. i don't think i can answer right now.

Oh stop being silly people. It's "She's Lost Control."

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Disorder - as stated, one of the best album openers EVER.

Of the 40 or 50 songs, there are only 2 or 3 I think are truly mediocre.

*cue Something Must Break*

I only heard this album all the way through for the first time YESTERDAY. I was astonished to realise I only know about 5 or 6 JD songs :( I FAIL AT GOTH.

That said, for this album I think I'll vote for "Shadowplay". I love "she's lost control" but I think I prefer the other version too, I'd need to compare them more closely tho.

Awesomest Curtis = New Dawn Fades

Awesomest other = She's lost control, Disorder, Shadowplay.

don't confuse me like that!!

*cue Something Must Break*

waht? Something Must Break is fucking AWESOME.

ha, sorry Curt15!
xp

*cue Something Must Break*

waht? Something Must Break is fucking AWESOME.

OTM, Something Must Break is great. I don't know those very early Warsaw ones like Gutz or whatever, but of classic-era JD, I think Novelty is the only track I think is a dud. Great intro, but then just becomes a plodding mush with embarrassing lyrics.

+1 for "Interzone"

but my favorite Smiths songs are "Handsome Devil," "Shakespeare's Sister" and "London," so don't go by me. I likes the rock and roll.

"day of the lords". i love the restraint and inertia of that song. it's so heavy in a good way. and hannett's synth touch fits so perfect here. it is so heavenly and such a perfect contrast to the earthly sluggishness. but of course it is not fair to point out any of those phantastic songs. as the album is of one piece as has been mentioned before.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Candidate 0
Wilderness 0

ILM OTM

no I like those songs :(

oh shit, you too?!? My best friend in high school copied UP second side first, so for years I assumed that "She's Lost Control-Shadowplay-Wilderness-Interzone-I Remember Nothing" was the greatest A-side in history.

I did the same thing with Closer, actually. The vinyl just does not make it clear at all (except maybe in the cut of the end grooves) which side is which so to this day I still think of it as starting with Heart & Soul and have never been able to accept otherwise. Come to think of it if I ever got the CD I think it would drive me absolutely nuts.

Yeah, I always listened to the "Heart and Soul" side first. I thought they deliberately didn't make either side Side 1.

Well I admit that's a bit of Joy Division trivia I don't recall hearing anything about, but part of me wonders if Saville didn't play some role, there.

I voted Day Of The Lords

'Wilderness' is a great song, i can't believe it didn't get a single vote. i wish i'd gone for it, if only to get it on the board. 'New Dawn Fades' didn't need my vote.

arse. i didn't get back here to vote in time.

had i done so, it'd have been for "i remember nothing" -- i'm genuinely surprised that got only one other vote -- or maybe "she's lost control". but, really, gems among gems.

I know grimly I was going to say! I was so glad you stuck up for "I Remember Nothing", that would have been my #2 choice.

see, i've always seen IRN as the point to which the rest of the album is inexorably heading (ie downwards). it obviously doesn't have the same emotional resonance for others, though.

Novelty is the only track I think is a dud.

waht? Novelty is fucking AWESOME.

I voted for Shadowplay, which was the first Joy Division song I ever heard.

I'm blaring the Still version of New Dawn Fades and you better get out of the way.

Remember who is the best band in the World. Know your place.

24 Hours Live...

Look, don't mess with me, I've got live gigs and shit.

THEY WERE THE BEST BAND IN THE WORLD BAR NONE.

damn what's 'shadowplay' doing all the way down there?

Probably because that live version fucking rules over the UP one.

This poll is v. unbalanced that's for sure!

Oddly enough out of all these songs I've completely forgotten what "Insight" sounds like!

Actually I'm sad that I didn't give more props to "Insight" because to be frank, it's the one I'm most likely to hear in my head at odd moments...the most memorable, maybe, aside from New Dawn Fades.

It's the one that goes "but we remeeeeeember/when we were young..." It's not even the lyrics in particular, just something about the whole package that taps me on the shoulder sometimes, makes me remember, whereas a lot of Unknown Pleasures doesn't do that, including I Remember Nothing.

i want to go back in a time machine and vote for 'shadowplay', seriously.

i'm pretty sure i voted for 'she's lost control'. but then again, i remember nothing. ha!

and i would suggest that a song of the calibre of 'wilderness' receiving zero votes is a testament to how much this record rules.

I don't think I've ever worked out how to deal with Curtis's singing on this album. He's so much more palatable on Closer - plus, it's, like, disco.

http://www.b3ta.cr3ation.co.uk/data/jpg/worfjd.jpg

i maintain that shadowplay should be right up there, but it's true that the version here lacks the intensity of live performances that i've heard.

new dawn fades is good, but IC kind of croons at the end of it, which is at odds with the music that doesn't really build up and soar expansively as the song moves on.

http://i.imgur.com/E5Jz0WX.png

looooool

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/sa-visual/2015/02/18/pop-culture-pulsar-origin-story-of-joy-divisions-unknown-pleasures-album-cover-video/

At long last. An interview with the scientist behind the actual cover image.

Best? Or least worst?

Interzone was the right response, what a pathetic poll

Came here to post the link Ned provided - cool story!
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/sa-visual/files/2015/02/pulsar_trio.jpg

44 years old today. Not a 'big' anniversary but it's always good to think about it again.

i've long thought there are enough JD cover versions in the world already but it turns out i was wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC9dNgiLgbo

Surprised that "Shadowplay" didn't have a stronger showing.

808 State did it better, imo.

Poor unloved “Wilderness.”

God, what does it sound like again? I can’t remember

love how Ian’s voice sounds during wilderness, he sounds vaguely more lucid or slightly hypnotized or something. And the weird broken up dubby rhythm and rough echoing guitar chunks.. so good

It's clever how the two zero-vote songs sit in the middle of each album side: the first two songs have attuned you to their aesthetic, and the next two will reinforce that quality, and meanwhile "Candidate" and "Wilderness" are good enough to carry the mood between them. I'd actually say that the latter is a better-developed song than "Interzone"; but my vote would have been for "Day of the Lords", which maybe gets overlooked because it's less forward-looking than the songs with prominent electronic elements.

Novelty is the only track I think is a dud.

Interesting that it is the only lyric that wasn't included in Deborah Curtis's book, so maybe not written by Ian?

Day of the Lords is heavy metal, not punk, post punk, goth or whatever. Tony Iommi fuckin’ riff!