Pink Floyd vs. Joy Division

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These two seem equally matched to me, I was wondering what ILX thinks.
http://home.att.net/~chuckayoub/pink_floyd/pink_floyd_biography.jpg
http://welliwonder.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/20070911_joy_division.jpg

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Pink Floyd 42
Joy Division 42


redmond, Saturday, 17 January 2009 16:55 (seventeen years ago)

troll

Joe Bob 1 Tooth (Hurting 2), Saturday, 17 January 2009 17:21 (seventeen years ago)

Excuse me? Piss off. Just talking about music.

redmond, Saturday, 17 January 2009 17:27 (seventeen years ago)

Seems a bit arbitrary, though, even by the standards of ILM polls!

Beloved lightbulb (Neil S), Saturday, 17 January 2009 17:41 (seventeen years ago)

milk vs. portugal.

Women can be captains too, you know? (jim), Saturday, 17 January 2009 17:42 (seventeen years ago)

tangerines vs. dictionaries.

Women can be captains too, you know? (jim), Saturday, 17 January 2009 17:42 (seventeen years ago)

Astronauts vs. robots.

Women can be captains too, you know? (jim), Saturday, 17 January 2009 17:42 (seventeen years ago)

There's a lot that can be written. Who's the troll now?

redmond, Saturday, 17 January 2009 17:46 (seventeen years ago)

No need to get defensive, what's the reasoning for the comparison?

Beloved lightbulb (Neil S), Saturday, 17 January 2009 17:49 (seventeen years ago)

David Gilmour was the Sawyer on Lost of 1970!

scourge of cords (Z S), Saturday, 17 January 2009 17:52 (seventeen years ago)

that's a valid q, redmond - how do they compare? like if it were "hawkwind vs. joy division" it'd be a "source vs. tributary" sort of thing (Peter Hook on record as a big Hawkwind fan and I seem to remember he'd said they all liked that stuff), or joy division vs. some other band who resemble them. as far as I can tell between pink floyd and joy division - they both play amplified instruments, they're both English. how do they compare otherwise?

J0hn D., Saturday, 17 January 2009 17:54 (seventeen years ago)

Interested in redmond's answer but I'm guessing the lyrical angst and spacy synth-rock musical tendencies? Not saying it's an obvious or really close comparison.

Sundar, Saturday, 17 January 2009 18:09 (seventeen years ago)

Repetitive mechanical rhythms (more literally in PF's case).

Sundar, Saturday, 17 January 2009 18:18 (seventeen years ago)

Pink Floyd any day. Joy Division are terribly overrated, although they did some great stuff as New Order.

Geir Hongro, Saturday, 17 January 2009 18:23 (seventeen years ago)

This thread makes me hate Pink Floyd more than I already do.

The Undead Look (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Saturday, 17 January 2009 18:31 (seventeen years ago)

I'm voting pink floyd just to give bimble conniptions

J0hn D., Saturday, 17 January 2009 20:57 (seventeen years ago)

Hahaha, I had this feeling someone was gonna say something like that. I was gonna mention how Johnny Rotten wore an "I Hate Pink Floyd" shirt back in the days of the Pistols, but ya know, later on he retracted it and said he liked them, so...the wind went out of my sails on that anecdote.

Shoegazey Goth Metal Phone (Bimble), Saturday, 17 January 2009 21:10 (seventeen years ago)

Pink Floyd bore me to tears. They never fail to bore me. Doesn't matter what record it is, from what era, they never fail to bore me.

Shoegazey Goth Metal Phone (Bimble), Saturday, 17 January 2009 21:12 (seventeen years ago)

i think you had to be there to really appreciate pink floyd. with joy division it seems different. their music hasn't aged. pink floyd's is very much the music of their time, basically the seventies.

alex in mainhattan, Saturday, 17 January 2009 21:21 (seventeen years ago)

If it was some kind of Barrett/Dead Guy vs. New Floyd/New Order vs. Newer Floyd/Newer Order kind of thing it would make some sense.

If the Televison Personalities had done a song "I Know Where Ian Curtis Is Dead"

Guy Pratt has played bass with both Electronic and Pink Floyd.

james k polk, Saturday, 17 January 2009 21:24 (seventeen years ago)

It would make more sense if it was Floyd V Joy Division/ New Order: 1 and a half/ two records and a bunch of singles of visionary power, singer 'leaves" followed by decades of unrelieved mediocrity (and terrible lyrics)

x post - kinda what he said

sonofstan, Saturday, 17 January 2009 21:26 (seventeen years ago)

Dude I wasn't there to appreciate Floyd I just dig the sound coming out of the speakers when I play something like Summer '68 or Candy and a Currant Bun or Pillow of Winds etc. Admittedly, I don't have much use for them after Meddle (though I still haven't heard Animals.) I've just started getting into Joy Division but I agree with the above posters that I don't quite get the reasons for the comparison.

ColinO, Saturday, 17 January 2009 21:33 (seventeen years ago)

Bimble, you will come around on Floyd one day, I swear it.

dan selzer, Saturday, 17 January 2009 22:20 (seventeen years ago)

love both of those photos, particularly maybe the look on mason's face in the floyd shot.

Charlie Howard, Saturday, 17 January 2009 22:25 (seventeen years ago)

i'd rather vote for the misfits in the 'misfits v black sabbath' poll that I never created because I don't know how to create polls.

Chelvis, Saturday, 17 January 2009 22:33 (seventeen years ago)

So "you had to be there" exactly when on Pink Floyd? In '67? '71? '73? '79?

If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Saturday, 17 January 2009 22:38 (seventeen years ago)

your fingers had to have trembled as you inserted the 'momentary lapse of reason' CD into the tray the very day it came out.

Charlie Howard, Saturday, 17 January 2009 22:43 (seventeen years ago)

Next poll: Beatles v. Boys Next Door

burt_stanton, Saturday, 17 January 2009 22:50 (seventeen years ago)

So "you had to be there" exactly when on Pink Floyd? In '67? '71? '73? '79?

what i wanted to say is pink floyd were cool at their time, they were unique, doing something new. but now most of it sounds dated and often dull. the last okayish album in my pov was "animals". the 60s stuff is a little different. it has aged better, i think. but for me pink floyd will always be the band of "dark side" and "wish you were here". that was the music almost everybody listened to in the mid 70s.

alex in mainhattan, Saturday, 17 January 2009 22:52 (seventeen years ago)

Shoegaze vs Converse

Moka, Saturday, 17 January 2009 23:27 (seventeen years ago)

Selzer, I'd like to think so. But let's not bank on it.

Progoths (Bimble), Saturday, 17 January 2009 23:28 (seventeen years ago)

Faithless vs Faith no More

Moka, Saturday, 17 January 2009 23:30 (seventeen years ago)

sub: Which one has the least faith?

Moka, Saturday, 17 January 2009 23:30 (seventeen years ago)

I don't even understand how this is even a poll. That said JD no question. I hate PF - a lot.

Too Into Dancing to Argue (ENBB), Saturday, 17 January 2009 23:31 (seventeen years ago)

Thank you, ENBB!

Horror of Prog Rock (Bimble), Saturday, 17 January 2009 23:32 (seventeen years ago)

these were both my favorite bands at different points in my life (points not very far removed from each other, come to think of it). the angst of floyd is more adolescent, the angst of joy division more intellectual, both are pretentious in their own way.

akm, Saturday, 17 January 2009 23:37 (seventeen years ago)

I like everything by Floyd from Meddle through The Final Cut, to varying degrees (I hate the Syd Barrett stuff - in fact, I hate that whole school of whimsical Brit psych-pop). But the only JD song I can get through is "Transmission." So yeah, Floyd for me.

unperson, Saturday, 17 January 2009 23:41 (seventeen years ago)

syd barrett floyd >> joy division >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> post-barrett floyd

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Saturday, 17 January 2009 23:50 (seventeen years ago)

The sound of a kitten being fucked to death by a horse>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Syd Barrett Floyd

unperson, Saturday, 17 January 2009 23:56 (seventeen years ago)

it's kind of a mystery to me that anyone can still stomach "classic" floyd; i'd rather throw my car radio out the window than ever be subjected to "money" or "wish you were here" or "brick in the wall" again.

x-post: whatever dude, i'll take sweetly melancholy edward lear-derived nursery rhymes over self-righteous, cloddy, plodding, dreary arena-friendly shit like later floyd any day.

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Saturday, 17 January 2009 23:58 (seventeen years ago)

They are both depressing.

That said, Floyd rules. With our without Syd. Without Waters, very bad.

thirdalternative, Sunday, 18 January 2009 00:33 (seventeen years ago)

Joy Division.

I'm surprised Pink Floyd gets praised as much as they do on ILM - in theory at least, they should be the *worst* *band* *ever*. Gods of classic rock + annoying fans + slow guitar music that you could never dance to.

Pink Floyd were probably the biggest wtf moment when I was a stereotypical teenager discovering classic rock. Their image: striking album covers, trippy drug music, millions of fans...doesn't match with reality: elevator music. It made me not want to do drugs.

iatee, Sunday, 18 January 2009 00:39 (seventeen years ago)

that whole school of whimsical Brit psych-pop

This is like some of my favorite shit ever though I wish I knew more of it- been totally immersed in the Move lately- anyway, I don't know why I'm posting this here...

ColinO, Sunday, 18 January 2009 00:56 (seventeen years ago)

This does seem like a good place to post about The Move. Echo & The Bunnymen vs. Electric Light Orchestra?

james k polk, Sunday, 18 January 2009 01:45 (seventeen years ago)

Phil you are not my homey no more until you take back any bad shit you have ever thought about Barrett who is not "whimsical"

J0hn D., Sunday, 18 January 2009 03:51 (seventeen years ago)

I mean I dig what you think it's about but it is not about that OK

J0hn D., Sunday, 18 January 2009 03:58 (seventeen years ago)

I don't know, man - if there's darkness of the spirit there, that's swell, but it's darkness of the spirit in ruffly shirts, and I just can't hang. I will freely admit that some of the melodies to those songs are good ones, because I enjoyed the avant-metallers-cover-Barrett compilation Like Black Holes In The Sky quite a bit, but the originals just do nothing for me.

unperson, Sunday, 18 January 2009 04:08 (seventeen years ago)

I like them both. I'll pick Floyd because they made more. I still put on meddle, animals, dark side, and wish...

nicky lo-fi, Sunday, 18 January 2009 04:51 (seventeen years ago)

Pink Floyd The Grateful Dead were probably the biggest wtf moment when I was a stereotypical teenager discovering classic rock. Their image: striking album covers, trippy drug music, millions of fans...doesn't match with reality: elevator music. It made me not want to do drugs.

FTFY

Hideous Lump, Sunday, 18 January 2009 04:55 (seventeen years ago)

Joy Divison, c'mon. I like Pink Floyd and all, but Joy Division was a singular force. There aren't dozens of joy division cover bands criss-crossing the country playing 2 night sets at drug festivals, because they could never be imitated. There was nothing like Joy Division, before or since.

scourge of cords (Z S), Sunday, 18 January 2009 04:58 (seventeen years ago)

it is a thing of rare and wondrous beauty.

Keep The Dogs Away (Ioannis), Saturday, 24 January 2009 20:07 (seventeen years ago)

joy division live >>>>>> joy division >>> syd barrett floyd >>>>>>>>> post-barrett floyd

mose def (kenan), Sunday, 25 January 2009 21:20 (seventeen years ago)

all this talk of curtis being a bad singer is insane

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Sunday, 25 January 2009 22:00 (seventeen years ago)

joy division live >>>>>> joy division >>> syd barrett floyd >>>>>>>>> post-barrett floyd

I'm inclined to agree with this.

Millsner, Monday, 26 January 2009 03:23 (seventeen years ago)

i prob would too, though i've never heard any live JD.

(The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 26 January 2009 03:40 (seventeen years ago)

apparently joy division >>><<< pinkfloyd

CaptainLorax, Monday, 26 January 2009 05:44 (seventeen years ago)

no way. joy division >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<pinkfloyd

M.V., Monday, 26 January 2009 06:18 (seventeen years ago)

Norm Coleman will see you people in court!

M.V., Monday, 26 January 2009 06:21 (seventeen years ago)

PiL greater than either!

Keep The Dogs Away (Ioannis), Monday, 26 January 2009 09:06 (seventeen years ago)

i prob would too, though i've never heard any live JD.

Oh noes! The "collectors edition" of both Unknown Pleasures and Closer have an extra disk that's a whole live set, and they both kill.

mose def (kenan), Monday, 26 January 2009 17:33 (seventeen years ago)

Les Bains Douches is also pretty amazing.

Millsner, Monday, 26 January 2009 18:14 (seventeen years ago)

joy division live >>>>>> joy division

I'm inclined to disagree. I love the production on the JD studio records, so many neat little tricks that I keep rediscovering.

ilxor, Monday, 26 January 2009 18:27 (seventeen years ago)

They're two different equally overwhelming beasts. Listening to live JD at deafening volumes, especially the aforementioned Les Bains Douches, is adrenaline rush-inducing. And if you'd only heard the live stuff, for some reason, the otherworldliness of the studio recordings would be a bit shocking, I imagine.

the maximum value that ZS obtains given its constraint is 8 (Z S), Monday, 26 January 2009 20:31 (seventeen years ago)

do we have a thread live jd vs. studio jd? if not, i guess we need one. i would give a lot right now to see them live, i missed to see them at the time. the live cds and bootlegs are fine and huge but seeing them live would have been a very different story. has there ever been a band with such a powerful sound and such an obsessed singer? i don't think so.

alex in mainhattan, Monday, 26 January 2009 20:39 (seventeen years ago)

The Eternal on the Preston 28 February 1980 live album -- the version without Hooky because the bass/bass amp/whatever has blown up -- is the single bleakest, most terrifying thing I will ever hear. Actually, that entire album is mind-fuckingly brilliant.

Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Monday, 26 January 2009 21:31 (seventeen years ago)

(I mean, obviously a load of that bleakness and terror is because you know what lay around the corner, but even so ...)

Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Monday, 26 January 2009 21:32 (seventeen years ago)

Yeah it's got In Utero appeal like that.

mose def (kenan), Monday, 26 January 2009 23:52 (seventeen years ago)

ilXor Last.fm group weekly chart for the week ending January 25, 2009

No. 1 Animal Collective

No. 2 Kanye West

No. 2 David Bowie

No. 4 Joy Division

No. 5 Radiohead

No. 6 The Beatles

No. 7 Fever Ray

No. 7 The Velvet Underground

No. 9 New Order

No. 10 Cut Copy

....
....
....
....
....
No. 217 Pink Floyd

the maximum value that ZS obtains given its constraint is 8 (Z S), Tuesday, 27 January 2009 03:16 (seventeen years ago)

proven by science????

http://pro.corbis.com/images/42-15557211.jpg?size=572&uid=%7BBC606FFF-8194-4FFD-94EE-6864B504BC68%7D

the maximum value that ZS obtains given its constraint is 8 (Z S), Tuesday, 27 January 2009 03:17 (seventeen years ago)

six months pass...

How'd I miss this one? Just as well, really, as I don't think I could pick one over the other. Today, though, Joy Division wins.

Alex in NYC, Monday, 3 August 2009 18:12 (sixteen years ago)

freakish tie

I love rainbow cookies (surm), Monday, 3 August 2009 18:36 (sixteen years ago)

i never believe the poll results on ILM. too many people with multiple accounts.

brotherlovesdub, Monday, 3 August 2009 23:25 (sixteen years ago)

A tie? Oy vey.

Daniel, Esq., Monday, 3 August 2009 23:27 (sixteen years ago)

one year passes...

think about it -- there are some striking similarities (besides the fact that they are four of my all-time favorite bands).

Yutte Hermsgervørdenbrøtbørda (Eisbaer), Friday, 21 January 2011 09:35 (fifteen years ago)

frankly, the comparison is really incomplete when you exclude New Order. because Floyd was quite a different band post-Syd (though with almost all of the same people), just like New Order was a very different band than New Order. and they BOTH discovered synths AND dance music ("another brick in the wall") AFTER ian/syd.

Yutte Hermsgervørdenbrøtbørda (Eisbaer), Friday, 21 January 2011 09:37 (fifteen years ago)

"Another Brick in the Wall" is not dance music. And that comp title (A Collection of Great Dance Songs) is, whaddya call it, ironical.

ban this sick stunt (anagram), Friday, 21 January 2011 10:31 (fifteen years ago)

i was really trying to be funny ... but "another brick in the wall" IS set to a disco beat (or as close to one as these plodders could get).

i want to eat unicorn meat (Eisbaer), Friday, 21 January 2011 10:37 (fifteen years ago)

Number 57 on the Billboard club play/dance chart in 1980, too. According to Dave Gilmour, "It wasn’t my idea to do disco music, it was Bob’s. He said to me, ‘Go to a couple of clubs and listen to what’s happening with disco music,’ so I forced myself out and listened to loud, four-to-the-bar bass drums and stuff and thought, Gawd, awful! Then we went back and tried to turn one of the [song’s] parts into one to those so it would be catchy."

State Attorney Foxhart Cubycheck (Billy Dods), Friday, 21 January 2011 10:48 (fifteen years ago)

Big of Gilmour to admit to being a reactionary tool.

Magic Our Maurice! (Noodle Vague), Friday, 21 January 2011 10:51 (fifteen years ago)

I like the idea of him sitting in camouflage in the corner of a nightclub taking notes, too.

Magic Our Maurice! (Noodle Vague), Friday, 21 January 2011 10:52 (fifteen years ago)

Camo was more echo and the bunnymen tho.

Mark G, Friday, 21 January 2011 11:07 (fifteen years ago)

not liking disco music != being a reactionary tool xxp

ban this sick stunt (anagram), Friday, 21 January 2011 11:10 (fifteen years ago)

The only singer worse than Ian Curtis is the mopey dork from Tindersticks .

thirdalternative, Friday, 21 January 2011 18:56 (fifteen years ago)

I like that he was like "this sucks...I'd better write something just like it!"

akm, Friday, 21 January 2011 19:09 (fifteen years ago)

Floyd was quite a different band post-Syd

"Post-Syd" encompasses the period from, basically, right after "Piper" hit the streets! He was barely useful during the recording of "Saucerful."

nd they BOTH discovered synths AND dance music ("another brick in the wall") AFTER ian/syd.

Uh, synths weren't really available when Syd was a contributing member of the band, so this is hardly an insight.

you think you're cool, but you read ick (Phil D.), Friday, 21 January 2011 19:22 (fifteen years ago)

"run like hell" gots some of the disco beats up in it too. always wanted a full-on dance mix of it tbh.

normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Friday, 21 January 2011 19:41 (fifteen years ago)

oh anag I like you and enjoy your posts based on knowledge but in all honesty

not liking disco music = being a reactionary tool feels as close to a fact of nature as nature wanders

Magic Our Maurice! (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 22 January 2011 00:20 (fifteen years ago)

PS the subtext here is "don't argue u reactionary racist" [better chattin' about stuff u enjoy than the rest of the ingrasable onionverse]

Magic Our Maurice! (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 22 January 2011 00:22 (fifteen years ago)

wait are you saying I'm a reactionary racist

ban this sick stunt (anagram), Thursday, 3 February 2011 18:26 (fifteen years ago)

Dave Gilmour, then anybody who doesn't like disco, then anybody who wandered past when I was drunk.

Y Kant Torres Red (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 3 February 2011 18:31 (fifteen years ago)

dude I called AbitW & Run Like Hell disco-metal in some other thread and got heaps of scorn dumped on my noggin!

ellj versus deej (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 3 February 2011 18:31 (fifteen years ago)

It's not scorn it's fear of rhythm

Y Kant Torres Red (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 3 February 2011 18:33 (fifteen years ago)

reactionary tools!

ellj versus deej (Drugs A. Money), Thursday, 3 February 2011 18:39 (fifteen years ago)

anyway, if I was calling you racist anagram it was very stupid of me and I'm very sorry. hard for me to decipher my own drunk posts, honestly. stand by my general assertion re. reactionariness of being anti-disco tho.

Y Kant Torres Red (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 3 February 2011 18:45 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6PHI-UiOPM

Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Thursday, 3 February 2011 18:48 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3RvAIJQh7g

Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Thursday, 3 February 2011 18:48 (fifteen years ago)

no worries NV, peace

ban this sick stunt (anagram), Thursday, 3 February 2011 18:50 (fifteen years ago)

Probably the two bands I've spent the most time with in my life, maybe my two favorite bands, which isn't to say that I don't think Pink Floyd put out a lot of terrible stuff. I've always thought parts of Unknown Pleasures had eerie similarities to some of the darker/heavier tracks on The Wall, which for what it's worth, is exactly the kind of Pink Floyd stuff I don't rate too highly. Not sonically similar so much as some of those heavy foreboding minor chords.

In any case, Run Like Hell is definitely disco, and Pink Floyd have never been known for having taste. One of the most interesting things about them to me is just how insular they kept themselves. They say it in interviews, that they really didn't listen to any other bands and I think that helped them create a singular style and some innovate music, but also some dated/cheesy/silly stuff.

dan selzer, Saturday, 5 February 2011 04:20 (fifteen years ago)

dude if Syd still had his marbles in '79, he totes wouldve been digging disco...

ellj versus deej (Drugs A. Money), Saturday, 5 February 2011 22:57 (fifteen years ago)

He was bigging up Slade in his last interview proper.

Mark G, Monday, 7 February 2011 09:48 (fifteen years ago)


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