Joy Division

[BigBlock454]

[Leading on from "Top 5", but I thought I'd better start a new topic]

Not sure if this is available in the States, but I'd just seen the video of the film "24-Hour Party People", a black comedy based on the history of Tony Wilson, the owner of the Manchester-based Factory Records.  It stars Steve Coogan, a very popular British comedy actor.

It's well worth seeing, a good insight into the scene between the mid 1970s and the early 1990s in Manchester.  Bands featured include Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, Durutti Column and Happy Mondays, plus a lot about Martin Hannett.  A lot of cameo appearances as well, and the film seems to have been made in the original venues such as The Factory and The Hacienda.

The guy who plays Joy Division's Ian Curtis is very good.

Like I say, well worth seeing.

[KlingKlangBedlam]

As the Brits would say the continuity of the Top 5 list was about like wanking on a dead horse,so to speak.

I've heard alot about that film, but I'm yet to see it. I've been hoping forever about a movie sheerly devoted to Ian Curtis, his life story is a perfect compliment to the music they portrayed. Though I'm not one to read up and pry into artist's personal lives, his is an undeniable X-factor in the music. No one could tell until "She's Lost Control" was one,about himself, and two it was about his epilepsy which crippled him.
Does the film discuss Genesis P-Orridge, who helped originate the Rave scene which started in Manchester?
I'm guessing Stone Roses aren't in there.......great band.

[BigBlock454]

The film is about Factory Records, so it really focuses on those bands that were on Factory  -  so other important Manchester bands such as The Buzzcocks, The Smiths, Stone Roses, John Cooper Clark, Magazine, Inspiral Carpets and The Fall hardly get a mention  -  although Howard Devoto, Clint Boon and Mark E. Smith have cameo parts in the film.

I wasn't aware that Genesis P.Orridge had any Manchester connection  -  fill me in !

[KlingKlangBedlam]

Haha don't forget Oasis (laughing my ass off!)! ROTFLMAO!
From what I understand Genesis P-Orridge fell hard into the whole Manchester rave scene where it started, and esentially was the one person to really spread the word via Psychic TV. He helped add the acid element into it and essentially made it famous at that time. Genesis the candy raver haha! I dunno if the whole X and glowstick thing was involved around that time, I think that came later. I do know he's a huge acidhead though and was the first to be booted out of England in 200 years. Quite an insane yet ingenious man.

[BigBlock454]

Oh yeah, I forgot Oasis !   They're probably just outside the timeframe of the film, anyway.

[KlingKlangBedlam]

Oasis are just fun to read about. But oddly enough they are rooted mainly in Stone Roses and The Smiths. It was Johnny Marr of The Smiths who gave them their start and taught them both how to play guitar. Don't forget one of the seminal groups from MAnchester, Bauhaus.
I met Peter Murphy a few months ago, and he has a thick as hell accent, plus is a very humble,kind person. I normally don't think anything of celebrities, but I was shivering meeting someone whose music I've been loving sonce the ripe age of 13. Haha I got my roomy/best friend, Erica, to go to the following concert and get another autograph the next day, and she almost fainted from his accent. Great experience indeed. Should you ever get the chance to see him live, go for it, he is a showman like no other. He may be balding but damn can he put on a show!

[BigBlock454]

I thought Bauhaus were from Northampton (in the Midlands)...

Maybe Pete Murphy is from Manchester originally ?

By the way, Bela Lugosi's dead.  I thought you'd like to know that !

[KlingKlangBedlam]

Nope from Manchester actually, or at least from what I've read. The Bela Lugosi part I know haha, I've seen Ed Wood too to make it more literal.
Wasn't the old group Berlin from Manchester as well? They recently got back together. Nothing like sexed up mid-40 women from the 80's coming back all sexed up. I'm yet to hear all the new one though, they were quite a good group...................

[BigBlock454]

Berlin ?  That woman with the black and white hair ?  Or am I mixed up here ?  Surely they were Americans ?

Warsaw, now they were from Manchester...  They became Joy Division.

[KlingKlangBedlam]

Yep, that one. That girl is still quite shaggable! Nope they are from MAnchester last I checked.
Warsaw is proof of how far Joy Division came from their punk roots, to the innovators they are. Only recently have their Cd's as Warsaw come to light, they are quite punkish. Many of their tracks are now out of print though.

[BigBlock454]

You've really wound me up now with these so-called "Manchester" bands !  I had to do some checking :

From "An interview with Terri Nunn" (the black-and-white-haired singer with Berlin) :

"Berlin was one of the pioneers of new wave and electronic music in the early 1980s. The band was formed in Los Angeles in the late 1970s by John Crawford, and Terri Nunn joined Berlin as their lead singer in 1979."

Bauhaus :

From www.petermurphy.org :
"Northampton-born Murphy..."

From "The Great Rock Discography" :
"Bauhaus formed Northampton, England, late 1978, first calling themselves Bauhaus 1919".


Next you'll be telling me that The Rolling Stones, The Doors and The Byrds came from Manchester !

[KlingKlangBedlam]

Someone a while back told me that Berlin was from MAnchester, and as for Bauhaus, I read that in "Dark Entries" their biography. Oopsy! And when I talked to Peter Murphy his accent sounded very very MAnchunian (not with that heavy London drawl).
Haha no I'll say next that Rammstein are from MAnchester haha! I forget where Van Der Graff Generator came from, I know they are British though. They had one of the scariest samples in music with that live shipwreck on tape!
I don't know where The Byrds come from but I know they suck. As for the Doors, I challenge any member of that group to talk for 45 minutes without mentioning Jim Morrison. I swear you could be talking about groceries and they'll find some way to tell you how nice of a guy Jim was, even though he got tired ofthem in the end. Go fig. Jim Morrison was a pop poet nothing more.
Ok name me some more Manchester groups then.

[BigBlock454]

I presume Pete Murphy has a Northampton accent  -  don't know what that's like, but it's only 50 miles south-east of Birmingham, so presumably similar to a Birmingham accent  -  which is very strong.

Now, Van der Graaf Generator actually did come from Manchester, although they weren't Mancunians (or Manchurians !).  I believe the band met up when they were all studying at Manchester University  -  I think that singer Peter Hammill was originally from London.

I own a 1959 Hagstrom guitar that used to belong to Peter Hammill.

Other Manchester bands :  The Hollies, 10cc, 808 State, The Fall, The Buzzcocks, Magazine...

[KlingKlangBedlam]

We should start a game called "Manchester or Somewhere Else?" haha  . Well we can both safely say Manchester has done it's deal for music in the world.
I noticed watching a Behind The Music on Oasis their accents are unusually thick, rather uncharacteristic of Manchunians. What happened exactly? Most Manchunians I've ever know have slightly lighter accents than say, Londoners. BTW, my roomy loves your accent on "I Name This Child Alker Bilk"!

[BigBlock454]

Actually, Oasis have got strong South Manchester accents  -  perhaps most musicians aren't quite as stupid as the Gallaghers, so don't have such a harsh accent !  

Happy Mondays (more stupid people...) have strong accents too.

That's one of Big Block 454's guitarists, Pete Scullion, singing on Acker Bilk, he's got more of a Manchester accent than me (I wasn't born here).

If you ever get the chance to hear Mark E. Smith of The Fall or John Cooper Clarke (punk poet), they both have amazing accents (probably more Salford than Mancunian, but that's a mere detail).