CONTROL (2007)

when i was a kid, the bands i liked were the bands i liked. i didn’t need much more than that. they all had a sound that i was attracted to but i couldn’t explain it— i just knew that i enjoyed it. it wasn’t until i picked up an instrument that it finally hit me. the music that influenced me had influences itself, and those influences had other influences. i began a quest to trace back the origins of my favorite bands which lead me to two different bands: the velvet underground & joy division— the latter being my more favorable of the two, though it’s a close tie.

they were both experimental in their own right— but ian curtis’s bass-baritone voice combined with their insanely deep lyrics about alienation & emptiness felt so genuine to me— this wasn’t about theatrics and artistic experimentation, it was raw & heartfelt sadness from the genius poet that curtis was. sadly, the lead singer hanged himself at age 23, two nights before joy division was scheduled to tour the US— he left behind his wife and 1 year old daughter.

control is a 2007 biographical film directed by anton corbijn— the screenplay was heavily based on touching from a distance, a biography written by curtis’s widow deborah. both her and tony wilson (joy division’s record label rep) served as co-producers of the film— this gives us a pretty accurate insight into ian curtis’s life— his struggle with depression, the formation of joy division & their rise to fame, his epileptic seizures on stage, and everything else that ultimately drove him to his untimely death.