In Retrospect: "Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures"

Unknown Pleasures is the debut album of the English Post-Punk band Joy Division. Joy Division was formed in Salford in 1976 when the first wave of punk rock hit the scene. The band formed when the guitarist Bernard Sumner and bassist Peter Hook attended a Sex Pistols gig in Manchester. After forming the band, they posted a advert for a singer, to which Ian Curtis responded. The band also went through many drummers, until they settled with Stephen Morris.  

Recording of the Album

Before the debut, the band released an EP, An Ideal for Living. The band's manager, Rob Gretton later gave the band an opportunity to sign with his label, Factory Records. The estimated cost of the album at the time was 8000 pounds but was later revealed to be 18000 pounds.

The album was recorded at Strawberry Studios in Stockport in 1979. The albums producer Martin Hannet used various unusual production tehniques in the album that varied from different delay effects, sound effects of bottle smashing, air dusters spraying in the microphone mixed with delay, reverse guitars and also sounds of the toilet in the studio. Bassist Peter Hook stated: "He didn't think straight, he thought sideways. He confused you and made you do something you didn't expect." The band was generally happy with the results of the dark and gloomy sounding album.

The Artwork

The famous artwork for the album was designed by Peter Saville, but the image itself was chosen by Sumner. The image is based on the radio waves from The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Astronomy. The image in the book was then reversed by Saville, in a way that the lines were white while the background was black. The albums artwork became one of the most iconic album artworks, which is now printed on shirts and sold worldwide.

In Retrospect...

The album is one of my all-time favourites. The production on the album is astounding, and the amount of creativity that went into the production really made it shine. It perfectly captured what the band was really about – the echoes of the delay and reverb effects gave it a sort of an endless feel, along with the vocals from Ian Curtis that always give me the chills. In retrospect, the album is filled with great song writing, and is a must listen for any rock music listener.