A Story of Joy and Pulsars

Recording the Unknown

Many will recognize this image from the album cover of Joy Division’s “Unknown Pleasures” first released in 1979. The beautiful white-on-black linework has become a signature of the English rock band and a viral image for rock and roll music culture as a whole. I was curious to learn more about it... and through some very late night googling, I stumbled on an unexpected story hiding inside those signature peaks and valleys.

The graphic was designed by Peter Saville in the late 70s, or so I thought. It turns out that the same exact graphic is a recording of a mysterious interstellar beat from the depths of outer-space. Saville grabbed it, inverted it and made it into one of the most recognizable images in the earthy world of music.

A (Rock) Star That Doesn't Miss A Beat

Here's the original diagram, from the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy. The image is described as...“Successive pulsae from the first pulsar discovered. CP 1919, are here superimposed vertically. The pulses occur every 1.337 seconds. They are caused by a rapidly-spinning neutron star.”

In July 1967 - astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell observed the first recorded pulsar... spotted 2,283 light years away. This was a huge scientific breakthrough that gave astrophysicists valuable insight to the life and death of a star. A pulsar is an example of what can happen when a star collapses in on itself and subsequently forms an incredibly dense neutron star. This rapidly spinning fireball emits beams of radiation that can be heard across the depths of outer space. For Bell Burnell, it was like listening to a heartbeat from the depths of our universe, which led to the ambitious nickname “Little Green Man 1” or LGM-1. At first listen, Bell Burnell really did believe that LGM-1's source was extraterrestrial life. Later on, as the data set in, the pulsar was renamed a much less controversial "CP 1919."

A Cult Culture of Beautiful Linework & Little Green Men

Here is a must watch short-documentary (below) featuring Saville as the artist recounts his process and discovery of Joy Division's album cover.

Of Science, Sound & Design

Today, a cult following that orbits this enigmatic image has been built on a similar mixture of myth and science. On the face of the original Joy Division record, the pulsar-graphic appeared alone with no description and no reference. Similar to the initial discovery of LGM-1. This graphic carries a strange alluring resonance, beautifully simplistic data that pulls (beams?) you up and into the music. Whatever kind of natural rhythm was captured in that diagram, it has managed to blend a culture of senses. These successive pulsae have forged a unique union of science, sound and design.

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Images in this post reference Figure 6.7 in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy, Joy Division’s “Unknown Pleasures” album and a mysterious back tattoo.

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