93. Joy Division - Transmission
I have a strange disability - I am unable to listen to Joy Division. Other bands are sometimes difficult, but Joy Division is the one that has me sliding off the couch in a fit when Love Will Tear Us Apart comes on the video channel. Why I have myoclonic epilepsy triggered by music made by a man with epilepsy no one seems to know. I have my theories - something about the rigidity of the music, how it is slightly too tight for dancing. Or maybe it’s just that tiny spot in my brain that I built to receive this music that is damaged and causes the electrical storm to follow. It spills into my motor centres. I have got to the point now that I can listen to about 8 bars before I need to switch it off - or get to the pub toilets in a hurry, as the case may be. I have my hopes that my brain is slowly building a new way to listen.
No language, just sound, that’s all we need know,
To synchronise love to the beat of the show.
And we could dance.
Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, to the radio.
My housemate and friend Frances, is cataloguing 100 songs from her life, as she approaches 30. This is her 92. I have seen Frances fit on the couch over this song and it was scary (ish).
I also think its cos of the weird recordings they have of Joy Division, it’s lo fi - I think I can often hear other sounds in the background. I used to listen, as a child, to a tape with ‘strange music’ on it - and it was not until my early 20s that I realised it was Joy Division. This song is in my top 10.
