"Transmission" | ||||
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Single by Joy Division | ||||
B-side | "Novelty" | |||
Released | 7 October 1979 | |||
Recorded | 28 July – 4 August 1979 [1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:36 | |||
Label | Factory | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Martin Hannett | |||
Joy Division singles chronology | ||||
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Alternative cover | ||||
Music video | ||||
"Transmission" on YouTube |
"Transmission" is a song by English post-punk band Joy Division. Originally recorded in 1978 for the band's aborted self-titled album,it was later re-recorded the following year at a faster tempo and released by record label Factory as the band's debut single.
"Transmission" was released on 7" vinyl in October 1979 [5] by record label Factory. It was re-released as a 12" single with a different sleeve in December 1980. The single charted twice in New Zealand,debuting at number 2 in September 1981 and re-appearing again at number 24 in July 1984.
The song was performed once by the band on television,for the BBC Something Else programme. Twenty seconds of the song is shown in the movie Control (2007),directed by Anton Corbijn,a film based on the biography of Ian's wife,Deborah Curtis's Touching from a Distance.
Greil Marcus has a chapter on this song in his book The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs. [6] According to Marcus,"'Transmission' is not an argument. It's a dramatization of the realization that the act of listening to the radio is a suicidal gesture. It will kill your mind. It will rob your soul." [7] Marcus also quotes the band's bassist Peter Hook about the importance of this song:"We were doing a soundcheck at the Mayflower,in May,and we played 'Transmission':people had been moving around,and they all stopped to listen. I realized that was our first great song." [8] [n 1]
In May 2007, NME magazine placed "Transmission" at number 20 in its list of the 50 "Greatest Indie Anthems Ever", [10] one place below "Love Will Tear Us Apart". In 2016, Pitchfork placed "Transmission" at number 10 in its list of "The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s". [11]
"Transmission" has been covered by:Low (on its EP Transmission );Bauhaus (as well as by frontman Peter Murphy on his solo tours);Innerpartysystem;The Weather Station;Girl in a Coma;and Hot Chip on the 2009 War Child charity album Heroes . It was played by The Smashing Pumpkins on their Adore Tour in 1998,with performances of the song usually lasting from 15 to 25 minutes. [12] [13] It was also covered by the cast of Control ,a biographical film about the life of Ian Curtis. [14] In 2009,the song was covered by Russian post-punk group ПоследниетанкивПариже as "Радиоволна",in 2012 by Italian black metal band Forgotten Tomb,by Nomeansno,and by BadBadNotGood with the song "Mass Appeal" on their debut album, BBNG .
Both tracks written by Joy Division. [15]
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris.
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The members regrouped after the disbandment of their previous band Joy Division due to the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. They were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. New Order's integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. They were the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub The Haçienda, and they worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville.
Ian Kevin Curtis was an English singer, songwriter and musician. He was best known as the guitarist, lead singer and lyricist of the post-punk band Joy Division, with whom he released the albums Unknown Pleasures (1979) and Closer (1980). He was noted for his dark baritone voice, unique dancing style, and unique songwriting that was typically filled with vivid imagery.
Peter Hook is a British musician, best known as the bassist and co-founder of the rock bands Joy Division and New Order. Hook often used the bass as a lead instrument, playing melodies on the high strings with a signature heavy chorus effect. In New Order, he would do this, leaving the actual basslines to keyboards or sequencers.
Bernard Sumner is an English musician and record producer. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, Electronic and Bad Lieutenant. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the post-punk, synthpop, and techno music scenes, as well as their various related genres, and was an early influence on the Manchester music scene that presaged the "Madchester" movement of the late 1980s centred on Factory Records and The Haçienda club in Manchester.
Unknown Pleasures is the debut studio album by the English rock band Joy Division, released on 15 June 1979 by Factory Records. The album was recorded and mixed over three successive weekends at Stockport's Strawberry Studios in April 1979, with producer Martin Hannett contributing a number of unconventional recording techniques to the group's sound. The cover artwork was designed by artist Peter Saville, using a data plot of signals from a radio pulsar. It is the only Joy Division album released during lead singer Ian Curtis's lifetime.
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Shake Some Action is the fourth studio album by American rock band the Flamin' Groovies. The album was released in June 1976 by Sire Records. The title Shake Some Action originates from a line in the 1965 film None but the Brave.
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Permanent is a compilation album by English post-punk band Joy Division. It was released in the United Kingdom on 8 May 1995 by London Records and in the United States on 15 August 1995 by Qwest Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album charted for three weeks and peaked at number 16 on the UK Albums Chart.
"Atmosphere" is a song by the English post-punk band Joy Division. It was originally released in March 1980 by the Sordide Sentimental label as the "Licht und Blindheit" package, a France-only limited edition single featuring the track "Dead Souls" as the B-side. Following Ian Curtis's death in May, it was re-released as a 12" single by Factory Records in August with "She's Lost Control" as the B-side.
"Mystic Eyes" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison when he was leader of the band Them. It was the opening tune for the band's first album, The Angry Young Them that was released in June 1965. It was released as a single in the US in October 1965 and in the UK on 12 November 1965. It charted at No. 33 in the US but did not chart in the UK.
Post-punk is a broad genre of rock music that emerged in the late 1970s in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experimental approach that encompassed a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-rock influences. Inspired by punk's energy and do it yourself ethic but determined to break from rock cliches, artists experimented with styles like funk, electronic music, jazz, and dance music; the production techniques of dub and disco; and ideas from art and politics, including critical theory, modernist art, cinema and literature. These communities produced independent record labels, visual art, multimedia performances and fanzines.
Peter Hook and The Light are an English rock band, formed in May 2010 by bassist and vocalist Peter Hook, formerly of the influential post-punk bands Joy Division and New Order. The band also features Hook's son Jack Bates (bass), as well as Andy Poole (keyboards) and Paul Kehoe (drums), who both played with Hook as part of Monaco, one of Hook's previous groups. From the first gigs in May 2010, Nat Wason was the group's guitarist, however in July 2013 he was replaced by David Potts, another former member of Monaco.
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"Dead Souls" is an 1980 B-side by the English post-punk band Joy Division. Co-written by band members Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris (drums). Centered on a circular bass line by Hook that had a significant influence on 1980s Gothic rock, the song was named by Curtis after Nikolai Gogol's 1842 novel Dead Souls. The song contains a lengthy intro designed as the opening for live gigs. The track was recorded in late 1979 during the same sessions as "Transmission" and "Atmosphere".