This Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else

Joy Division: The Oral History

By: Jon Savage

Narrated by: Liam Gerrard

An exciting new book on Joy Division, featuring never before told stories.

Jon Savage's oral history of Joy Division is the last word on the band that ended with the suicide of Ian Curtis in Macclesfield on May 18, 1980. It weaves together interviews conducted by the author, but never used in the making of the film Joy Division, which told the story of the band in their own words, as well as those of their peers, collaborators, and contemporaries.

Here are 15, or so, vivid witnesses to the band's genesis, meteoric rise, and tragic demise, including Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner, Annike Honore, Deborah Curtis, Paul Morley, Tony Wilson, Rob Gretton, Martin Hannet.... It is the story of young men driven to create and cause rock 'n' roll havoc inspired by literature, radical ideas, and the wasteland that was post-industrial Manchester in the late '70s. It is as intense and funny and alive as only an oral history can be, recalling masterpieces like "Edie" by Jean Stein and "Meet Me in the Bathroom" by Lizzy Goodman. It is essential listening.

©2019 Jon Savage (P)2019 Tantor

Well-told story about a seminal band

Good to hear the story of Joy Division directly from the words of band members. Gloomy and moody like Ian Curtis’ life.

a beautiful book

it takes a little effort to keep track of who is saying what, but this was a joy to listen to.