Joy Division "Closer" [1980]

I'd say these were the guys who gave "post punk" a bad name, but come on -- the moniker sucks donkey nuts in the first place. Anyway, not merely content to display their own pathetic morbidity for the world to see, Joy Division was the type of band that wanted to drag you down with them -- within the first minutes of their second and final album during their existence, "Closer," (as in "shut the book" not "get nearer") it's quite easy to hear you're dealing with an entirely different level of asshole. Morosely depressed lead singer Ian Curtis sheds the unintentionally comic Muppet/serial killer voice for something even uglier and more warbly, as if he's attempting to aurally induce nausea and disorientation among his listening audience. That he comes close to succeeding is quite beside the point -- why would anyone allow themselves to endure such disgusting, wretched doom? Why, in fact, would a record label even sign these guys if not based on pure, naked misanthropy? Was "despair" the new "black" in 1980? Not like the rest of Joy Division are a barrel of laughs, either -- this album of simplistic, reverb-heavy repetition sounds like it was recorded in the boiler room of a haunted house. That Curtis hanged himself shortly before the release of "Closer" is the icing on the cake; this guy was basically Jim Jones and "Closer" is his poison kool-aid. Follow this dangerous sad-sack down to Guyana at your own peril.