“An Ideal For Living : A History Of Joy Division” by Mark Johnson (2019)

A currently unpublished submission for 'You Goes To The Library' which is due to be published in the next 12/18 months

“An Ideal For Living : A History Of Joy Division” by Mark Johnson 
Published 1984

I was late to discover Joy Division

I'd heard 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' on the radio and vaguely remember hearing the song 'Transmission' but it wasn't until a slightly older friend Micky Reeves, upon learning that I had liked New Orders' (then) recent output leant me a copy of ‘An Ideal For Living' book, sometime in late 1984, did I join the dots between the 2 bands

The book is basically a history of Joy Division’s criminally short career, between 1976/7 through to the suicide of Ian Curtis in 1980, and then picks up with New Order though to their release of their 2nd album, ‘Power, Corruption and Lies’ released in 1983. It’s full of facts and detail rather than interviews and provides an extremely detailed breakdown of gigs and releases, building up a mystique around the band (who to this day still aren’t keen on doing interviews).

One of the most interesting discoveries from this book however was that a video existed with footage of the band... although I had no way of knowing how or where to get it

This was 1984 and to a 14 year old living in the West Midlands surrounded by 'Duran Duran' and 'Frankie Goes To Hollywood' fans just knowing the name 'Joy Division' and a little of their legacy felt like being a member of a secret club

The following year I moved back to Manchester, all be it the suburbs, and enjoyed trips into the city centre with friends initially venturing into chainstores, the likes of HMV or Virgin at the bottom of Market Street, or Our Price at the top. 

After buying what 'official' releases I could find I was quickly turned on to the bootleg stalls in the Underground Market and the Corn Exchange.

I was amazed at the 100's of tapes available of gigs (this was slightly before CD's were a thing) from around the world, but was dumbstruck when I saw the massive lists held by the 'traders' of Joy Division and New Order recordings. 

It was when looking through these that I remembered this VHS release

I asked around and eventually got an address to order it from, from memory it was less than £20 including postage, which was a lot, but worth it for what would be my first 'view' of Joy Division (other than a rare sighting of 'Love Will Tear Us Apart’)

When the video arrived the first thing that struck me was the lack of detail (other than band name and song titles) but the same stylish design of other Factory Releases, this time a simple gold lettering on black. (It wasn't for many years I learnt that the 'Fractured Music' logo was the bands publishing company and not a 'Factory Records' logo). Pouring over the song titles I recognised some but not all and early put it into the bulky top-loader for the first viewing...

The quality of sound and vision was not what I had naively expected. These were the days before the Internet so other than being able to speak to someone who had heard or seen something there was no way of googling through online customer reviews or just searching 'You Tube'

Inside the box there was a piece of paper with the name of 'IKON Video' on... and a phone number... 061 928 7387 so I called it, I don't know who answered the phone the day but whoever it was, when I questioned the quality of the tape I'd received initially laughed. I guess they must have sensed some disappointment in my voice, and for the next few mins explained the background to the material and how it'd had been shot by amateurs on the first ‘commercially available video cameras' and in all honesty I should be grateful for what footage existed (in hindsight that may have been more of a 'fuck off and leave us alone' than the way I took it)

I wish they were clearer, I wish the sound was better, I wish there were more...

No matter what has been written by band members or associates over last 20 years or so, the book ‘An Ideal For Living’ (I eventually bought my own copy) and the VHS 'Here Are The Young Men’ always returns some of the initial 'mystique' that surrounded Joy Division when I first ‘discovered them’ and for that I will always be extremely grateful