The History of John Peel

The late John Peel introduced countless bands to the masses during his 37 years as deejay at the BBC's Radio 1. Via "The Peel Sessions" show, Peel embraced what he loved the various genres of alternative rock, pop, British hip-hope, dance, and even death metal. Some of my favorite acts such as Joy Division, The Smiths, The Cure, and Siouxsie and the Banshees appeared on his show.

Fans can fondly remember or discover for the very first time the brilliance behind the man with the smashing collection, Kats Karavan: The History of John Peel on the Radio. The four-disc box set, out October 26th, spans his entire career, while including one-hit wonders, major chart toppers and other rarities. The Jam, The Slits, Mercury Rev, and Bloc Party are just a few of the many artists who appear of this fantastic retrospective.

John Peel passed away October 25, 2004.

[Thanks to The Line of Best Fit]

On the Record

Thanks to my rad friend Jeremy for pointing these out. Littlepixel™ is definitely on to something with his retro portraits of classic albums a la Pelican books. Pretty amazing and fun if I do say so myself. Here are some of my favorites.






Be sure to check out his Flickr profile. The Phil Collins one for No Jacket Required is heeelarious!

The Eternal

[Rob Gretton (center) with New Order]

NME.com announced today that the notebooks belonging to Rob Gretton -- manager to Joy Division and New Order manager -- will be published Tuesday, October 7th.

Entitled 1 Top Class Manager, the collection will include posters, letters, diaries and studio notes, dating from August 1978 to late 1980. Gretton's widow, Lesley Gilbert, culled the book from over 20 notebooks of material. The first print run will consist of 1,500 copies available to order only through the 1 Top Class Manager website. Get it now! It will surely sell out.

Some of the info inside? Who knew that New Order almost named themselves Man Ray? Radical Jesuits, Arab Legion and Sons Of God were also considered as names upon the loss of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis.

For more on Gretton, Joy Division, and New Order, check out the fantastic Joy Division documentary from The Miriam Collection. English actor Paddy Considine also did a great job portraying Gretton in 2002's 24 Hour Party People. Gretton died of a heart attack May 15, 1999 at age 46. RIP.

Dead Souls

I never understand the urgency to deface, let alone steal, someone's headstone. I mean, what for? You just take away the joy from anyone who chooses to visit such a site and celebrate the life of someone else.

During the week of June 30th, the memorial stone belonging to the late Ian Curtis -- which was inscribed with "Ian Curtis 18 - 5 - 80" and the words "Love Will Tear Us Apart" -- went missing from the grave in Macclesfield Cemetery. The former Joy Division frontman committed suicide on the eve of the band's first-ever U.S. tour. He was just 23.

Curtis' former bandmate and New Order drummer Stephen Morris recently shared his thoughts with NME.com, remarking, "You couldn't sell it on eBay - it's ridiculous and very upsetting."

Leaders of Men: Joy Division on MOJO, and Anton Corbijn's Control

In their February issue, MOJO takes a look at the long-awaited Joy Division biopic, Control, while writer Jon Savage does another stunning job capturing the guilted mind of late frontman Ian Curtis. Scheduled to debut at the Berlinale movie festival in Berlin next month, Control is based on Touching From a Distance, a haunting memoir of Curtis' short life as told by his widow, Deborah Curtis.

In a recent article in NME, bassist Peter Hook had a few choice thoughts on director Anton Corbijn. Hook suggested that Corbijn was being a bit too controlling over the film's soundtrack, dictating how the film's music should sound to Hook, drummer Stephen Morris, and vocalist/guitarist Bernard Sumner, and ultimately disrespecting the band. On January 9th, Corbijn responded to Hook's blasphemous claims via the official Joy Division MySpace page.

well i am stunned and elated at the same time by the reactions i read on hooky's remarks. it is great to see that all of you are so passionate yourselves about the film. the very misleading headline "New Order have criticised the makers of Joy Division film 'Control'" has brought out the best in you all but please be aware that there is NO argument whatsoever between new order and myself or hooky and me. peter might have been in a bit of a mood when he said what he said and boy, does he know how to make headlines, but please don't be upset with either him or me for no reason. yes, i am in control of CONTROL as any director worth his celluloid should be in charge of his film but i am not telling the band, that i moved to the UK for in 1979, how to write songs. please.

i wouldn't dare. what we are doing is making some incidental music for particular parts of the film and yes, i am in the studio with the new order guys when they are doing this. new order saw a rough cut of the film prior to writing the score and THEY ALL LOVED IT which would be a much better headline ! CONTROL is a beautiful film for anyone who loves hooky, and beyond. the movie meanwhile looks set to come out in september 2007.

ANTON CORBIJN

For more info on Control, click here.