Isolation (Joy Division song)

"Isolation"
Song by Joy Division from the album Closer
Released	1980
Recorded	18–30 March 1980 at Britannia Row Studios, London, United Kingdom
Genre	Post-punk, new wave, gothic rock[1]
Length	2:52
Label	Factory Records
Writer	Bernard Sumner Peter Hook Stephen Morris Ian Curtis [2]
Producer	Martin Hannett, Joy Division
Closer track listing
"Atrocity Exhibition" (1) "Isolation" (2) "Passover" (3)

"Isolation" is a 1980 song appearing on the post-punk band Joy Division's second album, Closer. The song is based upon an electronic drum beat by Stephen Morris, accompanied by a high-pitched keyboard line by Bernard Sumner. Midway through the song, a rushing drum and hi-hat motif come in, propelling the song toward its dramatic end in what resembles a compact disc skipping (though the song predates the format), followed by a sudden electronic crescendo. In his book "Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division", Peter Hook reveals the ending came as the serendipitous result of Martin Hannett's efforts to rescue the original master tape from a botched edit by a junior sound engineer.

The song also appears on the Heart and Soul box set and on Permanent. A live version from the band's last concert appears on Still. The song is also used in the 2007 Joy Division biopic Control.

Covers

• New Order played an electronic-based cover in a Peel Session in 1998, released in the In Session compilation (2004).
• German industrial band Die Krupps covered the song on 1996 compilation album Metalmorphosis of Die Krupps '81 - '92, not to be confused with their own song Isolation on their album III - Odyssey of the Mind.^[3]
• Northern Irish alternative metal band Therapy? covered the song on their 1994 album Troublegum.
• In 1995, a cover by The Smashing Pumpkins spin-off band Starchildren appeared on the tribute album A Means to an End: The Music of Joy Division.
• Industrial band Dessau released the Al Jourgensen produced 12" single in late 1988.
• Carissa's Wierd included a cover of the song on their 2003 album Scrapbook.
• Dessau leader John Elliott had worked with Joy Division producer Martin Hannett in 1982 as a member of Chicago new wave act Stations, and on the 1985 Dessau release Red Languages. Their version also appears on the Dessau LP Exercise in Tension. In 1995 Mausoleum / BMG released a compilation Dessau which also contained "Isolation".
• Ambient electronic project DIE WELT released a version in march 2016.

References

1. McCullough, Dave (26 July 1980). "Closer to the edge (Joy Division Closer album review)". Sounds. Young men in dark silhouettes, some darker than others, looking inwards, looking out, discovering the same horror and describing it with the same dark strokes of gothic rock.
2. Ascap entry
3. Discography at diekrupps.de

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics