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Closer (Music)

 Closer (Music)
type
TVTItem
 Closer (Music)
label
Closer (Music)
 Closer (Music)
page
Closer
 Closer (Music)
comment
Closer is the second and final studio album by Joy Division, released in 1980 through Factory Records. Recorded at Pink Floyd's Britannia Row studio and once again produced by Martin Hannett, it came out a mere two months after frontman Ian Curtis' suicide.Compared to its predecessor Unknown Pleasures the songs are even more dour and decidedly more experimental, with four of them (in order, "Isolation", "Heart and Soul", "The Eternal", and "Decades") making prominent use of haunting synthesizer arrangements that would serve as the groundwork for the surviving bandmates' work as New Order. Note that these four tracks were written in early 1980; the other five songs, which are more rockist in composition, were realized fresh off the heels of Unknown Pleasures during the latter half of 1979.Like Unknown Pleasures before it, Closer was not supported by any singles upon release. However, it does contain a number of fan favourites, including "Isolation", "Colony", and "Heart and Soul".
 Closer (Music)
fetched
2024-02-10T11:47:28Z
 Closer (Music)
parsed
2024-02-10T11:47:28Z
 Closer (Music)
processingComment
Dropped link to DavidBowie: Not a Feature - IGNORE
 Closer (Music)
processingComment
Dropped link to NewOrder: Not a Feature - IGNORE
 Closer (Music)
processingComment
Dropped link to Vienna: Not a Feature - ITEM
 Closer (Music)
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Closer (Music) / int_14beeefd
type
Darker and Edgier
 Closer (Music) / int_14beeefd
comment
Darker and Edgier: The first album was certainly dark, but often hid its gloomy themes behind catchy, punk inspired tunes and indirect narratives. Closer takes a positively listless approach by comparison, having far fewer hope spots, slowing the pace and increasing the gloom present in the music by a considerable degree on its second side, resulting in what seems less like a conventional album and more like a raw cry of pain. Strangely, reviewers in 1980 nevertheless praised it as danceable.
 Closer (Music) / int_14beeefd
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_14beeefd
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_14beeefd
 Closer (Music) / int_18041513
type
TooSpicyForYogSogoth
 Closer (Music) / int_18041513
comment
Too Spicy For Yog Sogoth: "Decades" tells a narrative of the narrator and his friends descending into Hell (presumably continuing off of "The Eternal" and its story about a funeral procession), only to be kicked out because the atrocities they committed in their lifetime are too much even for Satan to handle.
 Closer (Music) / int_18041513
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_18041513
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_18041513
 Closer (Music) / int_21ac3809
type
Ancient Grome
 Closer (Music) / int_21ac3809
comment
Ancient Grome: Invoked with the album cover photo of the tomb and the font choice. The catalog number on the back cover is even in Roman numerals.
 Closer (Music) / int_21ac3809
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_21ac3809
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_21ac3809
 Closer (Music) / int_21d70919
type
Crapsack World
 Closer (Music) / int_21d70919
comment
Crapsack World: A strong theme way beyond the point of despair.
 Closer (Music) / int_21d70919
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_21d70919
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_21d70919
 Closer (Music) / int_22093e9b
type
New Sound Album
 Closer (Music) / int_22093e9b
comment
New Sound Album: Quoth Wikipedia, Closer "featured an even darker, doomed Curtis and a total abandonment of the punk aesthetic for a more unearthly, primeval sound." Compared to Unknown Pleasures, the album is far more experimental in tone and makes greater use of synthesizers, to the point where Joy Division at this point seems like an almost completely different band than the one that made "Disorder" and "She's Lost Control".
 Closer (Music) / int_22093e9b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_22093e9b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_22093e9b
 Closer (Music) / int_2bf54826
type
Longest Song Goes Last
 Closer (Music) / int_2bf54826
comment
Longest Song Goes Last: "Decades"
 Closer (Music) / int_2bf54826
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_2bf54826
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_2bf54826
 Closer (Music) / int_2e22f7d4
type
Minimalistic Cover Art
 Closer (Music) / int_2e22f7d4
comment
Minimalistic Cover Art: A black and white photograph of the Appiani family tomb in the Cimitero Monumentale di Staglieno in Genoa, Italy, framed against a white backdrop. This, of course, lead to very unfortunate implications after Curtis' death.
 Closer (Music) / int_2e22f7d4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_2e22f7d4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_2e22f7d4
 Closer (Music) / int_34f6774c
type
Concept Album
 Closer (Music) / int_34f6774c
comment
Concept Album: The record seems to tell a narrative of an asylum patient being publicly humiliated for others' amusement, spiraling deeper and deeper into depression, killing himself, descending into Hell, and finally being booted out because it turns out he was too horrible of a person for even Hell to handle. In a way it's like The Downward Spiral but even bleaker.
 Closer (Music) / int_34f6774c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_34f6774c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_34f6774c
 Closer (Music) / int_48cffdb7
type
I Want My Mommy!
 Closer (Music) / int_48cffdb7
comment
I Want My Mommy!: "Isolation":
 Closer (Music) / int_48cffdb7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_48cffdb7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_48cffdb7
 Closer (Music) / int_48dfb7e4
type
Stock Sound Effects
 Closer (Music) / int_48dfb7e4
comment
Stock Sound Effects: "The Eternal" has train sounds which were mixed in and heavily manipulated.
 Closer (Music) / int_48dfb7e4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_48dfb7e4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_48dfb7e4
 Closer (Music) / int_48dffa7a
type
Synth-Pop
 Closer (Music) / int_48dffa7a
comment
Synthpop: "Isolation", "Heart and Soul", and "Decades" show the band experimenting with the genre that the surviving members would later perfect as New Order.
 Closer (Music) / int_48dffa7a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_48dffa7a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_48dffa7a
 Closer (Music) / int_4e3d253b
type
Downer Ending
 Closer (Music) / int_4e3d253b
comment
Downer Ending: "Decades" (both for the album and the entire band thanks to its technical status as the last officially-released Joy Division song), which earns this on account of both its lyrics and its music.
 Closer (Music) / int_4e3d253b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_4e3d253b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_4e3d253b
 Closer (Music) / int_4e635eab
type
God-Is-Love Songs
 Closer (Music) / int_4e635eab
comment
God-Is-Love Songs: "Colony":
 Closer (Music) / int_4e635eab
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_4e635eab
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_4e635eab
 Closer (Music) / int_58db779e
type
Letting the Air out of the Band
 Closer (Music) / int_58db779e
comment
Letting the Air out of the Band: "The Eternal". Done by tape manipulation on "A Means to an End".
 Closer (Music) / int_58db779e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_58db779e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_58db779e
 Closer (Music) / int_5b2e1e5e
type
Fake-Out Fade-Out
 Closer (Music) / int_5b2e1e5e
comment
Fake-Out Fade-Out: "Isolation" ends with one.
 Closer (Music) / int_5b2e1e5e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_5b2e1e5e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_5b2e1e5e
 Closer (Music) / int_5e835a41
type
Gratuitous Panning
 Closer (Music) / int_5e835a41
comment
Gratuitous Panning: The tom-tom hits on "Passover" are panned between the left and right speakers.
 Closer (Music) / int_5e835a41
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_5e835a41
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_5e835a41
 Closer (Music) / int_6053dc28
type
Record Producer
 Closer (Music) / int_6053dc28
comment
Record Producer: Martin Hannett.
 Closer (Music) / int_6053dc28
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_6053dc28
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_6053dc28
 Closer (Music) / int_60f567f1
type
Lonely Piano Piece
 Closer (Music) / int_60f567f1
comment
Lonely Piano Piece: "The Eternal" is dominated with downbeat piano playing and synthesized choir effects.
 Closer (Music) / int_60f567f1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_60f567f1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_60f567f1
 Closer (Music) / int_62dd83c6
type
Goth Rock
 Closer (Music) / int_62dd83c6
comment
Goth Rock: While not conventionally classified as this, its atmospheric dread and lyrical anguish and the influence they carry renders the album a cornerstone of the genre.
 Closer (Music) / int_62dd83c6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_62dd83c6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_62dd83c6
 Closer (Music) / int_6d332aea
type
Driven to Suicide
 Closer (Music) / int_6d332aea
comment
Driven to Suicide: A huge theme, certainly in light of Curtis' eventual untimely end.
 Closer (Music) / int_6d332aea
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_6d332aea
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_6d332aea
 Closer (Music) / int_74149c93
type
Epic Rocking
 Closer (Music) / int_74149c93
comment
Epic Rocking: Several songs clock in at around 6 minutes. Considering how the album managed to get ten more minutes of length out of fewer songs than Unknown Pleasures, there probably would have been more of these had Ian not crossed the Despair Event Horizon by this point.
 Closer (Music) / int_74149c93
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_74149c93
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_74149c93
 Closer (Music) / int_808cbaeb
type
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking
 Closer (Music) / int_808cbaeb
comment
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "Atrocity Exhibition":
 Closer (Music) / int_808cbaeb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_808cbaeb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_808cbaeb
 Closer (Music) / int_868409c
type
Broken Pedestal
 Closer (Music) / int_868409c
comment
Broken Pedestal: How the person in "Decades" views himself:
 Closer (Music) / int_868409c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_868409c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_868409c
 Closer (Music) / int_88472ef3
type
Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life
 Closer (Music) / int_88472ef3
comment
Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: "Twenty Four Hours":
 Closer (Music) / int_88472ef3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_88472ef3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_88472ef3
 Closer (Music) / int_a70f9aba
type
Accentuate the Negative
 Closer (Music) / int_a70f9aba
comment
Accentuate the Negative: It's a Joy Division album. There's no talking about sunshine and rainbows here.
 Closer (Music) / int_a70f9aba
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_a70f9aba
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_a70f9aba
 Closer (Music) / int_ac4ac8e5
type
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming
 Closer (Music) / int_ac4ac8e5
comment
Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Neither of the two sides are labeled on LP releases; the only indication as to which side is which are the etchings in the runout area, which contain the album's serial number plus "A" or "B" depending on the side.
 Closer (Music) / int_ac4ac8e5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_ac4ac8e5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_ac4ac8e5
 Closer (Music) / int_bc03c871
type
Child Hater
 Closer (Music) / int_bc03c871
comment
Child Hater: "The Eternal":
 Closer (Music) / int_bc03c871
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_bc03c871
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_bc03c871
 Closer (Music) / int_bda474d2
type
Last Note Nightmare
 Closer (Music) / int_bda474d2
comment
Last Note Nightmare: "Isolation" and "A Means to an End", which slowly comes to an end. "Isolation" is an interesting case in that it's just the last few seconds of the song being played backwards, the end result of Martin Hannet's hasty attempts at reversing a junior sound engineer's damaging of the song's master recording.
 Closer (Music) / int_bda474d2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_bda474d2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_bda474d2
 Closer (Music) / int_bdd027c5
type
Den of Iniquity
 Closer (Music) / int_bdd027c5
comment
Den of Iniquity: "Atrocity Exhibition", where human atrocities are exhibited for the amusement of others.
 Closer (Music) / int_bdd027c5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_bdd027c5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_bdd027c5
 Closer (Music) / int_c04b1231
type
Jump Scare
 Closer (Music) / int_c04b1231
comment
Jump Scare: The end of "Isolation", after reversing the tape, invokes this with a loud burst of noise.
 Closer (Music) / int_c04b1231
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_c04b1231
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_c04b1231
 Closer (Music) / int_c75df49a
type
Shout-Out
 Closer (Music) / int_c75df49a
comment
Shout-Out: The album was inspired by JG Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition and the first track was named after this novel. "Colony" was inspired by Franz Kafka's short story '"In the Penal Colony". "The Eternal" opens with synthesized train sounds and a slow, chugging bass riff, similar to the title track of David Bowie's Station to Station. Given that Ian Curtis was a huge fan of Bowie, this is likely intentional, as was the decision to feature a monochrome photograph against a white background for the album cover, similarly to Station to Station. The album cover also acts as a nod to that of Vienna by Ultravox; the similarities are no coincidence, as both covers were designed by Peter Saville and the two albums were released just a week apart.
 Closer (Music) / int_c75df49a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_c75df49a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_c75df49a
 Closer (Music) / int_c9597a03
type
Self-Deprecation
 Closer (Music) / int_c9597a03
comment
Self-Deprecation: "Isolation":
 Closer (Music) / int_c9597a03
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_c9597a03
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_c9597a03
 Closer (Music) / int_cfdb9e17
type
Cerebus Syndrome
 Closer (Music) / int_cfdb9e17
comment
Cerebus Syndrome: The album starts grim, and gets progressively gloomier throughout the set, ending with songs about the funeral of a social outcast and a visit to hell, which he is promptly rejected from.
 Closer (Music) / int_cfdb9e17
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_cfdb9e17
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_cfdb9e17
 Closer (Music) / int_d028ca10
type
Deliberately Monochrome
 Closer (Music) / int_d028ca10
comment
Deliberately Monochrome: The album cover.
 Closer (Music) / int_d028ca10
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_d028ca10
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_d028ca10
 Closer (Music) / int_d0f0a80d
type
One-Word Title
 Closer (Music) / int_d0f0a80d
comment
One-Word Title: "Closer", as well as the individual tracks "Isolation", "Passover", "Colony" and "Decades".
 Closer (Music) / int_d0f0a80d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_d0f0a80d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_d0f0a80d
 Closer (Music) / int_d40b9465
type
Title-Only Chorus
 Closer (Music) / int_d40b9465
comment
Title-Only Chorus: "Isolation".
 Closer (Music) / int_d40b9465
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_d40b9465
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_d40b9465
 Closer (Music) / int_dbfd6b8
type
Lyrical Dissonance
 Closer (Music) / int_dbfd6b8
comment
Lyrical Dissonance: "Isolation", a bouncy synth-pop tune with gloomy lyrics:
 Closer (Music) / int_dbfd6b8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_dbfd6b8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_dbfd6b8
 Closer (Music) / int_dda99fa8
type
Despair Event Horizon
 Closer (Music) / int_dda99fa8
comment
Despair Event Horizon: The whole album qualifies as this, due to it essentially being a prolonged suicide note, but "Heart and Soul" takes the cake:
 Closer (Music) / int_dda99fa8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_dda99fa8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_dda99fa8
 Closer (Music) / int_dde7da12
type
Come to Gawk
 Closer (Music) / int_dde7da12
comment
Come to Gawk: "Atrocity Exhibition" is about people who pay to see a barely living man in an asylum:
 Closer (Music) / int_dde7da12
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_dde7da12
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_dde7da12
 Closer (Music) / int_e40f6792
type
Design Student's Orgasm
 Closer (Music) / int_e40f6792
comment
Design Student's Orgasm: The album cover was designed by Peter Saville, and features an impressively put-together framed photograph that invokes the haunting thanatos of the album.
 Closer (Music) / int_e40f6792
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_e40f6792
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_e40f6792
 Closer (Music) / int_eb24d076
type
Freud Was Right
 Closer (Music) / int_eb24d076
comment
Freud Was Right: In "Isolation", Ian addresses a line to his mother.
 Closer (Music) / int_eb24d076
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_eb24d076
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_eb24d076
 Closer (Music) / int_fa77309d
type
Alternate Album Cover
 Closer (Music) / int_fa77309d
comment
Alternate Album Cover: Barring the Factory US release, most early CD versions of the album omit the small black square framing the cover art, and London Records' CD release gives the cover and liner notes a yellow tint. Allegedly, the tinting is meant to reflect how the album was released in the United States, but actual official copies on both Factory US and Qwest Records are just as white as UK copies (assuming the package designer hadn't found an LP sleeve that oxidized over the years).
 Closer (Music) / int_fa77309d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_fa77309d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_fa77309d
 Closer (Music) / int_name
type
ItemName
 Closer (Music) / int_name
comment
 Closer (Music) / int_name
featureApplicability
1.0
 Closer (Music) / int_name
featureConfidence
1.0
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Closer (Music) / int_name
 Closer (Music) / int_name
itemName
Closer (Music)

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Alternate Album Cover / int_7e129db5
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
British Music / int_7e129db5
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Dark Wave / int_7e129db5
 Closer (Music)
hasFeature
Longest Song Goes Last / int_7e129db5
 Unknown Pleasures (Music)
seeAlso
Closer (Music)