Where It All Started

It was 1980 or '81 and punk had totally passed me by (I was only 7 or 8). My taste in music could best be described as Godawful, but I was starting to realise there was more on offer than Top of the Pops was letting on.

Every Saturday the family would head round to my grandparents' house where my uncle would usually be watching some video or other that he'd taped off the telly. This was when I got my first tasters of Killing Joke, Public Image Ltd, HMHB, The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees etc. It was all a bit weird for me at the time, so I gravitated to the "Pop"ier acts like Madness and UB40, but the memory of one particular show left a very deep impression.

It wasn't until a random YouTube search that I was able to recapture a little of the original bemusement, awe, exhilaration, blah blah.... of this landmark moment. The image of Joy Division playing 'Transmission' had always haunted me and here it was again, exactly as I remembered.

Check out the Drummer, Stephen Morris (Blinding!) and Hookies' usual pounding, driving bass. Also note Bernard Sumner's attempt to look like Alex Kapranos, and what can I say about Ian Curtis dance, dance, dancing to the radio that hasn't already been said. See for yourself.

Seeing it again leaves me thinking only one thing.
Man! Trousers really came up high back then.

Here's the clip, bookended by punk poet & Sugar Puff eater John Cooper Clarke (Maybe more on him soon). You can also find this track on Joy Division's The Complete BBC Recordings. Enjoy.