joy division was more a late 90s thing for me. up until that point, i'd heard bits and pieces, but it was one of the many "before my time" things. about mid-98, i was listening to a lot of adore-period pumpkins bootlegs (that much maligned record was better in bootleg form), and corgan was routinely doing a cover of "transmission" (edit: there is a corgan version of isolation under the name starchildren. that was a long time ago...). that convinced me to pick up still second-hand, and i was hooked...
i'd argue this is a more engaging listen than either of their official records. joy division was at it's best when it was existing in that space between punk and goth. there's this sort of malevolence in his voice...
(relevant track: idiotic, too cold, drive, teenage jesus, others)
