“Every aspect of it is pure genius”: Henry Rollins discusses the finest debut album in rock history
Sell-out or not, Henry Rollins is undeniably an authority on guitar music. As a pivotal figure in the evolution of hardcore punk and its offshoots, Rollins has not only shaped the genre but has also been a lifelong adherent to alternative culture and its music. Given his age and extensive experience, he has witnessed the development of guitar music far more comprehensively than fans born in later generations. His insights are rooted in decades of immersion in the scene, making his perspective particularly valuable.
Due to his work with Black Flag, Rollins will always be most closely associated with the hardcore punk genre, particularly the West Coast chapter of the widely influential scene, with him their vocalist from 1981 to their split in 1986. Yet, Rollins’ aggressive approach to delivery and onstage demeanour with the Hermosa Beach outfit only accounts for a portion of his career. Since their split, he fronted the experimental Rollins Band, which toyed with funk, noise, jazz, and other textures outside of hardcore and allowed him to play with his love of spoken word extensively.
As the varied oeuvre of the now-defunct Rollins Band heavily implies, Rollins loves an assortment of music outside of hardcore punk, with post-punk one genre he is a well-informed aficionado of. Like every one of his generation, he was introduced to the punk genre by its first wave in the late 1970s, with bands such as Sex Pistols, Ramones, The Clash and others galvanising his generation with their anti-authoritarian sentiment and crunching anthems.
Then, after that scene imploded and metamorphosed into the much more compositionally and thematically substantial post-punk, Rollins would have his eyes opened to the possibilities offered by guitar music due to the sonic majesty on offer. Of this movement that emerged at the end of the 1970s, one band spoke to Rollins more than any: Joy Division.
Bursting out of the bleak post-industrial Manchester with their glacial gothic character and industrial edge, the Ian Curtis-led band captured the dire essence of their era more vividly than anyone else. The frontman’s lyrics and the band’s pulsating music were brimming with invention and were a clear departure from the three-chord, rather churlish first wave of punk that emerged only three years before their 1979 debut, Unknown Pleasures, arrived.
Rollins has no doubt about the might of Unknown Pleasures. Speaking to The Sound of Vinyl in 2017, he maintained that “every aspect of it is pure genius” and that it is rock’s finest debut album. He maintained that when “they” finally write the actual book on rock and roll, Joy Division will be at the top of the class with the likes of David Bowie and The Rolling Stones because “they are easily as great as any band that has ever existed”.
Unknown Pleasures is, to Henry Rollins, an absolute masterpiece. He maintained that he could not recommend it strongly enough. He also noted that the band’s second and final record, Closer, is a masterpiece, but for him, their debut grabs the attention first.
He explained: “Every aspect of it is pure genius. From Martin Hannett’s production to the band themselves to Ian Curtis’s amazing voice and lyrics, it is a stunning debut album. As good as any debut album of any band that has ever existed. And why do I make such bold claims? Because, my fellow analogue lover, I’m right about that. Joy Division is one of the greatest bands ever, and Unknown Pleasures is the proof.”
Despite Rollins’ divisive nature, when it comes to Unknown Pleasures, he is right. It transformed guitar music moving forward, helping set the scene for a more concerted goth movement and indie, the latter of which would emerge only a couple of years later. Fusing innovation and art together in a way that hadn’t really been seen in music since The Velvet Underground, the 1979 album was the moment guitar music as we know it started to form, breaking off from the classic rock period for good as we entered postmodernity.
