The Joy Division album George Michael called “just beautiful”
The late George Michael never failed to surprise. While he might have been one of the most iconic pop stars of all time, Michael was an incredibly complex character who inverted the traditional idea of an artist sitting atop the global charts. Whether it be his gregarious and humorous nature or his excellent music taste, right until the very end, Michael kept fans on their toes.
From attacking the sensationalist aspects of the media with his work to effusing about the game-changing output of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, in many ways, Michael had more in common with the familiar notion of a rockstar than he did with the global pop stars he is so closely associated with.
With that in mind, one group that Michael greatly admired was Joy Divison. This might seem surprising at face value, given the gothic and glacial post-punk textures that the Manchester band created offer distinct opposition to the sunny and maximalist nature of Michael’s work in Wham. However, when analysing their material on a more forensic level, similarities between both styles arise, particularly their shared penchant for subverting.
When appearing on the BBC’s Eight Days a Week in 1984 alongside The Smiths frontman Morrissey and the soul-loving DJ Tony Blackburn – a man who embodied the antithesis of Joy Division and their spin-off New Order – Michael was asked to give his thoughts on the new book An Ideal for Living: An History of Joy Division.
Although all three guests offered fascinating insights into their readings of the work, Michael’s viewpoint was undoubtedly the most surprising to fans. During his account of the book, Michael outlined his adoration for Joy Division’s second and final album, Closer, naming the tracks “just beautiful musically”.
Michael said: “I actually really liked Joy Division, or particularly their second album, Closer. I thought Closer – the second side of Closer – is one of my favourite albums; it’s just beautiful. There was ‘The Eternal’ and, yeah, ’24 Hours’, there’s just four tracks, which I don’t even know the listing of, but they’re just beautiful musically. I didn’t actually see it; I thought their image…all the way through liking them, I thought their image was pretentious and contrived, and it did have very fascist elements to it, but I thought the music was great.”
Espousing the humanity that made him so resonant with audiences, the Wham leader added: “The way that they were elevated after Ian Curtis’s death was really sick.”
Watch the clip below.
