Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division

How unhappy does one have to be before living seems worse than dying?

I'm sure we all have dreams of leaving at some time in our lives, but when we reach the bottom, most of us go running home.

Ian was living in fairyland and in our own way we all helped him to stay there.

The music was so mournful and emotional that it seemed like the only suitable thing to play.

Autumn arrived and life was in danger of becoming boring again.

We don't want to give people straight answers. We'd rather they question things for themselves.

No one realized that, being left out in the cold, I was also very much in the dark.

Music does propagate myths and people have tried to make that myth more than it was.

Most people felt either drawn to Ian or rejected by him, depending on how they interpreted his demeanour. He is described by Mike Kelly, a childhood acquaintance who lived nearby, as a person one would cross the road to avoid, merely because his eyes said: 'Stay Away'.

He was kneeling in the kitchen. I was relieved – glad he was still there ‘Now what are you up to?’ I took a step towards him, about to speak. His head was bowed, his hands resting on the washing machine. I stared at him, he was so still. Then the rope – I hadn’t notice the rope. The rope from the clothes rack was around his neck. I ran through to the sitting room and picked up the telephone. No, supposing I was wrong – another false alarm. I ran back to the kitchen and looked at his face – a long string of saliva hung from his mouth. Yes, he really had done it.