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  • Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division

  • By: Peter Hook
  • Narrated by: Peter Hook
  • Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (710 ratings)
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Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division

By: Peter Hook
Narrated by: Peter Hook
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Summary

Joy Division changed the face of music. Godfathers of the current alternative scene, they reinvented rock in the post-punk era, creating a new sound - dark, hypnotic, intense - that would influence U2, R.E.M., Radiohead, and many others.

Inspired by the attitude and energy of punk, Peter Hook and school friend Bernard Sumner joined lead-singer and lyricist Ian Curtis and drummer Stephen Morris, and with some cobbled-together instruments, they created their own unique sound. In 1980 they had released two albums and were on the cusp of touring America when Ian Curtis committed suicide. In this no-holds-barred account, Peter Hook gives us the inside story of life with Joy Division.

He talks with candour and reflection about Curtis's suicide and covers the band's friendships and fall-outs; their rehearsals and recording sessions; and the many larger-than-life characters that formed a vital part of the Joy Division legend.

©2012 Peter Hook (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

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What listeners say about Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Superb!

Hooky brings honesty,warmth,humour and intelligence to this book and his reading is great, like sitting in a warm pub on a winters day lunch time huddled over a beer with a great mate sharing fantastic stories.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A great listen regardless of being a fan or not

If you could sum up Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division in three words, what would they be?

Interesting witty insightfull

Who was your favorite character and why?

It has to be Peter Hook really

Have you listened to any of Peter Hook’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I've not listened to any

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I almost did and had to fight myself not to. I bought this book specifically to listen to durring a long journey I had to make and thought I'd have a sneaky listen the day before. BIG MISTAKE I couldn't stop listening to it and ended up having to download another book for my journey

Any additional comments?

I think as boys growing up thinking how cool it would be to be in a band and how you'd live the high life this book shows how wrong this perception can be. These guys did it for the love of doing it, their naivety of the industry and even making music is refreshing in a day of manufactured rubbish that is x factor and pop idol. Its a bygone age that brought us a wealth of music with a heart which is quite a depressing thought in itself.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Quite perfect

While I also bought the paper version of this, Peter Hook's narration tells you so much than he puts on the page and his fondness for Ian Curtis is so much clearer in his voice. And he is proper, sweary funny. I have a bit of a crush.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing

Gutted when it finished . Hooky can tell a story . Got me backtracking everything musically he talks about . Such a good book

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Mostly interesting but not fantastic

I am not a Joy Division fan beyond owning a couple of singles so maybe I went too far by thinking this book would appeal to me. I had hoped for something a little less laddish, and some of the childish stories of making fun of other bands were “you had to have been there” stories and sounded very childish (as they obviously were) coming from an older man now.

I had hoped for something more informative and I certainly wasn’t expecting him to frequently boast how brilliant Joy Division were and how so many of their songs were the best ever written.

As someone who finds they had a couple of great songs, New Dawn Fades, Atmosphere, Love Will Tear Us Apart, Transmission, in which I find the majority of the words impossible to distinguish, I can’t recommend this book to the casual or non-Joy Division fan. Am sure you’ll get bored with lots of it like I did.

I am quite aware also about how difficult it is to understand the words of early Ramones songs too if you don’t have the lyric sheet. But no one makes the claim that those lyrics are magnificently insightful poetry.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely a must have for Punk/New Wave fans!

Peter Hook is the light when it comes to Joy Division, his recount is nohing short of brilliance. This is a must listen for anybody interested in the Factory scene circa 1978 onwards.

On to the Hacienda!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book about an excellent band

Sadly not called Hooky’s Booky Wook but an excellent book about an excellent band all the same

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Manctastic

Manctastic Manctastic Manctastic Manctastic Manctastic Manctastic
Manctastic Manctastic Manctastic
Manctastic Manctastic Manctastic
Manctastic Manctastic Manctastic
This review requires 7 unique words. There.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

SO great

What did you like most about Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division?

Great story of Manchester music scene. If you don't like swearing, you won't like it. But I loved it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Inside Joy Division

From the heart, a wonderful story told beautifully. Four legs are better than two and six strings are better than four, sometimes.

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1 person found this helpful