Episode 85: Moby on Joy Division’s “Closer” (1980)

Episode notes

The Album: Joy Division Closer (1980)

Moby has been in the game for over three decades, making punk, electronic, alt-rock, dance, and everything in between. When we heard he was coming on Heat Rocks, we had no idea what album he’d pick, but we knew it was going to be some absolute fire.

Joy Division were pioneers, blending genres and helping create and popularize the sound that would become post-punk. Unfortunately, Closer would be Joy Division’s final album. On May 18th 1980, just weeks before Joy Division’s first tour in America, lead singer Ian Curtis took his own life. Factory Records released the album a few months later, and the remaining members would go on to form New Order.

We sat down with Moby to talk about post-punk, the wildly varied music scene on the East coast in the 80s, and the shift from Joy Division to New Order. We chat about Ian’s deteriorating mental wellness and Moby’s own experiences playing with New Order and covering Joy Division songs. Grab a chair, this conversation goes deep.

Moby’s new book, “Then It Fell Apart” is out now. Cop it at your local bookstore.

More on Moby

• Moby’s new memoir “Then It Fell Apart”
• For Moby, Using Music as a Coping Mechanism(Wall Street Journal)
• Twitter | Instagram

More on Closer

• My Favourite album: Closer by Joy Division (The Guardian)
• Rewind: Joy Division’s Closer” (Read TIDAL)

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Closer unless indicated otherwise):

• Twenty Four Hours
• Moby: Natural Blues
• Heart and Soul
• Joy Division: Wilderness
• Decades
• Atrocity Exhibition
• Nolan Porter: Keep On Keepin’ On
• Joy Division: Interzone
• The Eternal
• Moby: New Dawn Fades
• Atrocity Exhibition
• Twenty Four Hours
• Isolation
• Atrocity Exhibition
• The Nonce: Mix Tapes
• Elliott Smith: No Name No. 5

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find on there.

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