Transmission

About

Transmission is a song by Joy Division. Originally recorded in 1978 for the band's aborted self-titled album, it was later re-recorded the following year at a faster tempo and released by record label Factory as the band's debut single. Transmission was released on 7" vinyl on 7 October 1979 by record label Factory. It was re-released as a 12" single with a different sleeve on 20 February 1981. The single charted twice in New Zealand, debuting at number 2 in September 1981 and re-appearing again at number 24 in July 1984. The song was performed once by the band on television, for the BBC Something Else programme. Twenty seconds of the song is shown in the movie Control (2007), directed by Anton Corbijn, a film based on the biography of Ian's wife, Deborah Curtis's Touching from a Distance. Greil Marcus has a chapter on this song in his book The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Song. According to Marcu, "'Transmission' is not an argument. It's a dramatization of the realization that the act of listening to the radio is a suicidal gesture. It will kill your mind. It will rob your soul." Marcus also quotes the band's bassist Peter Hook about the importance of this song: "We were doing a soundcheck at the Mayflower, in May, and we played 'Transmission': people had been moving around, and they all stopped to listen. I realized that was our first great song." In May 2007, NME magazine placed Transmission at number 20 in its list of the 50 "Greatest Indie Anthems Ever", one place below Love Will Tear Us Apart. In 2016, Pitchfork placed Transmission at number 10 in its list of "The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s". .

via Last.fm

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