Comments on: Control http://www.ballardian.com/control Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:23:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Simon Sellars http://www.ballardian.com/control/comment-page-1#comment-1019 Simon Sellars Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:23:30 +0000 http://www.ballardian.com/control#comment-1019 Hey thanks Rhys, I haven’t read Deborah’s book so that’s useful to know. And I agree — Radio On is superb. Hey thanks Rhys, I haven’t read Deborah’s book so that’s useful to know. And I agree — Radio On is superb.

]]> By: MaagF http://www.ballardian.com/control/comment-page-1#comment-1018 MaagF Sun, 19 Aug 2007 09:23:01 +0000 http://www.ballardian.com/control#comment-1018 Given Curtis was fascinated by the works of Ballard and Burroughs it is hardly surprising that links exist. I regard songs such as ‘No Love Lost’, ‘Colony’ and ‘Passover’ as perhaps the most directly linked (in terms of tone and language) with Ballard. And to forestall howls of protest, yes, I am aware that ‘No Love Lost’ also has powerful references to Ka-Tzetnick’s ‘House of Dolls’. Having read the book I remain inclined to argue the significance of Ballard as a major influence. A number of other artists of the same era have also acknowledged a significant interest in Ballard, notably Cabaret Voltaire and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge. Given Curtis was fascinated by the works of Ballard and Burroughs it is hardly surprising that links exist. I regard songs such as ‘No Love Lost’, ‘Colony’ and ‘Passover’ as perhaps the most directly linked (in terms of tone and language) with Ballard. And to forestall howls of protest, yes, I am aware that ‘No Love Lost’ also has powerful references to Ka-Tzetnick’s ‘House of Dolls’. Having read the book I remain inclined to argue the significance of Ballard as a major influence.

A number of other artists of the same era have also acknowledged a significant interest in Ballard, notably Cabaret Voltaire and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge.

]]> By: Rhys Tranter http://www.ballardian.com/control/comment-page-1#comment-1017 Rhys Tranter Sat, 18 Aug 2007 09:22:44 +0000 http://www.ballardian.com/control#comment-1017 I’ve been a fan of Joy Division since I was around eighteen years old, and it was ‘The Atrocity Exhibition’ on their Closer LP that made me seek out Ballard in the first place. I think you’re right in suggesting that the links between Ian Curtis’ lyrics and J. G. Ballard’s work is tenuous, but the influence exists nonetheless. This is from ‘Touching from a Distance’ by Deborah Curtis, the widow of Ian Curtis: ‘By now, Ian was putting more of an emotional distance between us. He did bring a couple of books home about Nazi Germany, but in the main he was reading Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, Jean Paul Sartre, Hermann Hesse and J. G. Ballard. […] ‘Crash’ by J. G. Ballard combined sex with the suffering of car accident victims. It struck me that all Ian’s spare time was spent reading and thinking about human suffering. I knew he was looking for inspiration for his songs, yet the whole thing was culminating in an unhealthy obsession with mental and physical pain.’ I’ve been a fan of Joy Division since I was around eighteen years old, and it was ‘The Atrocity Exhibition’ on their Closer LP that made me seek out Ballard in the first place. I think you’re right in suggesting that the links between Ian Curtis’ lyrics and J. G. Ballard’s work is tenuous, but the influence exists nonetheless.

This is from ‘Touching from a Distance’ by Deborah Curtis, the widow of Ian Curtis:

‘By now, Ian was putting more of an emotional distance between us. He did bring a couple of books home about Nazi Germany, but in the main he was reading Dostoyevsky, Nietzsche, Jean Paul Sartre, Hermann Hesse and J. G. Ballard. […] ‘Crash’ by J. G. Ballard combined sex with the suffering of car accident victims. It struck me that all Ian’s spare time was spent reading and thinking about human suffering. I knew he was looking for inspiration for his songs, yet the whole thing was culminating in an unhealthy obsession with mental and physical pain.’

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