We all love Joy Division to some degree or other, but I'll be the New Order defender of the group. They're....good enough, and a couple of their albums are, if not indispensable, at least worth having. I mean, what could they do - this isn't like the Jam, where Paul Weller deliberately pulled the plug so he could make terrible MOR pseudo-R&B for middle-aged white women. These guys picked up the pieces the best they could. They occupy a unique place in rock (off the top of my head, the only band I could think of with a semi-similar history is Pink Floyd, but there isn't quite the same dichotomy between the critical and fan reception of the pre-crazyhouse version and the post-crazyhouse version.) I've mentioned before that I think Bernard Sumner is one of the worst lyricists in rock but this is actually a pretty good one, strong enough that that Iron and Wine guy has covered it acoustically (I have no idea how people feel about that guy. Seems pretty boring to me, but then again I think all that sort of stuff is boring.) They did basically achieve the fame that Joy Division deserved, and they've charted a shitload of singles in England, but they've only ever been to #1 once, with the English football version of the Super Bowl Shuffle.
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