U2's Bono on the night he met Joy Division's “beautiful soul” Ian Curtis

Bono and Ian Curtis — (Image credit: Peter Noble/Redferns | Lex van Rossen/MAI/Redferns)

In September 1980, one month ahead of the release of his band's debut album, Boy, U2 frontman Bono appeared on Irish radio station RTE 2 to talk about some of the artists and songs which had the most impact and influence on him. His selections included classic tracks from musical giants (The Beatles, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, The Who) and more recent songs from some of the Dublin band's post-punk contemporaries, such as Teardrop Explodes and Magazine.

Among his choices, the singer picked Joy Division's New Dawn Fades, and spoke to host Ken Stewart about the night, six months earlier, that he met the the Manchester band at Stockport's Strawberry Studios while they were recording what would become their best-known single, Love Will Tear Us Apart.

U2 were invited to the studio on the March evening in question by producer Martin Hannett, who they had asked to produce their scheduled first single for Island Records, 11 O'Clock Tick Tock. Revisiting the night for an essay on U2's website 40 years on, Bono wrote, "I remember thinking as my eyes scanned the vinyl albums scattered around the studio 'these people are truly other worldly'…. Who would listen to Frank Sinatra and Kraftwerk and Bartók and Motown and the Stooges at the same time?What sort of brains did this band contain? And what do their brains contain?

"And then the dark lord arrived with his hand out-stretched…"

"Talking to Ian Curtis is a strange experience," Bono told RTE's Ken Stewart, before correcting himself, in recognition of Curtis' death in June that year, to say, "was a strange experience. He was very warm, very warm to what we were doing. He talked like there was two people inside of him. He talked very light, and very well-mannered, very polite, but when he got behind the microphone, he really surged, it was another energy, it seemed like he was just two people... You could take about possession, spiritual possession... that music is full of references to such things. They're a very emotional group.

"Ian Curtis was able to express what was inside of himself, and bring it out, which drained him emotionally, as it should, it should drain any singer if he believes in what he is saying."

In 2020, speaking on the Joy Division/New Order podcast Transmission: The Definitive Story, Bono spoke more his one meeting with the singer.

"This man with the weight of the whole universe in his voice, this crooner from some black hole - the dark lord - stepped forward and I was like, Oh my god, I’m going to meet Ian Curtis," Bono recalled. "I put my hand out and he went, ‘Alright?’ And I couldn’t believe the sound he made.It was just this sweet, sweet sound. He was this beautiful soul but he sang from this other place…. It was a very special moment."

Artists

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.