10 More Perfect Rock Albums Of The 80s With No Bad Songs

2. Closer - Joy Division (1980)

Closer was a drastic shift in tone from Joy Divisions debut album. The themes of the record still dealt with Ian Curtis's feelings of isolated alienation, but musically it was far less ominous. It was, however, foreshadowed by the suicide of Curtis several months prier to its release.

The album serves as a bleak representation of life in working class Britain during the late '70s and early '80s. The monotone vocals come to represented the grey cities of the industrial North. And, the driving and unrelenting melodies serve to represent the resolve of the every day person battling the realities of life.

To fully appreciate this album requires a degree of awareness of the context surrounding its creation. There's a duality felt when listening to this record. On the one hand, many of the lyrics seem to explicitly spell out the trajectory Curtis was heading on, and indeed many of the melodies share the same gothic underpinning as the debut album. But on a whole, it's far less dark than its predecessors. It leaves one wondering where Ian Curtis might have gone musically, if he had hadn't succumbed to his demons.