John Frusciante on Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures (1979)

I’m not a person to regret things, but there’s nothing to sugar-coat: the phase of my life that I went through in the mid-90s after leaving the Red Hot Chili Peppers shouldn’t be an inspiration for anyone. It almost destroyed me- I lost my teeth and gained scars on my arms, but I was very lucky anyway: few survive such a heavy heroin addiction.

At that time I had reached a point where I gave up playing the guitar completely. Music was only of passive importance to me as a listener. Back then, I played the music of two bands again and again, and to this day they are the only real constant in my musical life: Depeche Mode and Joy Division. Not so much because their dark music suited my sinister phase so well, but because of their sense for simplicity. Unknown Pleasures is no virtuous album. Bernard Sumner for sure was no Hendrix or Zappa on the guitar, also not later on with New Order.

Unknown Pleasures creates an enormous impact with the smallest means, the album benefits from its shortcomings. This is true art and a priceless perspective: that the result can be so much bigger than the stake. I kept that in mind when I later returned to the Chili Peppers and had to learn to play the guitar again. A few years later I was on a solo tour and covered “New Dawn Fades”, the heart of Unknown Pleasures. It was my way to say thank you.

by John Frusciante