Comments on: Love Will Tear Us Apart

Love Will Tear Us Apart

philip-random — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:15:19 -0800

Love Will Tear Us Apart

By: chavenet

chavenet — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:17:07 -0800

Again?!

By: GallonOfAlan

GallonOfAlan — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:18:59 -0800

it's love tearing us a new asshole that has me worried.

By: dismas

dismas — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:21:57 -0800

That throat singing cover (the Tear link) is pretty baller.

By: El Sabor Asiatico

El Sabor Asiatico — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:21:59 -0800

Never not awesome!

By: griphus

griphus — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:22:38 -0800

What I wouldn't give for a post-punk cover of "Love Will Keep Us Together."

By: tantrumthecat

tantrumthecat — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:23:33 -0800

And fifteen-year-old me's head explodes...

By: leotrotsky

leotrotsky — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:29:17 -0800

I read the second link as "swans will tear us apart again," and I thought, "that makes sense." because swans are real assholes.

By: CynicalKnight

CynicalKnight — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:29:50 -0800

Again?! I know! It's like I can't even walk down to that little cafe on the corner for an asagio whole wheat bagel and a caramel latte without love sucking me into an filthy alleyway, going all Fatal Attraction on me and just ripping my limbs off.

By: philip-random

philip-random — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:31:15 -0800

because swans are real assholes. I got bitten by a swan when I was a very small child. In Ireland. Legend had it they were magical. Ugly f***ing ducklings indeed.

By: pmcp

pmcp — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:32:57 -0800

I went to a party recently where for 3 hours all they played was love will tear us apart covers, with no repetition. It wasn't very fun. But there was free whisky.

By: demiurge

demiurge — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:35:07 -0800

Polka style Also, that song is super depressing.

By: veedubya

veedubya — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:38:53 -0800

U2 - With or Without You/Love Will Tear us Apart

By: chavenet

chavenet — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:39:45 -0800

My knee jerk reaction is because it's the "again" that makes the song both super depressing and yet jolly. Just as in Bruce Springsteen's "Drive All Night," when he offers to drive all night just to buy his baby some shoes ... again.

By: needled

needled — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:42:36 -0800

Compared to the covers, Joy Division's own version (the last link) sounds positively ... jaunty. (New Order's version)

By: veedubya

veedubya — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:48:23 -0800

It's got to be the most covered song ever. The Cure's version would have been right at home on the Pornography album.

By: dry white toast

dry white toast — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:53:27 -0800

It's got to be the most covered song ever. I think Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah would have something to say about that.

By: griphus

griphus — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:56:14 -0800

I think George Frideric Handel would have something to say about that.

By: needled

needled — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:58:08 -0800

Simple Minds' version, which strikes me as the oddest cover yet I have heard of the song.

By: Keith Talent

Keith Talent — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:59:47 -0800

I think we've reached peak Love Will Tear Us Apart. Anthropologists will study our culture in ten thousand years and determine we possessed only one song. And find that fact very weird.

By: neroli

neroli — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:00:41 -0800

My favorite cover version

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:02:02 -0800

I think the Beatles would have something to say about that claim as well. (Or at least John Elmes at The Independent would.) Though "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is super depressing, it has, since about 1992, always filled me with a bit of joy because a 12" vinyl was a gift between a friend of mine in high school, so it's always made me smile a bit. So for a while, whenever I'd hear it play through college and beyond, I'd be the guy with a smile on his face when this would come on. It's weird how songs -- or any media -- can somehow become separate from the original intention, especially when it's a commodity. Kids today aren't missing out on much but I do have to imagine that MP3s and playlists aren't the same as records you can hang on walls and mix tapes. It's also weird right now because dude is a MeFite as well.

By: spaceboy86

spaceboy86 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:03:05 -0800

@neroli: I like the "Landslide" lead-in.

By: veedubya

veedubya — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:05:36 -0800

Ok, ok. I retract what I said about the most covered song ever. It was wrong, and I shouldn't have said it.

By: cashman

cashman — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:10:27 -0800

José González, live.

By: dubold

dubold — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:13:12 -0800

the oddest cover yet I have heard of the song. I think we've reached peak Love Will Tear Us Apart. You know, I thought that, and then I heard dub will tear us apart.

By: gompa

gompa — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:17:51 -0800

Calexico. Unexpected. Kinda wish they'd gone more mariachi on it.

By: ShutterBun

ShutterBun — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:32:59 -0800

I've really loved this song for 25 years or so, but most of these cover versions are just awful, I'm afraid. I think for me, an unusually high percentage of the song's strength comes from both Ian Curtis' hauntingly dispassionate voice, along with the production itself. The melody & lyrics just aren't enough to successfully carry over to a re-imagining, at least to my ears.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:35:45 -0800

Wikipedia has a list of bands who have covered the song, which sent me to find the Bjork cover. One version is Bjork doing karaoke (live recording with terrible audio). Not as exciting as I hoped. The now-dead-and-gone-blog My Old Kentucky Home (archive.org) has a long list of covers, but even that seems short, but at 34 bands, it's longer than the Covers Project list.

By: swift

swift — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:38:55 -0800

Don't forget Broken Social Scene.

By: mysterpigg

mysterpigg — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:07:12 -0800

One of my favorites is Squarepusher's surprisingly straight cover.

By: factory123

factory123 — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:09:26 -0800

Covering this song well is tough. The original Joy Division recording has very spare harmonic content. Much of the song consists of that melody line with no chords. The bass always plays that melody riff. The synth, for the most part, copies the melody riff. Even when the synth changes up in the verses, it plays only a 1-5, never a third. The only other instrument is Ian Curtis' voice. So when you sit down with your guitar to strum the tune, what do you play? Sure, you can find chords that don't clash, but you can't really copy what's there. And so most of the covers, even the New Order cover, end up with harmony that's different from the original. To my ear, it always sounds a little fake. Of course, it's always gives you a good excuse to listen to the original.

By: edmz

edmz — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:32:50 -0800

"El amor nos separará" by some unknown-to-me spanish band.

By: timsneezed

timsneezed — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:39:28 -0800

I don't get why anyone would want to cover this song when the original is so definitive. And it's not really the melody or harmonic structure that makes the song so good.

By: Anything

Anything — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:54:52 -0800

All these covers I listened seem to take the song out of character in their non-drabness.

By: panboi

panboi — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:07:52 -0800

New Order's version sounds like it's had the stuffing beat out of it. The only bonus is it isn't live ("C'mon!!"). Here's the Stanton Miranda version. Not necessarily the best version, but it's got some enthusiasm behind it.

By: immlass

immlass — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:41:42 -0800

Came for the post links, stayed for the comment links.

By: TwoWordReview

TwoWordReview — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:01:13 -0800

Celeb chef Jamie Oliver discovers Joy Division Master Tapes in bank vault.

By: Artw

Artw — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:13:10 -0800

Whoa...

By: kryptondog

kryptondog — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:39:10 -0800

A few weeks back I was surprised and delighted to learn that Depeche Mode's Dave Gahan covered the song for a Musicares benefit concert last year. It's a fairly unsurprising rendition, but it was pretty cool to see one of my favorite singers perform one of my favorite songs. (Bonus link from the same show: Gahan covers Bowie's Cracked Actor. And it's the sleazy sexy funky version from "David Live" no less! I love it. Perfect song for Dave to take on.)

By: juiceCake

juiceCake — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:37:07 -0800

I have always been a Joy Division fan but this song has never done it for me. Having said that, it sounds way better from having heard the covers.

By: timsneezed

timsneezed — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:38:57 -0800

New Order's/Joy Division's Ceremony makes a better cover song.

By: Artw

Artw — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:42:16 -0800

IIRC The Joy Division version of Ceremony is from a rehearsal tape, on account of Ian Curtis dropping dead, and probably not so great because of that.

By: 4ster

4ster — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:54:11 -0800

Thom Yorke.

By: spindle

spindle — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:25:37 -0800

I think that the secret to covering the song well is in the time between 'apart' and 'again'. the best ones sound more like this than English: "love will tear us apar... tagain." or at least that the people who think that that is how the two words should go together are more likely to do things with the rest of the song that sound right to me. also, here is one I like: Susanna and the Magical Orchestra.

By: gorgor_balabala

gorgor_balabala — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:46:06 -0800

When jumping on a bandwagon, it's best to start early.

By: yellowbinder

yellowbinder — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:46:33 -0800

I adore Evelyn Evelyn's version.

By: chavenet

chavenet — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:50:59 -0800

So now I've been thinking about it and, plate of beans in hand, realize that my teenage understanding of this song was wrong. It is not that this couple is being constantly torn apart, but that once they were apart, then brought together, and now love will tear them apart, again. Spindle's right, the key to the song is the space between apart & again. Also probably the key to everything...

By: peagood

peagood — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:00:00 -0800

Thank you. I love this song. It's always made me want to be miserable, so that I could enjoy it more.

By: popaopee

popaopee — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:17:39 -0800

No no no no no no. NO! Nothing even comes close to the original. Please stop covering this.