Atmosphere

"Atmosphere"
Single by Joy Division
A-side	"She's Lost Control"
Released	August 1980 (US) September 1980 (UK)
Format	7", 12", CDS
Genre	Post-punk
Length	4:10
Label	Factory Records
Writer(s)	Joy Division
Producer	Martin Hannett
Joy Division singles and EPs chronology
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" (1980) "Atmosphere" / "She's Lost Control" (1980) The Peel Sessions (1986)
Alternative cover Cover of 1988 release

"Atmosphere" is a song by the band Joy Division. It was originally released in 1980 as a France-only single under the title Licht und Blindheit with "Dead Souls" as the B-side.

Following the death of lead singer Ian Curtis, "Atmosphere" was released as a double A-sided single with "She's Lost Control". "Atmosphere" was the A-side for the UK release but the B-side for the US release. "She's Lost Control" is an alternate version from the one that appears on the debut album Unknown Pleasures.

The single was re-released in 1988 to coincide with the release of the compilation album Substance.

The single peaked at #1 in New Zealand in August 1981, and it would later re-chart there in July 1984 (#17) and when it was reissued in August 1988 (#5). "Atmosphere" also hit #34 in the UK during June 1988.

Peter Hook formerly of Joy Division has said^{[citation needed]} he regards the song as the band's greatest.

Track listing

Original release

All tracks written by Curtis/Sumner/Morris/Hook.

12" vinyl (Factory UK FACUS 2)

1. "Atmosphere" – 4:10
2. "She's Lost Control" – 4:45

12" vinyl (Factory US FACUS 2)

1. "She's Lost Control" – 4:45
2. "Atmosphere" – 4:10

1988 re-release

All tracks written by Joy Division.

7" vinyl (Factory Fac213/7)

1. "Atmosphere" – 4:10
2. "The Only Mistake" – 4:19

12" vinyl (Factory FAC 213)

1. "Atmosphere" – 4:10
2. "The Only Mistake" – 4:19
3. "Sound of Music" – 3:55

CDS (Factory FACD 213)

1. "Atmosphere" – 4:10
2. "Transmission" (live) – 3:37
3. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" – 3:27

In popular culture

• It featured in UK television adverts for First Direct bank.^[1]
• It also featured on the film 24 Hour Party People just after Ian Curtis' suicide is portrayed.
• The song is used at the end of the Ian Curtis biopic Control.
• It was used at the end of Armando Iannucci: Milton's Heaven And Hell, a documentary on John Milton by Armando Iannucci which was broadcast in May 2009.
• The song was used on the closing credits of 2007 Grant Gee's documentary Joy Division.
• In August 2004 British television station Five used "Atmosphere" for promotional segments for their coverage of Liverpool F.C.'s UEFA Champions League qualifying game against Austria's Grazer AK.
• The song was used on the closing credits of the BBC's coverage of England's defeat to Portugal at the 2006 football World Cup.^{[citation needed]}
• A cover of the song by Ola Podrida was featured extensively throughout the film The Signal.
• The song was used in 2010 for Heath Kirchart's final video part in Emerica - Stay Gold.
• Recently the song was used in the popular E4 Show Misfits.
• Atmosphere was recently featured in the BBC two program, The Trip starring Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan. In the show, while driving through the rural North of England, Coogan plays the song claiming, "…that's what I've chosen for the soundtrack for this landscape. It's not expected; you think of [the song] as industrial, associate it, like, normally with an urban landscape."
• The song was recently used at the end of episode 7 of the second season of the Italian tv series Romanzo Criminale.
• The song was featured as the video part song for Heath Kirchart's retirement video part in the Emerica video "Stay Gold".

Video

The video released with the song's re-release in 1988 contained characters wearing black-hooded cloaks and white burial shrouds. It was directed by Anton Corbijn, who later directed the Ian Curtis biopic Control (2007). It could be because of this, that some editions of the film contain the video as an extra.

References