By DONNA BALANCIA
A new discovery of a vintage photo of Ian Curtis has emerged on social media, but some fans of Joy Division are not buying it.
UK Radio personality Geoff Lloyd shared what he believed to be a previously unearthed photo of Curtis on his Twitter feed, explaining that the pic had originally been posted in a “Macclesfield group on Facebook.”
But an aggressive Joy Division fan responded to him telling him the photo was actually old and had been floating around on the Web for years.
Ian Curtis at Christmas Party from the 1970s
“I’m in a Macclesfield group on Facebook, and someone put up a picture of his dad’s work Christmas drinks from the 70s,” Lloyd wrote. “He worked at Macclesfield Unemployment Office and Ian Curtis from Joy Division is one of the colleagues.”
A Twitter user who is apparently a fan of Curtis said the photo was actually several years old. The comment, which had a decidedly angry tone to it, may have been taken down. But not first without a response from Lloyd asking “why are you so angry?”
But another Twitter user, Jake Rudh, saw the Lloyd post and showed that the image was actually included in a group of Curtis office pictures that had been around for a while. The group shows Curtis cheerfully hugging the other people in the photos.
Joy Division Auction Items Hit the Blocks
Regardless of their age, the images show a rarely seen calm and casual side of the beloved Joy Division frontman enjoying some holiday cheer with his work colleagues. Tragically, Curtis died in 1980 before bringing his talent to the U.S.
Read: ‘To Creators of Infiniti Ad, You’ve Ripped Off Joy Division’
In related news, Joy Division co-founder Peter Hook is selling off many of his personal items related to the band and some proceeds will benefit a mental health and epilepsy foundation. To see the Joy Division items up for auction go to Omega Auctions.
Watch Joy Division – She’s Lost Control: