"She's Lost Control" is a song by British

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

band

Joy Division Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...

. Released on their 1979 debut album, ''

Unknown Pleasures ''Unknown Pleasures'' is the debut studio album by the English rock band Joy Division. It was released on 15 June 1979 through Factory Records. The album was recorded and mixed over three successive weekends at Stockport's Strawberry Studios i ...

'', "She's Lost Control" was first performed live by the band in June 1978 and draws primary lyrical inspiration from a young woman experiencing a violent

epileptic Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activity in the brain that can cause a variety of symptoms, rang ...

seizure A seizure is a sudden, brief disruption of brain activity caused by abnormal, excessive, or synchronous neuronal firing. Depending on the regions of the brain involved, seizures can lead to changes in movement, sensation, behavior, awareness, o ...

.''songfacts.com''
/ref> Two separate recordings of the song have been released: the version appearing on the band's debut album, and an extended, more electronic version released in 1980 as a

12" single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12) is a type of vinyl (polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a "single" or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compar ...

. This 12" single version contains an additional verse not present on the initial version of the song, and was recorded in March 1980 at Strawberry Studios,

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

, making this song one of the band's last

studio recording A studio recording, or a recording session is any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance. Studio cast recordings In the cas ...

s prior to the May 1980 suicide of their lead singer,

Ian Curtis Ian Kevin Curtis (15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980) was an English singer, songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, lyricist and occasional guitarist of the band Joy Division, with whom he released the albums ''Unknown Pleasures'' (197 ...

. On the US release of the 12" single, "She's Lost Control" appeared as the A-side (with "

Atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

" as the B-side), as opposed the UK version, where the song appeared as the B-side to "Atmosphere".

Lyrics

Curtis primarily drew the lyrical inspiration for "She's Lost Control" from a young woman with whom he had become acquainted through his employment as an Assistant Disablement Resettlement Officer at a

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

occupational rehabilitation centre between 1978 and 1979. The woman had epilepsy and had been desperate to find employment, yet she suffered seizures whenever she came to the exchange, which would greatly disturb Curtis, who himself suffered from epilepsy. At one stage, this young woman ceased attending her appointments at the occupational rehabilitation centre. Initially, Curtis assumed she had found a job, but he would later discover she had died of an epileptic seizure. The woman's unexpected death and Curtis' subsequent awareness and experiences of the stigma endured by individuals suffering from neurological impairments formed the lyrical inspiration for the song. The hand-written lyrics were included in the new British Pop Archive, housed in Manchester's

John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a Victorian era, late-Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to t ...

, in 2022.

Composition

The composition of "She's Lost Control" centres upon

Peter Hook Peter Hook (born 13 February 1956) is an English musician. He was the bassist and co-founder of the post-punk band Joy Division and its successor New Order. He often used the bass as a lead instrument, playing melodies on the high strings wi ...

's bassline, played high up on the neck, and a mechanistic drum beat played by Stephen Morris. For the song's recording, each drum was recorded completely separately, as producer

Martin Hannett James Martin Hannett (31 May 1948 – 18 April 1991) was an English record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy Division, the Durutti Column, A Cert ...

obsessively pursued clean drum sounds with no " bleed through" (when one drum's sound is added to the signal of another drum unintentionally) on songs he considered potential singles. Live, this song would be played at a faster pace than that upon the album, and much more aggressively, with Curtis often shouting the lyrics before the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

sections. The syndrum used upon live performances of this song would often be more abrasive and louder in the mix than was used in the studio recordings. On later live recordings, Curtis would play a keyboard line during the coda, one of only a few songs on which he would play an instrument.

Live versions

A number of live versions of the song appear on re-issues of the band's albums. In addition, the 2008 compilation release, '' The Best of Joy Division'', includes the

Peel session John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

the band had recorded of this song in January 1979.

Cover versions

Many indie bands and artists have since covered "She's Lost Control". These artists include

Girls Against Boys Girls Against Boys is a post-hardcore band which formed in Washington, D.C., and subsequently relocated to New York City shortly after their formation in 1989. The band released albums on the labels Adult Swim, Touch and Go Records, Geffen Rec ...

, Siobhan Fahey,

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, model and actress. She began her Model (person), modelling career in New York State, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves Saint Laurent (brand), Yves St ...

and Spoek Mathambo. The bass riff for "She's Lost Control" was also sampled in 1993 by the Manchester electronic music group

808 State 808 State are an English electronic music group formed in 1987 in Manchester by Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson. Taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine and the "state of mind" the members shared, they released ...

for their single "Contrique".

In popular culture

A very loose cover version of the song, recorded by the Greek minimal wave band Alive She Died, featured prominently in a 2016 advertising campaign for the cruise/resort collection of the Italian fashion house,

Gucci Guccio Gucci S.p.A., doing business as Gucci ( , ), is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Florence. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and ...

. The 2002 film '' 24 Hour Party People'' includes a scene dramatizing the recording of the song, and suggests that Morris recorded the drum beat on the roof of the studio, as well as continuing to play the beat long after the other band members had left the studio. The name of the song is referenced in the title of the 2007 Ian Curtis biopic '' Control'', which includes the incident which inspired the song, and also the actual recording of the song. This later scene depicts drummer Stephen Morris using an aerosol can sprayed into a microphone as percussion.

Track listing

Notes

References

External links

* 2018 '' Radio X'
review of "She's Lost Control"
* BBC Art
archive performance of "She's Lost Control"
originally broadcast 15 September 1979
Official Joy Division website
* "She's Lost Control"
reviewed at ''AllMusic'' by Ned Raggett
{{Authority control 1979 songs 1980 singles Joy Division songs Songs about suicide Songs inspired by deaths Song recordings produced by Martin Hannett Songs written by Bernard Sumner Songs written by Ian Curtis Songs written by Peter Hook Songs written by Stephen Morris (musician) Songs about diseases and disorders Works about epilepsy