'I hung around in your soundtrack': affinities with Joy Division among contemporary Iranian musicians

Twenty-first-century Iran, especially the capital city, Tehran, is home to a diverse range of music scenes. Concerts are held regularly in venues ranging from large theatres to small cafes and galleries. Various musical genres are represented on diverse recording labels and online. One of the most active and prolific scenes, despite its small size, is the electronic music scene, as well as the related genre of sound art. Many artists in this broad group have developed eclectic tastes and a DIY approach since their childhood, mainly in the 1980s and 1990s. Members of this group are also among those musicians based or raised in Iran who are most likely to be, or to have been, fans of Joy Division. However, they are not the only ones. Joy Division followers can be found in Iran’s fusion, post-punk, rock and metal scenes and even among commercial pop-rock performers. In this chapter I examine some examples of music in Iran and the Iranian diaspora that bear traces of their creators’ engagement with Joy Division or reflect affinities with Joy Division or Ian Curtis’s attitudes, influences and approaches to their art. Using Joy Division lyrics as a frame, I focus on the work of three male artists and Joy Division fans, who are as different from each other as Joy Division’s members were....