Joy Division
A stark, clinical account of watching someone lose command of their own body and mind, built around a mechanical repeated…
loss of control epilepsy/illness powerlessness of the observer
Disorder opens Unknown Pleasures as a portrait of emotional numbness accelerating into panic, sung by a narrator who wants to…
emotional numbness loss of control alienation
Peter Gabriel
This is Peter Gabriel's orchestral cover of the Bowie/Eno classic, stripped of its original rock momentum and rebuilt as a slow,…
fleeting love defiance against circumstance division and barriers
Pet Shop Boys
A cold, hypnotic portrait of London's class and consumer divide, delivered in a near-rap monotone over a synth-pop groove. The…
class division urban alienation consumption and desire
Rodney Crowell
Rodney Crowell weighs the pull of escape—into fantasy, death, or transcendence—against the stubborn pleasures of ordinary life,…
mortality and mid-life reflection gratitude versus escapism love and social barriers
Maxwell
Maxwell's Unplugged reading of Kate Bush's ballad turns a song about a man helplessly watching his wife through a dangerous…
helplessness in the face of mortality regret over words and gestures withheld gendered division of labor and pain
Broken Social Scene
This is Broken Social Scene's rendition of Joy Division's 1980 classic, recorded for the soundtrack of The Time Traveler's Wife,…
romantic disintegration emotional stasis guilt and self-recrimination