Two Angry Forces

I woke up this morning learning that two poingnant events took place 25 years ago today: Mount St. Helens erupted and Ian Curtis of Joy Division hung himself.

I was only 12 at the time--a seventh grader tucked away in a sleepy northern New Jersey town. Suffice it to say neither of those two events affected me at the time. Although I do remember seeing news reports of the blast, I lived 3,000 miles away from Washington State. And I can only assume Curtis's death barely made any news in the U.S., given the volcano's eruption. Even if it had, I didn't become a Joy Division fan for another four years, when New Order took off.

Today, I live within 100 miles of Mt. St. Helens and I'm listening to "Shadowplay" (although I guess I should be listening to Iggy Pop's The Idiot since that was what was on Curtis's turntable when his wife found him in the kitchen).

What a strange day it was.

Mt. St. Helens Photo from AP




Ian Curtis photo from NME