Rhino Factoids: “She’s Lost Control” earns Single of the Week status

36 years ago this week, NME – for those of you who don’t know your music-magazine acronyms, that’s the New Musical Express – doled out their coveted Single of the Week honor to Joy Division’s “She’s Lost Control.”

The history of “She’s Lost Control” is a slightly convoluted one, in the sense that the single that scored the above-referenced accolade was actually not the first time the song had come to the attention of the music press. Joy Division debuted “She’s Lost Control” during a concert way back in June 1978, and it was subsequently recorded by the band and released on their 1979 debut album, UNKNOWN PLEASURES. The following year, however, Joy Division put out a 12” single which offered a more electronic interpretation of the song, one which had been recorded in March 1980 and included an additional verse.

“She’s Lost Control” didn’t take long to earn iconic status within Joy Division’s discography, but the band was about to draw to a close as a result of the suicide of lead singer and songwriter Ian Curtis. Either by coincidence or design, however, this week also played host to another key moment in the Joy Division story: 27 years and one day after the release of “She’s Lost Control,” the Ian Curtis bio-pic Control was released in the UK.