Joy Division vs The Smiths
 

I thought there's a lot of pointless comparison threads knocking about, and here's one more. They're both different and both absolutely brilliant in their own right but I'm wondering who you think is the better band and/or who your favourite is.

These are two of my favourite bands, I love Joy Divsion.. I think Ian Curtis was such a brilliant lyricist and the music, such moodiness and at times very haunting with brilliant drumming. Lyrics and music are just devine.

The Smiths however you have Morrissey's sharp wit and depressing lyrics over Johnny Marr's melodic happy tunes, such a contrast and it made for some brilliant music.

Overall if I had to pick one, I'd go for The Smiths. But it's a close one.

Joy Division.
Why? Because Curtis was a genius.
Even Hannett didn't know what he had with Curtis. Had he known, his own self indulgence would have embarrassed him.
Both Morrissey and Curtis were masters of all things personal, but no other artist in the history of music has been more honest than Curtis.

Why? Because Curtis was a genius. So was Morrissey though.. If you ask me tomorrow, I might say I prefer Joy Division. I listen to JD a lot more than The Smiths lately.

I thought this thread would spark more interest. Rolling Stones vs Aerosmith attracted more. Both incomparable bands. At least these two are from the same time period and from the same area.

Smiths, the whole way. I was never massive on Joy Division, although I can see why other people were.
The smiths just always managed to balance out the misery with an entirely British sense of tongue in cheek possibility, you know? Even if oftentimes this was provided purely by Marr's sometimes jaunty guitar.

It's also delivered with a sense of humour. Something that seems to be lost to a lot of people.

Am I the only one to put Joy Division ahead of The Smiths?
The Smiths peddle their wares for the teen misfits, while Curtis & Co. deal in industrial misery.
Depression for grown ups...just how I like it!

Wow, this is a hard one. Two of my favourite bands. At a stretch I'd say Joy Division, with two albums and an EP that band made such an indelible impact on British music.

I'd have to go with Joy Division, but only by a whisker, both bands are excellent in their own rights.

This is one of those threads where I can't honestly compare them. I love both bands and listen to both when I am in completely different moods.

But, I'll still bite. Joy Division only because Curtis paved the way for even the Smiths to be so emotionally honest in their lyrics. Joy Division was largely ignored by the mainstream because of their "depressing" lyrics, but that is what got them the recognition they deserve. Before them, no one was so painfully true in what they were singing, and after them the floodgates were opened. You have to take it with the good and bad, obviously, since this is the origin of teen angst bands. But I can deal with the crap for the amount of good music that resulted. The first band that pops in my head thinking of this is the Jesus and Mary Chain. And yes, the Smiths as well.

As much as i love both bands i have to pick Joy Division. Their music just feels closer to the bone and hits the spot more than The Smiths. Joy Division are the ultimate band to listen to sitting in a dark room and wallowing in depression, something i love doing. While both Moz and Curtis wrote incredible lyrics i prefer Curtis' songs as he was one of the most honest songwriters of all time and he told it as it was, listening to his lyrics is like drinking straight whiskey. Peter Hook is one of my favourite bass players, his work with both JD and New Order are incredible.

I think Joy Division had a greater impact on music than The Smiths did. They paved the way for the likes of The Cure, Bauhaus and The Sisters Of Mercy to provide us with dark, brooding, gloomy music that would spawn the whole goth culture over time, as well as other great bands in the 80's such as Echo and The Bunnymen and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

After an early serge of people going for The Smiths, Joy Division have pulled it back. Rightfully so, Curtis was nothing short of a genius. But so was Morrissey.

The main reason why I made this thread is because people who like one band tend to like the other. It's nice to find out people's preferences if it came down to it. Like I said, The Smiths for me. But Joy Division on another day.

I like The Smiths and the lyrics are so bittersweet yet their music doesn't come close to the feelings I get when I listen to JD.

JD are one of the few bands that take me somewhere else with their music. I'm not quite sure where but it's a place that's their own and that's all that I can ask for. Day Of The Lords makes me want to delete over 3,500 albums and just put that song on repeat. It's that good.

The Smiths, simply because Morrissey was a huge influence on my favorite modern lyricist, Jesse Lacey.

Is that the only reason?

As much as I like Joy Division (and rt's description of them as "dealing in industrial misery"), the Smiths are my favourite band so it's obvious where my loyalties lie. I'm not going to present any great exposition on them as I feel it would degenerate into sheer fanboyism. So I'll simply say that they've played a massive part in my life in the last few years, I still obsessively listen to them, and to this day I'm stunned that fate could bring together four musicians so fantastic and give them such chemistry. Oh, and Andy Rourke is my bassist idol.

It's clips like this that make you realise the Smiths were one of a kind. They did their own thing and I love them for it.

No, of course not. I find Morrissey's voice a lot more pleasing than Curtis'. Also, though I dig the lyrics on most Joy Division songs, I find that listening to the instrumental side of their music is almost a chore. It's really boring.

I've been corrupted by Modern (00's onward) music :(

I like the Smiths, but I virtually never listen to them these days. Same with Joy Division, although they do get a little more airtime with me. If I could only have one song on my iTunes though it'd be Dead Souls, so Joy Division win for me.

Like both bands, but not a big fan.
I have to give a nod to Division.

Joy Division by a long way.

Not a fan of either, but I'd listen to the whole Smiths discography before I'd go through one Joy Division album.

JD had that hollow, deprived, cold and disaffected sound. Morrissey just whines over awesome reverbrrant electric folk cuz he doesn't sleep with anybody. That said they both wrote great songs about alienation and loneliness but their sounds were so different (despite JD being a major predecessor) that hailing one band over the other seems silly.

For participations sake (and this wasn't easy), I think I like JD more.

I definitely agree with everyone in here saying they're a bit too different to compare, although they've both attracted an edgy teenage audience. Personally I prefer The Smiths -- fed my whining as a pretentious high schooler.

onyl recently got into the smiths. I like them a lot, but they miss a punch sometimes. I would find it very interesting to see them experiment with more electrical, maybe even industrial sounds. Overall Smiths are better but Joy Division did eventually turn into New Order so...