A Joy Division fan has paid 190k to buy Ian Curtis’ Macclesfield home, going as far as to pay compensation and legal fees to prevent someone else from buying it as a home. He plans to turn it into a tourist attraction. I’m not sure what I think about this – feels a bit ghoulish. I can understand people wanting to go Lennon’s old house where he and Paul would have hung out in the porch, strummed their guitars and dreamed of becoming the poppermost. This house has a much darker history. As much as I love Ian’s music I’m not sure I need to go and sit in “that” kitchen or see ‘The Idiot’ still spinning on the turntable – that feels like something very private and personal and the people who would have been most closely affected are still very much alive – I’d feel like I was intruding on Ian’s privacy and theirs somehow.
