On this day in 1979 - 6 January - I photographed Ian Curtis in Hulme for an NME cover. I also shot Joy Division on Epping Walk Bridge in the snow.
@joydivision
#JoyDivision
On this day in 1979 - 6 January - I photographed Joy Division on the Epping Walk Bridge in Hulme, Manchester for an NME cover feature.
@joydivision
#JoyDivision
This was the first Oasis photo I shot for the
@NME
- we flew to Amsterdam - the band travelled overnight on the ferry. When I got there only Noel was there - the rest of them had been deported for fighting with Chelsea fans
#timstwitterlisteningparty
@BoneheadsPage
I needed a cover shot. I was aware that a solo shot of the singer is stronger than a band shot. I had 6 frames left so I got Ian next to a lamp post at the foot of the bridge. The others were trying to make him laugh. I told him to zone out
#TimsTwitterListeningParty
@peterhook
A photo I took of David Bowie, outside Tea & Sympathy - in the Village in NYC - a couple of days after his 50th birthday. The session was for an NME cover. This photo wasn't ever used.
#Bowie
This fucking piece of Murdoch shit is Britain’s best selling paper. Would every single fuckwit who buys it, please get professional help. And would every piece of shit who works on it explain to me how you live with yourself. The starburst with 596 dead is particularly repugnant
A photo I took of
#TerryHall
at United in '85 for NME. He thought it'd be amusing to do the session at OT. So I took him in the Scoreboard End, set the shot up, and just before I took a photo, told him he was standing exactly where I stood when we relegated them in '74
#ManCity
During
#punk
, I rarely got the chance to shoot in colour, because the music press was mostly B/W back then. Occasionally a record co. would commission some colour though. Here are a few colour shots.
#TheClash
at Belle Vue, Manchester in Dec '77
What a horribly bitter piece. HMV Tower Records & Virgin were all staffed by people who loved music (in my experience). I learned about US Punk at Virgin in Manchester & about Jazz at Tower on Piccadilly. And memo to sneering writer: Fopp is owned by HMV
The morning after the TJ's gig, I was waiting in the hotel lobby, finally Liam turned up & said 'hello'. I looked up, saw the sign above his head & told him not to move and grabbed my camera and took this pic, which was the cover shot for our NME piece
#timstwitterlisteningparty
One racist doesn’t represent any single one of us
#ManCity
fans. Gary Neville is right. A racist prime minister gives racists a mandate to publicly air their prejudice. I love my club & I despise scum like this who attach themselves to us. Fuck off back to your hole in the ground
When I was in Manchester last week to shoot
@BlossomsBand
for
@ManCity
@pumafootball
, I took a photo of the view from the bridge to match my shot of it during the
#JoyDivision
shoot in 1979. It's fair to say: Manchester has changed
Some people really are fucking tedious pricks. I’m a photographer. It’s actually my job. When I photograph people I like, & a lot of you like, I like to share those photos, & stories around the shoots. If you don’t like it, then fuck off & stop posting criticism on my socials
On 18.05.80, Ian Curtis died at home in Macclesfield.
"Never again will I weep
And wring my hands
And beat my head against the wall
Because
Me nolentem fata trahunt
But
When I have had enough
I will arise
And go unto my Father
And I will say to Him:
Father, I have had enough"
Then we went to Hulme. The idea was to have them looking south over the bridge - aspirational - looking to London for fame & fortune etc. But when I got them in position & was walking down to roadside it just looked perfect
#TimsTwitterListeningParty
@peterhook
#UnknownPleasures
Let’s not forget: record stores were like drop in centres. Nobody rushed you out. You could stay for ages, listening to music & talking about music to staff & customers alike. Discovering something new thanks to knowledgable staff was an absolute thrill ...
In Dec 78 Paul Morley convinced NME that we should do a piece about emerging Manc bands. We did The Passage, Spherical Objects &
#JoyDivision
. My editor didn't think any of them warranted a cover. I'd shot the other two, then I shot JD on 6 Jan 79
#TimsTwitterListeningParty
Here's a photo I took of Warsaw
#JoyDivision
at their first ever gig on 29 May 1977 at The Electric Circus. This is copied from the NME. I have no prints and the negatives went missing years ago.
The hotel barman realised this was out of his remit so he called last orders. Noel was at the bar. There were 26 of us. "I'll have 6 double gin & tonics. He'll have 6 points of Guinness and 6 whisky chasers, he'll have 6 ... " The barman decided to stay
#timstwitterlisteningparty
Ian Curtis: 15 07 56 – 18 05 80
"When you're standing on the crossroads that you cannot comprehend
Just remember that death is not the end
And all your dreams have vanished and you don't know what's up the bend
Just remember that death is not the end" Bob Dylan
This is probably the most popular pic from the Maine Rd session. We just wandered into the ground, nobody seemed bothered, it was pre-season. Needless to say Liam wanted to be photographed on the pitch but we talked him out of it
@BoneheadsPage
#timstwitterlisteningparty
#ManCity
That was exhausting. Hope you all enjoyed it. You all owe me a pint 😂🤣 next time I'm in your neighbourhood - which won't be for some time I suspect ...
#timstwitterlisteningparty
@BoneheadsPage
- here's a photo from July 94 outside the Pev in Manchester
A huge loss to the city and the football world. RIP Bobby and Franny: you both made Manchester great. Next week we play Utd at OT, where can pay our respects to both players.
#BobbyCharlton
#FrancisLee
#ManCity
#ManUnited
. I took this photo at Colin Bell's Testimonial at Maine Rd
Definitely a favourite shot. For camera fans, I'd just bought a 20mm lens & was determined to use it at every opportunity. The MacFisheries bag was to catch water from a leak. Health & Safety wasn't top of TJ Davidson's list.
#TimsListeningParty
@peterhook
#closer
#JoyDivision
I think I did quite well seeing as it was freezing cold, I was running out of film, they were constantly dicking around as well as moaning about the cold etc
#TimsTwitterListeningParty
@peterhook
#UnknownPleasures
I thought these were stronger than the bridge pic at the time
Absolutely heartbroken to hear the devasting news about Colin Bell. He gave generations of us
#ManCity
fans so much pleasure. One of football's all time greats and The King of Maine Road. My deepest condolencies to all family & friends and to everyone at the club
#RIP
#ColinBell
Awfullly sad news about Dave Greenfield of The Stranglers -
@StranglersSite
- brilliant and hugely influential keyboard player. Here's a photo I took in the dressing room at the Electric Circus in Manchester on 5 June 1977 ...
#RIP
The following month we did a range of photos around London for Creation just to get them used to being photographed. Liam was exhausting ... he kept jumping on the back of buses and I was having to chase after him
#timstwitterlisteningparty
@BoneheadsPage
Rishi Sunak: The richest man in the commons - that’s richer than all other Tory MPs - telling everyone to retrain if their job no longer exists - thanks in large part to his party’s gross negligence - is the finest ‘fuck you’ from these shithouses, since Thatcher.
Tomorrow, 6 January, is the 40th anniversary of my
@joydivision
photo session in the snow. I've written a piece about it for tomorrow's
@ManCity
v
@OfficialRUFC
matchday magazine & how Rotherham United unwittingly played a part in my shooting it
30 years ago today - 4 August 1991 - I was in Dublin to photograph David Bowie for an
#NME
cover feature. It was the first time I’d ever met him, and I was so nervous, I had to use a tripod to stop the camera from shaking.
@DavidBowieReal
#OTD
#Bowie
I can now exclusively reveal the cover for my forthcoming book: While We Were Getting High: Britpop & the ‘90s - published by
@Octopus_Books
. It'll be available to buy from 24 September - from all good book shops, and online retailers too.
@liamgallagher
Marc Bolan died 47 years ago today. I truly can’t believe it’s so long ago now. I spent two days working with him just three weeks prior to his untimely death and he remains one of the most lovely people I’ve ever met. Keep a little Marc in your heart
#MarcBolan
We went into Chinatown in Manc get a New York vibe as
#Oasis
were about to play there. Then we could use these pics. The
@BoneheadsPage
pic was fine but what I didn't notice was a Manc orange & white bus at the end of the road on the rest of the shots
#timstwitterlisteningparty
What fucks me off about all the
#ManCity
haters in the press, is the bullshit about how they used to like us when we were shit. No they didn’t. Read their contemporaneous pieces. They don’t dislike new money coming into the game if it’s white & western. It’s veiled racism.
#scum
It’s a good job photographers exist, to photograph our idols. So how about crediting us for our sterling work, instead of constantly filling your socials with our uncredited photos
World in Motion was released 30 years ago today. I took the photos at Melwood, Liverpool's training ground. I bought the Blue shirt too, because I wanted
#ManCity
colours on the cover of NME. Here's a bonus pic of Bernard asleep to add to all the others
#NewOrder
@neworder
Thanks for all your support. Most enjoyable - generally. I had a bloke tell me how he would have made the portrait of Ian a better shot, & someone who told me that I'd taken my 2010 bridge shot from the wrong side (it was taken to the west)
#TimsTwitterListeningParty
@peterhook
The
#ManCity
photos were really popular. I'd done a session a couple of months earlier with them wearing City shirts / playing football. Needless to say it was a matter of seconds before it kicked off in more ways than one
@BoneheadsPage
#timstwitterlisteningparty
When we got back to Pompey hotel, the pool was next to the bar. Liam chucked all thefurniture in the pool. 'You daft bastard, where are we going to sit. Get it out.' he had to fish it all out so as we could sit down and have a drink -crowd shot at gig
#timstwitterlisteningparty
They’re Tories. They despise the working classes and they despise immigrants. They have nothing but contempt for most of the population of this country. They laugh openly at the working classes who vote for them. Why does anyone expect them to do anything but lie. They’re scum
We met at the Mitre Hotel near the Cathedral. The idea was to do some gothic type pics around there then move on.
@stephenpdmorris
said if they all shook their heads really fast, they'd be blurred & anonymous. He did it, see prev pic - the others didn't
#TimsTwitterListeningParty
This is England: Raheem Sterling, a former Liverpool player gets booed for every game for club and country for several seasons and the press don’t give a toss. An average Liverpool defender gets booed and it’s the crime of the century ... just fuck off, the lot of you
#ManCity
On this day in 1983 - 7 Sept - I photographed The Smiths for their first NME cover feature. The features editor had a last minute change of heart and put Big Country on instead. He told me: “The Smiths will never be big enough for an NME cover.” 😂
#TheSmiths