Subscribe‘let’s dance to joy division / and celebrate the irony / everything is going wrong / but we’re so happy’
– Wombats: ‘Let’s Dance To Joy Division’
The irony of The Wombat’s Let’s Dance to Joy Divison is that this happy-clappy indie tune is actually quite depressing.
I don’t reckon the Wombats have listened to much Joy Division, but whatever the case they clearly don’t understand the psychology of melancholy arts and music. The job of a melancholy artwork is to reassure us that, while we all feel alone when we’re down, getting the blues from time to time is an essential part of being human; and sharing the experience helps us to recognise that and move on. To naively sing ‘everything is going wrong / but we’re so happy’ is to miss the point by quite some way.
