She's Lost Control

She's Lost Control was first played live in June 1978. Its lyrics draw on a young woman with epilepsy whom Curtis got to know through his job at a rehabilitation centre in Macclesfield between 1978 and 1979. The music centres on a bass line that Hook plays high on the neck and a mechanical drum beat from Morris. Hannett wanted clean drum sounds with no bleed between the kit pieces, so each drum was recorded separately.

Two recordings exist. One is on Unknown Pleasures, and the other is a longer, more electronic version with an extra verse, recorded at Strawberry Studios in March 1980 and issued as a 12-inch single. In the UK that single was the B-side of Atmosphere. Live, the band played the song faster and harder than on record. In 1993 the Manchester group 808 State sampled its bass riff on Contrique. Girls Against Boys, Siobhan Fahey, Grace Jones and Spoek Mathambo have covered it.