The Hood aka Johnny 23

Wonder if you could help me out - I bought a 12" back in the 80s by 'The Hood' - the same guy(s?) who appeared on salvation! It's called 'cooler than thou/criminal kiss'. It's pretty cool, but what struck me most was the fact that the hood seemed to be called 'Johnny 23' before - just like one of the unseen lyrics later published in deborah curtis' book 'touching from a distance'. The single was produced by ivan ivan, according to 'discog' the same guy who did the 7" remix of 'the perfect kiss'. How come that a guy from the early 80s picked that name long before d.curtis published her book? And how come that this guy seemed to be closely related to factory - or better: who is he?

From The Hood's MySpace page:

The Hood was the solo indie dance incarnation of John Hood. First signed to Sire Records, in 1985, then subsequently with PVC/JEM, Les Disques du Crespescule, Factory US & UK, and Polygram Japan (among others), The Hood released three 12" singles - "Cooler Than Thou" b/w "Criminal Kiss" and "Tough Guys Don't Dance" (both produced by Ivan Ivan), and "Salvation: Have You Said Your Prayers Today?" (produced by Arthur Baker) - an LP - Cooler Than Thou (produced by Ivan Ivan) - and a soundtrack LP - Salvation (w/New Order, Cabaret Voltaire and Arthur Baker). The Hood also produced Ruby Desire's "Bad Girls" and was one half of Jack & Stella, the duo behind the 12" single "Shiver Shiver Shake" (produced by Mark Kamins). In addition The Hood wrote the song "Stand Apart," from the LP Cooler Than Thou. which was covered by Anna Domino on her LP Mysteries of America. In fact, Anna Domino christenened The Hood.

John Hood has his own website.

thanx, that helped me a lot. A friend of mine got the 2nd 12" (tough guys) and the album. Strangely enough my 12" dates 1984 (passport records), and still this 'johnny 23'-thing is not sorted. How can joy divisions/ian curtis' be linked to 'johnny 23'?

Maybe Johnny 23 had some sort of common slang connotation? Ian did pull from a lot of literary sources. I don't see it as some sort of conspiracy.

£50 Note wrote: Maybe Johnny 23 had some sort of common slang connotation? Ian did pull from a lot of literary sources. I don't see it as some sort of conspiracy.

It's a William S. Burroughs piece from the collection Exterminator!

Link to info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exterminator!

Damn good book, by the way.

Burroughs makes perfect sense to me - good explanation. ...and i didn't see any conspiracy behind it, was just wondering in how far this guy could have been closer to jd/no, that's all. But thanx anyway!