Joy Division’s Biography — Free listening, videos, concerts, stats and photos at Last.fm Biography This page has been locked by a moderator. Joy Division were a post-punk band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom. Originally named Warsaw, the band consisted of Ian Curtis (vocals and occasional guitar), Bernard Sumner (guitar and keyboards), Peter Hook (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Stephen Morris (drums and percussion). The band dissolved in May 1980 after the suicide of its lead singer, Ian Curtis . Much of their popularity/reputation arguably resulted from frequent playings on air by iconic DJ John Peel, but it is easy now to overlook the impact that the first album, Unknown Pleasures , had on post-punk music at the time, as reference the number of prominent bands that cited this album as an influence. The remaining members reformed as New Order and they have gone on to achieve much critical and commercial success. With their dark, cavernous sound and their use of synthesizers and electronics, Joy Division are considered the pioneering band of the post-punk movement of the late 1970s and the early 1980s.

Though they found only modest success during their career, and released only two studio albums, Joy Division have since been acclaimed as one of the most inventive, evocative and influential groups of their era; Thom Jurek writes "They left just a small bit of music and an echo that still rings". 1976 Inspired by a Sex Pistols gig at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall on July 20, 1976, Bernard Sumner (also credited as "Bernard Dicken" and "Bernard Albrecht") and Peter Hook formed a band with friend Terry Mason. Sumner bought a guitar, Hook purchased a bass, and Mason a drum kit. The band placed an advertisement in a Manchester record store and recruited Curtis as their singer. Curtis knew Sumner, Hook and Mason from previous gigs and was also in attendance at the Sex Pistols concert with his wife, Deborah. Richard Boon and Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks suggested the name "Stiff Kittens" for the band. Although "Stiff Kittens" appeared on some gig flyers, the band didn't like the name and never officially accepted it.

1977 Lacking confidence in his abilities as a drummer, Mason quit the group the day before their first gig to become their manager. He was replaced by Tony Tabac. Just before their first gig on May 29, 1977, supporting Buzzcocks and Penetration at the Electric Circus, the band renamed themselves Warsaw ; though they had already appeared on the bill as the Stiff Kittens. Five weeks and half a dozen gigs later, Tabac was replaced by punk drummer Steve Brotherdale from another band called Panik . They recorded The Warsaw Demo on July 18, 1977, consisting of five crude punk songs. After the demo, Brotherdale was fired. One member asked him to check on what he "thought" was a flat tyre. When he got out of the car, the other three drove off. Brotherdale tried to get Curtis to join Panik but was rebuffed. Stephen Morris who responded to an ad in a music store window, was hired as Brotherdale's replacement. He was hired primarily because Curtis remembered him from his academic days as Morris attended the same school two years below Curtis. Unlike the previous drummers, Morris clicked well with the three.

His metronome-like drumming owed more to krautrock than the aggressive bombast typical of many punk drummers. In late 1977, in order to avoid confusion with the London punk band Warsaw Pakt , Warsaw renamed themselves Joy Division. The name was in reference to groups of women used as sex slaves in Nazi German concentration camps depicted in Ka-Tzetnik 135633's 1955 novel The House of Dolls. Although the choice of name was more reflective of a desire to challenge taboos, this choice along with Sumner's adoption of the surname Albrecht garnered the band a lot of criticism for perceived insensitivity. They were even dogged by accusations of neo-Nazism, a charge they strenuously denied. The accusations resurfaced to a certain degree after Joy Division broke up and reformed as New Order , a name that could be interpreted as a reference to Hitler's speeches promising "the new order of the Third Reich." . The band's music and style stabilized around this time. Sessions recorded in December 1977 sound considerably different from The Warsaw Demo.

1978 The group played their first gig as Joy Division on January 25, 1978. They played regularly in the north of England throughout early 1978, and then recorded enough material for a debut album. However, after the studio engineer added synthesizers to several tracks, the band scrapped it. The album would be released as a bootleg in 1982 and then officially 10 years later. Rob Gretton became the band's manager in May 1978. Over the next 20 years, his addition would play an integral part in forming the Joy Division/New Order legacy. Joy Division's debut on vinyl was on a compilation in the summer of 1978 called Short Circuit. Though listed as Joy Division, it was actually a track from the Warsaw days recorded live on October 2, 1977 The song, recorded live, was preceded by Sumner screaming "You all forgot Rudolf Hess". In June 1978 their December 1977 sessions were released as a 7" EP under the title An Ideal for Living .

In late 1978, An Ideal for Living was remastered and re-released as a 12". On September 20, 1978, they performed on the TV show Granada Reports; then in December 1978, they appeared on the compilation EP A Factory Sample, contributing two tracks recorded a few months earlier. This EP sold out within a couple of months and was the first release to document the haunting and atmospheric sound that Joy Division had been developing since that past summer. Early 1979 saw Joy Division gain more publicity. Ian Curtis appeared on the front cover of the New Musical Express. Joy Division recorded a radio session in January (aired on BBC Radio 1 on February 14 by the respected DJ John Peel). On March 4, they supported The Cure at the Marquee Club, a major venue in London. In April 1979, the band began recording their landmark debut album Unknown Pleasures at Strawberry Studios in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

The record was far bleaker and darker than most of its contemporaries, featuring Hook's bass as the lead melodic instrument, drums soaked in icy reverb, Sumner's jagged guitar and Curtis's baritone vocal style. A large debt was owed to the genius of meticulous producer Martin Hannett . Whereas most punk rock bands had been extroverted and aggressive, Joy Division were more introverted and personal. Despite their insularity, however, their music could be very aggressive, chaotic and at times even violent. The album cover, designed by Peter Saville based on a graph of 100 consecutive pulses from the pulsar CP 1919, is regarded as a classic of minimalist sleeve design. The image was found by Sumner in a book of Astronomy and represents "the final flashes of a dying star." Unknown Pleasures was released in June while Joy Division were recording five songs for Piccadilly Radio. They performed on Granada TV again in July, made their first and last nationwide TV appearance in September on BBC2, supported The Buzzcocks in a 24-venue UK tour during October and November, and performed again on Peel's BBC radio show in December.

Despite the fact that Unknown Pleasures was selling well and receiving good reviews from the music press, all was not well. Curtis, who suffered from epilepsy, would often have onstage tonic-clonic seizures that resulted in unconsciousness and convulsions, or absence seizures that would cause brief trance-like pauses. Even after disposing of their light show, Curtis would still have these problems; and the band decided to rest over the Christmas holiday. 1980 In January 1980, Joy Division set out on a European tour. Several dates were cancelled due to Curtis's deteriorating health. On February 28th, the band played a gig at the Warehouse in Preston. The gig was plagued with sound problems but was later released on Dynamic Records. With Martin Hannett, again producing, the band began recording their second album Closer at the end of the European tour in March. On April 8, the band played a gig at the Derby Hall in Bury. After jamming with support band Section 25 , Joy Division's set began with A lan Hempstall of Crispy Ambulance and Simon Topping of A Certain Ratio filling in for Curtis who was initially too ill to perform.

Curtis did manage to return, but only for a few songs. When the band resumed jamming without their singer, some members of the audience protested, turning the gig into a riot in which Hook, Gretton, and other crew members fought with angry onlookers. Death of Curtis Following a one-off gig in early May 1980, the band took a two weeks' rest before their first American tour was scheduled to start. At the time, Curtis's relationship with his wife, Deborah Curtis, was collapsing due to his infidelity with a Belgian woman, Annick Honoré, whom he had met on tour (no photograph of Honoré had ever been published until the 2006 book Torn Apart: The Life of Ian Curtis by Middles & Reade in which Annick gives her first public account of their relationship). Alone in his Macclesfield home, on May 18, 1980, Curtis reportedly watched Werner Herzog's Stroszek — about an artist who commits suicide — listened to Iggy Pop 's debut solo album, The Idiot, and hanged himself. The following day, Curtis' body was discovered by his wife in their kitchen.

Aftermath The band had long decided that if any one of them left or was unable to perform for any reason, they would end the band. In the summer of 1980, Love Will Tear Us Apart hit number 13 on the British singles chart, their biggest commercial success to date. In July 1980, Closer was finally released to overwhelmingly positive reviews; it also charted, peaking at number 6 on the British album chart. Sales of Unknown Pleasures were also robust. At first glance Curtis' suicide appears to be exclusively the product of his own depression and ill health. Deborah Curtis' book Touching from a Distance gives the impression that Curtis always wanted to die young. Despite Curtis' suicide, Joy Division essentially did not end in 1980, as the surviving members immediately toured and soon recorded new music. Eventually renaming themselves New Order and adding Morris' girlfriend Gillian Gilbert to cover keyboards and second guitar, the band was accordingly reborn. Alternating between guitar-drum-bass and electronic styles, the band's music reached and inspired a variety of listeners.

New Order is often cited as one of the leading Synth Pop and dance music groups of their era, yet their use of traditional rock instruments such as guitars and live drums has reached a level of influence comparable with their landmark electronic works and they have become one of alternative rock's most beloved acts. The band, and especially Ian Curtis, has been an inspiration for a number of musicians that include U2 , The Smashing Pumpkins , Trent Reznor (who, as Nine Inch Nails , covered "Dead Souls" for the soundtrack of the movie The Crow), Robert Smith of The Cure and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante . The continuing importance of Joy Division was shown at the turn of the millennium when Peel asked his listeners to vote for the all-time Festive 50. At number one was the haunting Atmosphere , while Love Will Tear Us Apart sat at number three. Three more songs from the band sat on the list. Much of the history of Joy Division was portrayed in the 2002 MGM/United Artists released film 24 Hour Party People which presented a somewhat fictionalised account of the rise and fall of the Factory Records, with whom both Joy Division and New Order were signed.

In 2007 the movie Control, directed by Anton Corbijn - depicting Curtis' life - was released. Curtis' bandmates Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Stephen Morris provided incidental music for the soundtrack via New Order. The movie title comes from the Joy Division song " She's Lost Control ". Also in 2007, the documentary film simply titled Joy Division was released. Directed by Grant Gee, this movie is told by people who were there to experience Joy Division first-hand. The movie outlines the history of the legendary group and their first steps toward gigs and pre-recordings, but this is also the tale of a city - Manchester - which revitalises itself though the growing music scene of the time. The memories to the past are coloured by the suicide of singer Ian Curtis. In 2005 Joy Division were accepted along with New Order into the UK Music Hall of Fame. Version 71, edited by sjransome All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. Don't want to see ads?

Subscribe now Share this artist: Ian Curtis of Joy Division commits suicide - May 18, 1980 - HISTORY.com Ian Curtis of Joy Division commits suicide Share this: Ian Curtis of Joy Division commits suicide Author Ian Curtis of Joy Division commits suicide URL Publisher A+E Networks On the evening of May 18, 1980, Ian Curtis, lead singer and lyricist of the British group Joy Division, hangs himself in his Manchester kitchen. He was only 23 years old. Joy Division was one of four hugely important British post-punk bands that could trace its origins to a now-legendary performance by the Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester in June 1976. Along with founding members of the Buzzcocks, the Smiths and the Fall, Mancunians Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook decided in the immediate aftermath of that show to form a band. And while the DIY ethos of the Sex Pistols gave them the courage to call themselves a band when they could barely play their newly purchased instruments, the band they ended up becoming was among the first punk-inspired groups to leave the punk-rock sound behind.

The critical step in that direction was the selection of Ian Curtis from among the respondents to the “Singer Wanted” listing they posted in a local record store. Curtis was less an aspiring rock star than he was an aspiring poet, and his moody, expressive lyrics would gradually guide the group’s sound away from the thrash and anger of punk and toward something far more spare and melancholy. The sound that Joy Division developed over the course of 1977-79 included the addition of the synthesizer—an absolute violation of the lo-fi punk esthetic, but a choice that marked the beginning of what would eventually be called the New Wave. The 1979 album Unknown Pleasures, its follow-up Control and the single “Love Will Tear Us Apart” made Joy Division into cult heroes in the UK, and Ian Curtis’s mesmerizing stage demeanor turned him into a post-punk icon. Though he concealed his condition from his bandmates until he suffered a major seizure in their tour van following a gig in London in December 1978, Curtis was an epileptic. Some have speculated that depression over his medical condition or the side effects of the medications he took to control it led to Curtis’s suicide.

There are many other factors that may have played a role, however, from Curtis’s drug use to the strain on his marriage brought about by his affair with a Belgian journalist. Whatever his reasons, Ian Curtis took his own life just two days prior to Joy Division’s planned departure on a potentially career-changing tour of the United States. Two months after Curtis committed suicide on this day in 1980, the surviving members of Joy Division fulfilled a promise they’d made to one another by retiring their group’s name and continuing on through the 1980s under the name New Order. Related Videos Joy Division | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by John Bush Formed in the wake of the punk explosion in England, Joy Division became the first band in the post-punk movement by later emphasizing not anger and energy but mood and expression, pointing ahead to the rise of melancholy alternative music in the '80s. Though the group's raw initial sides fit the bill for any punk band, Joy Division later incorporated synthesizers (taboo in the low-tech world of '70s punk) and more haunting melodies, emphasized by the isolated, tortured lyrics of its lead vocalist, Ian Curtis .

While the British punk movement shocked the world during the late '70s, Joy Division 's quiet storm of musical restraint and emotive power proved to be just as important to independent music in the 1980s. The band was founded in early 1977, soon after the Sex Pistols had made their first appearance in Manchester. Guitarist Bernard Albrecht (b. Bernard Dicken, January 4, 1956) and bassist Peter Hook (b. February 13, 1956) had met while at the show and later formed a band called the Stiff Kittens; after placing an ad through a Manchester record store, they added vocalist Ian Curtis (b. July 15, 1956) and drummer Steve Brotherdale . Renamed Warsaw (from David Bowie's "Warszawa"), the band made its live debut the following May, supporting the Buzzcocks and Penetration at Manchester's Electric Circus. After the recording of several demos, Brotherdale quit the group in August 1977, prompting the hire of Stephen Morris (b. October 28, 1957).

A name change to Joy Division in late 1977 -- necessitated by the punk band Warsaw Pakt -- was inspired by Karol Cetinsky's World War II novel The House of Dolls. (In the book, the term "joy division" was used as slang for concentration camp units wherein female inmates were forced to prostitute themselves for the enjoyment of Nazi soldiers.) Playing frequently in the north country during early 1978, the quartet gained the respect of several influential figures: Rob Gretton, a Manchester club DJ who became the group's manager; Tony Wilson, a TV/print journalist and owner of the Factory Records label; and Derek Branwood, a record executive with RCA Northwest, who recorded sessions in May 1978, for what was planned to be Joy Division 's self-titled debut LP. Though several songs bounded with punk energy, the rest of the album showed at an early age the band's later trademarks: Curtis ' themes of post-industrial restlessness and emotional despair, Hook 's droning bass lines, and the jagged guitar riffs of Albrecht .

The album should have been hailed as a punk classic, but when a studio engineer added synthesizers to several tracks -- believing that the punk movement had to move on and embrace new sounds -- Joy Division scrapped the entire LP. (Titled Warsaw for a 1982 bootleg, the album was finally given wide issue ten years later.) The first actual Joy Division release came in June 1978, when the initial mid-1977 demos were released as the EP An Ideal for Living, on the band's own Enigma label. Early in 1979, the buzz surrounding Joy Division increased with a session recorded for John Peel 's BBC radio show. The group began recording with producer Martin Hannett and released Unknown Pleasures on old friend Tony Wilson's Factory label in July 1979. The album enjoyed immense critical acclaim and a long stay on the U.K.'s independent charts. Encouraged by the punk buzz, the American Warner Bros. label offered a large distribution contract that fall. The band ignored it but did record another radio session for John Peel on November 26th.

(Both sessions were later collected on the Peel Sessions album.) During late 1979, Joy Division 's manic live show gained many converts, partly due to rumors of Curtis ' ill health. An epilepsy sufferer, he was prone to breakdowns and seizures while on stage -- it soon grew difficult to distinguish the fits from his usual on-stage jerkiness and manic behavior. As the live dates continued and the new decade approached, Curtis grew weaker and more prone to seizures. After a short rest over the Christmas holiday, Joy Division embarked on a European tour during January, though several dates were cancelled because of Curtis . The group began recording its second LP after the tour ended (again with Hannett ), and released "Love Will Tear Us Apart" in April. The single was again praised but failed to move beyond the independent charts. After one gig in early May, the members of Joy Division were given two weeks of rest before beginning the group's first U.S. tour. Two days before the scheduled flight, however, Curtis was found dead in his home, the victim of a self-inflicted hanging. Before Curtis ' death, the band had agreed that Joy Division would cease to exist if any member left, for any reason.

Ironically though, the summer of 1980 proved to be the blooming of the band's commercial status, when a re-release of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" rose to number 13 on the British singles chart. In August, the release of Closer finally united critics' positivity with glowing sales, as the album peaked at number six. Before the end of the summer, Unknown Pleasures was charting as well. By January of the following year, Hook , Morris , and Albrecht (now Bernard Sumner ) had formed New Order , with Sumner taking over vocal duties. Also in 1981, the posthumous release of Still -- including two sides of rare tracks and two of live songs -- rose to number five on the British charts. As New Order 's star began to shine during the '80s, the group had trouble escaping the long shadow of Curtis and Joy Division .

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" charted for the third time in 1983, and 1988 also proved a big year for the defunct band: the reissued single "Atmosphere" hit number 34 and a double-album compilation entitled Substance reached number seven in the album charts. Seven years later, the 15th anniversary of Curtis ' death was memorialized with a new JD compilation ( Permanent: Joy Division 1995 ), a tribute album ( A Means to an End ), and a biography of his life (Touching From a Distance) written by his widow, Deborah Curtis. In 1999, the Factory label began a program of concert-performance reissues -- all overseen by the remainder of the original lineup -- with Preston Warehouse 28 February 1980 . New Order: Life After Death - Rolling Stone New Order: Life After Death Bruce Springsteen Cover Band Drops Out of Trump... New Order: Life After Death The suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis left Joy Division with a legacy of gloom.

Despite their heavy history, the survivors – in the form of New Order – have become one of the first-rank rock groups in Britain Bernard Sumner of New Order performs in the United Kingdom. Credit: Kerstin Rodgers/Redferns All Stories May 19th, 1980, was no ordinary Monday for the members of Joy Division . Bags were packed and goodbyes had been said. They were ready to leave for America, on their first rock & roll tour abroad. They had finished a new single, its title etched across a gravestone on the sleeve: LOVE WILL TEAR US APART. More News All Stories But Joy Division – such a weird name for a group known for gloomy music and the forlorn voice of its singer – never left England that blue Monday. There was something about the promise of the trip that made lead singer Ian Curtis put a noose around his neck and hang himself the evening before. More goodbyes. "On Sunday morning, I was turning my trousers up. Monday, I was screaming," remembers the band's drummer, Stephen Morris.

But Joy Division would soon become well known in America anyway – both for "Love Will Tear Us Apart," one of the most influential songs of the past years, and for Curtis' suicide, which put a lasting chill into the band's legacy. With Curtis' death, Joy Division, which is what the prostitutes' area of Nazi concentration camps was called, officially came to an end. "I must admit Ian was the charismatic individual in the band," says Martin Hannett, the producer of the band's records. Because Curtis had been the focus of the first group, the three remaining members reorganized as New Order. "There's life and there's death. We were still alive, so we thought we'd carry on doing it," says Morris. With a keyboardist added and guitarist Bernard Sumner taking over as lead singer, New Order is still very much an extension of Joy Division: like uncluttered landscapes in dark colors, New Order's music remains more mood than melody. In Britain, partly by unwittingly riding the coattails of the synth-based pop bands, New Order has become one of the first-rank rock groups – the thinking man's Human League.

In America, clubs are playing the band's twelve-inch dance single "Blue Monday" (which sold over a quarter of a million copies in England) and are beginning to break what may be the group's biggest stateside hit, "Confusion." That last and much ballyhooed dance track is the result of a collaboration with producer Arthur Baker, master of the New York street sound and the man responsible for the recent hits "PlanetRock," "Candy Girl" and "I.O.U." Record buyers are also sniffing at a well-reviewed new album of uncharacteristically frisky music, Power, Corruption & Lies, New Order's second and best L.P. To promote it, the band just made its second tour of America – only a small block of dates, by necessity. 100 Best Albums of the Eighties: New Order, Power, Corruption & Lies "We don't have a major record company that gives us cocaine at the end of the tour," explains a downright cheery Stephen Morris, relaxing on a rainy night in June after a sold-out show at First Avenue, a huge Minneapolis club.

The band's keyboard player, Gillian Gilbert, who lives with Morris in Manchester, was back in the room after a bit of "puddling" through the soaked parking lot at the Ambassador Motel. The Minneapolis show had been, well, a bit somber. When few in the audience seemed moved by the new song "Thieves Like Us," Bernard Sumner – he's using that surname after having tired of Dickens (his family name) and Albrecht (his former stage name) – fairly spat out, "If you didn't like that, you must be Americans." Many seemed disappointed that the band wasn't a sad-faced Duran Duran, a party animal; more seemed upset that they didn't play the Joy Division songs. "We did 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' once, on the anniversary of Ian's death," says the tall, thin Morris, whose drumming – a human sound that plays against the keyboard electronics – is really the band's signature. "But Joy Division doesn't exist anymore, and it would be foolish to kid people into believing it does." Although a dark cloud still seems to hover over their music, their newest material is pointedly dance-oriented.

"I'm not saying we play disco music," says Morris, "but there are some interesting time signatures knocking about in our songs." New Order wanted – and got – a true dance mix for "Confusion," the single they made with Arthur Baker, whose "Planet Rock" they'd admired. "The fact that they make depressing-sounding records isn't what attracted me to them," says Baker. "But once we got in the studio, I used that the way I would use it in one of my own songs. I really do not write happy music myself. My songs are based in reality, on human situations. And that's what I liked about their stuff." The band seems secure enough about letting a producer as willful as Baker get his hands on their sound, although, says Morris, "We're not Play-Doh." Yet producer Martin Hannett was given nearly as much credit as the band for Joy Division's records and for all but the latest New Order recordings. Hannett admits that the smashing, lively drum sound on the records was his contribution. "I made it go bang!" he says of Joy Division.

With Hannett, they worked at Strawberry Studio in Manchester, the city where the band members had held assorted jobs after finishing school – Bernard as an artist at a cartoon studio, Stephen in a textile mill and Peter Hook (whom they call Hooky) on the docks. And it was in Manchester that the three joined with Ian Curtis in 1976 for their first group, Warsaw (after a Bowie song, "Warsawa"), with little but punk inspiration. "It all started with the Sex Pistols. They could play terribly, and so could we!" says Morris delightedly. By 1977, they were calling themselves Joy Division. They had little technical proficiency on their instruments, but a tiny independent company called Factory Records signed them anyway, on the strength of the impression they'd made on the label's founder, Tony Wilson. "In early '78, I went to this gig in Manchester where every local band played. Fifteen bands played, and I thought, 'None of these is really it,'" Wilson recalls. "Then Joy Division came onstage and played two numbers. And I thought to myself that the reason they're different is that they're onstage because they have something to say.

The other bands are onstage because they want to be musicians. It's as different as chalk and cheese." In what he calls "the look in their eyes, the tunes they played, their style of music." Wilson saw something special. So did Martin Hannett, who taught them how to use a studio. "Ideally, a group should produce itself," says Hannett, "but when I met them, they were too young – they hadn't acquired any of those skills." He has ended his association with New Order now, and they produced the latest album themselves. Like the other records they've made, the new album does not identify the band members or credit a particular player's contribution. This is part of New Order's philosophy: they oppose the "cult of personality" that infects rock & roll. You buy a record with music on it, why should you be interested in who's playing what?, they argue. "It's the group, not my name apart from the group," says Morris. They also frequently refuse to be photographed: part of the reason is the anti-personalities thing, the other is plain self-consciousness. All in all, they prefer to concentrate on the work, the music.

While Joy Division's lyrics were penned by Ian Curtis, New Order collaborates on the words to the songs. "We work loosely," says keyboard player Gillian Gilbert, 21 (the others are all twenty-six or twenty-seven). She claims she was hired on the strength of her ability to play "Jingle Bells." "It can be a month before a song happens," she says. "Fate writes the lyrics, we do the rest," says Morris of their rehearsals, which take place in a room next to a cemetery. They say it's a creepy place, their neighboring graveyard, that would make a great location for a gothic-horror video. In fact, they've just bought their rehearsal hall from the gas company, and they'd like to turn it into a recording studio someday. The building cost a lot, they say, but that's what they do with their money – put it back into the band, buying state-of-the-art equipment and paying for the constant instrument repairs. They pay themselves only seventy pounds – roughly $110 – per week. It may seem a pittance for a rock star to live on, but the members of New Order have rather modest hobbies, and solitary ones at that.

Bernard likes to go for drives in his car and has a home computer; Peter goes scrambling on his motor bike; Gillian tends to a pet hamster; and Stephen fusses with graphics on his small computer. Bernard and Peter also go to concerts, socializing a bit, on Saturday nights; but Gillian and Stephen are "occupied with knocking down a wall and building it back up." They also like to read, says Stephen: "Bernard's a slow, book-a-year reader, Hooky likes Scott Fitzgerald, Gillian really likes a book called The Serpent's Song, and I like Dostoevski, he's really funny." They are not a group that is taken with politics. Nobody voted in the last election, Morris believes. Most of their time seems to go to New Order, at the cemetery-rehearsal hall. A perfectly gloomy setting for a band that continues to market in glum stuff, some would say. "People are welcome to see us as whatever they want," says Morris. "If we're gloomy to them, we are.

I'm not going to say, 'No, you've got it wrong, we're something else.' People associate death, gloom, suicide with us, but it's an albatross. "We are not deliberately trying to get across the mood of the times," he adds. "We're not talking the unemployment blues." Their rehearsal hall is just a short trip to the southern reaches of Manchester proper, where they all live, having grown up in nearby Salford and Macclesfield. Asked if the members of the group have been friends for long, Morris sighs. This is a band that carries a heavy history around with it. "We weren't friends a long time," he says, "but we're old friends now." This story is from the September 15th, 1983 issue of Rolling Stone. Don’t Miss a Story Sign up for our newsletter to receive breaking news directly in your inbox. We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners.

For more information please read our Privacy Policy How we use your email address Trending Ranked on a scale from 1 to 10, the trending score reflects the number of users reading a story in real time. What is this? PETER HOOK | The Mouth Magazine The Mouth Magazine The Mouth Magazine THE INFLUENCE OF POST-PUNK BAND JOY DIVISION AND THE GROUP WHICH ROSE FROM ITS ASHES AFTER THE SUICIDE OF IAN CURTIS – NEW ORDER – CAN BE FELT EVERYWHERE. Whether in mood or in deed, from dank and dreary bedsits to the hedonistic rush of dance floors; from Nirvana’s IN UTERO and Manic Street Preachers’ THE HOLY BIBLE to all Depeche Mode have done in the last thirty years and The National; from Pet Shop Boys’ arch electro-pulse pop to the thinking man’s soundscaping cut-ups of Public Service Broadcasting. And yet there is absolutely no-one – and there is absolutely nothing – quite like either Joy Division or New Order.

In 2010 Peter Hook, bass-playing founder member of both groups, found himself ostracised when singer Bernard Sumner put together a band under the name New Order and began touring. It was a wound which cut Hook deep – and legal proceedings over the rights to / use of the name continue. It’s a sad and bitter chapter in an often scarcely believable story which began in Salford in 1976. Joy Division (originally as Warsaw) played their first gig in May 1977, supporting Buzzcocks and John Cooper Clarke. Three years later talismanic singer Ian Curtis, suffering from epilespy, depression and a troubled home life, killed himself on the eve of a tour. Jon Savage wrote in his obituary for a UK music paper: “Now no-one will remember what his work with Joy Division was like when he was alive. It will be perceived as tragic rather than courageous”… Both albums (UNKNOWN PLEASURES (1979) and 1980’s CLOSER) were produced by maverick Martin Hannett, whose invention did much to define the otherworldly sound. Yet they tell only half a story.

As Hook reflects in The Mouthcast, “The band was a different thing on record”. He admits to initial disappointment: “We were punks. We wanted to rip people’s heads off like we did live”. After Ian Curtis’s death the remaining members of Joy Division continued on as a band – though decided that their future work would be under a different name. The trio eventually recruited drummer Stephen Morris’s partner Gillian Gilbert on keyboards. New Order’s debut single, CEREMONY, had been written with Ian Curtis and played at what turned out to be Joy Division’s final gig. MOVEMENT, the new group’s first album, was released in November 1981 and, arguably, marked an exorcism of any remaining vestiges of Joy Division. POWER, CORRUPTION AND LIES (1983), LOW LIFE (1985), BROTHERHOOD (1986) and TECHNIQUE (1989) all followed on the infamous label headed by Tony Wilson; Factory Records. New Order embraced technology and club culture – the excitement of the dancefloor – throughout the 1980s, but without compromising their ability to twist influences into a unique sound.

Groundbreaking eight minute release BLUE MONDAY (1983) remains the top-selling 12″ single of all time, and it was quickly followed by CONFUSION, a collaboration with hip New York DJ / remixer Arthur Baker. The band released almost forty singles before the acrimonious split in 2007; including TEMPTATION (1982), BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE (1986), TRUE FAITH (1987), FINE TIME (1988) and REGRET (1994). Perhaps the strangest project the band was involved in was 1990’s WORLD IN MOTION. Official England team single for the World Cup football tournament Italia ’90, it was co-written by anarchic comic actor Keith Allen, and featured members of the national team. In 2010 Peter Hook formed The Light; a new group which saw him step up to the role of frontman, and whose respectful reading of Joy Division and New Order material has gained critical acclaim. An EP was released in 2011, featuring new recordings of familiar Joy Division favourites alongside a previously unrecorded song.

The Light tour constantly, every show a presentation of a pair of albums from either of Hook’s former groups, each played in its entirety alongside other choice cuts. Later on this year The Light will tour New Order’s LOW LIFE and BROTHERHOOD albums for the first time. In this new edition of The Mouthcast Hook explains why he wanted to celebrate Ian Curtis, talks about his ‘divorce’ from ex-bandmates in New Order, and discusses The Light. He also talks about 1989’s ‘Ibiza’ album TECHNIQUE – and, in the midst of 2014’s World Cup, WORLD IN MOTION. Read our review of Peter Hook & The Light’s recent concert in Hull, here . Order the limited edition Peter Hook & The Light EP 1102 / 2011 here . Buy the paperback versions of Peter Hook’s Joy Division memoir UNKNOWN PLEASURES (first published in 2012) here and his book about Factory Records / Manchester, THE HACIENDA: HOW NOT TO RUN A CLUB, (first published in 2009) here . Audiobook versions, both read by Hook, are also available.

See below for new UK tour dates.

Fri 03/07 NOTTINGHAM Rescue Rooms M/PCL BUY Fri 04/07 HOLMFIRTH Picturedrome M/PCL BUY Sat 05/07 YORK Fibbers M/PCL BUY Sun 06/07 KENT The Hop Farm JD/NO BUY Thurs 10/07 DUBLIN Leopardstown Racecourse JD/NO BUY Fri 25/07 MANCHESTER Kickin’ Cancer Ball DJ SET BUY Sun 27/07 STOCKTON Weekender JD/NO BUY Fri 01/08 UMBRIA Festival JD/NO BUY Sat 02/08 CANTERBURY Lounge On The Farm JD/NO BUY Sun 03/08 DORSET Camp Bestival JD/NO BUY Sat 16/08 NORFOLK Voewood Festival JD/NO BUY Sun 17/08 KETTERING Alt Fest UP BUY Sat 06/09 PORTMERION Festival No 6 JD/NO BUY Sun 07/09 ISLE OF WIGHT Bestival UP BUY Sat 13/09 CORNWALL Heartlands Festival JD/NO BUY Thurs 25/0

9 MANCHESTER Ritz LL/B BUY Sat 27/09 LONDON Shepherd’s Bush Empire LL/B BUY The 10 Best Joy Division Songs - Stereogum The 10 Best Joy Division Songs Jonathan Dick | April 1, 2014 - 10:53 am Share < br />this article: CREDIT: Joy Division In the seemingly infinite discussion of influence, Joy Division’s place in the halls of music’s most revered is just as sure as the band’s equally esteemed mythos.

Generations of fans old enough to have remembered the band’s breakthrough in 1979, and the countless more born well after the 1980 suicide of Ian Curtis, hold the mercurial vocalist in almost messianic esteem. The lenses of celebrity often blur the cruel and unforgiving nature of reality, though, giving us a retrospective that too often ignores the context that, however small, was largely responsible for the art and music we were enjoying in the first place. Though understandably seen as the unfortunate catalyst for what would become New Order, the death of Ian Curtis is no less tragic even when cast in the positive light of his unparalleled influence and courage. And while New Order’s acclaim and success is deserved and historic in its own right, the band’s clear distinction both in sound and in scope separate it from the overwhelming, albeit brief, presence of Joy Division. Perhaps the most profound and uncanny part of Joy Division’s story is found in the band’s vapor-like existence, spanning only two full-lengths and an EP. It’s the kind of story the world of rock and roll readily mutates into lore, with the spectacle unfairly overshadowing the validity of the music itself.

For Joy Division, the spectacle started even before the death of Curtis, with critics and fans alike taking immediate notice of the vocalist’s onstage antics and his singularly haunting baritone. Thankfully, Curtis’ immense vocal talent was accompanied by an equally talented band whose sense of atmosphere and damn near tangible dread made for the gloomiest of collaborations. While Peter Hook’s high bass lines lay out a kind of distorted lamentation for the cold staccato drumming of Stephen Morris, Bernard Sumner painted electric broad strokes with riffs as heavy as metal and just as commanding. These four unassuming friends from Manchester just at the cusp of their twenties set their punk sentiments to an eerie tune, inadvertently setting into motion one of the most inarguably dominant sounds of the last three decades. For all the well-documented aural and thematic fragility of Joy Division, their greatest impact likely lies in the powerful catharsis of their music. Paired with the mournfully kinetic sounds created by Hook, Sumner, and Morris, the baleful tone from Curtis purges any semblance of superficiality with an emotional delivery that’s disturbingly believable.

The two full-lengths (Unknown Pleasures and Closer) along with the 1978 EP and a handful of singles and posthumous releases speak to the understated bravery of Curtis, whose legacy is too often relegated to words like “misery” and “tragic.” The rarity of Joy Division’s uninhibited lyrical and musical vulnerability is nothing short of phenomenal given that its musicians were somehow able to match and complement the despair and energy emoting from the lyrics and delivery of Curtis. The issue of mental illness and its direct relationship with Joy Division’s music is one that has no need of being separated simply for the fact that its precisely that characteristic that breathes life into the few songs the band created. These ten tracks in no way represent the whole of Joy Division’s catalog but rather attempt to reflect the gravity of the band’s fleeting but inimitable sway over the music that followed. Though the music of Joy Division readily gives way to a sorrowful texture and atmosphere, its power lies at those auditory verges when the music stops and the listener sits stunned by the experience.

Perhaps most importantly, the music here provides a commonality even at its darkest corners, with Curtis treading the cruel and razor-thin brink that separates the human condition from the perpetually looming reality of psychosis. Along with Hook, Sumner, and Morris, the dark brilliance of that journey was one that Curtis perhaps felt compelled to walk and, thankfully, share its darkest shadows. Almost 34 years after his death, those wavelengths of powerful gloom resonate as strongly as ever, reverberating an ironic sense of hope for the limitlessness of music at its most beautifully troubling. 10. “Disorder” (from Unknown Pleasures, 1979) The song that arguably started it all: The first track from Joy Division’s debut LP immediately kicks in the coldly subdued sound the band would inadvertently help pioneer. Beginning with Stephen Morris’ hiccuped drums and Bernard Sumner’s minimal but moving guitar work, the song’s pace is exacting, gradually unraveling both lyrically and musically, with Ian Curtis’ icy baritone punctuating the song’s staccato rhythm.

The convenience of retrospect reveals that Curtis’ now well-documented struggle with epilepsy was apparent from the very beginning, and something the frontman perhaps unconsciously poured into songs like “Disorder.” The song’s gradual descent into sonic disarray is something that might have detracted from any other band whose vocalist wasn’t Ian Curtis. He reverberates the word “feeling” in a fevered, isolated haze to close the song and to essentially begin Joy Division’s tragic and influential story. 9. “The Eternal” (from Closer, 1980) The penultimate track on what would be Joy Division’s second and final full-length, “The Eternal” begins with an electric curtain of noise interrupted by Hook’s bass line eerily thudding like a faint pulse. Sumner’s keyboard work provides grounding for the otherwise ethereal opening to the song while Curtis at his most subdued sings the line, “Procession moves on/ the shouting is over,” cutting through the ambient vapor like a knife. It comes as no surprise that the song readily translates to those darker, more extreme corners of the music world, with now-defunct American black metal pioneers Nachtmystium covering the song on a 7″ single released in 2012.

The song finds Curtis exchanging his coldly punctuated vocal style for one that’s melodically fluid. The apparitional vocals float just inches above Sumner’s haunting piano chords echoing alongside unnervingly distanced drumming. The song’s spectral movement displays the core of what critics would label “gothic rock,” but even more importantly it offers a glimpse into the dark fragility behind the ghostliness of Curtis’ vocals. 8. “Atmosphere” (from Substance, 1988) Initially released in France as an exclusive single in 1980, this song’s original title was “Light And Blindness.” Beginning with Morris’ drum work providing an abbreviated rhythm, the song quickly sets into its pattern for Curtis’ baritone croon. The synth orchestration provides a bleakly melodic ambiance against the lyrical theme of seclusion and self-disillusionment. Appropriately titled, the fluid pacing of the song constantly edges toward eruption but deliberately stops just short, letting the narrow space between notes serve as a kind of brooding ellipsis. A music video accompanied the song’s re-release on 1988’s singles compilation, Substance, showing hooded figures in a barren desert wasteland juxtaposed against candid photos of Curtis.

Almost prayerful in its delivery, the song is at times both musically and lyrically hopeful, with Curtis pleading for emotional tangibility against the backdrop of the music’s specter-like movement. Widely considered one of the band’s finest songs, “Atmosphere” displays the kind of elegantly vulnerable songwriting that would define not just Joy Division’s music but provide the influence for countless musicians and bands after them. 7. “Shadowplay” (from Unknown Pleasures, 1979) Even in the more operatively post-punk sound of their first release, Joy Division’s gothic rock tinges were unmistakable with songs like “Shadowplay.” Hook’s distinctive treble-flirting bass line and the metallic wail of Sumner’s guitar serve as a kind of ominous call-and-response underscoring Curtis at his most vocally forceful. “In the shadowplay/ acting out your own death/ knowing no more,” is a line likely to elicit groans if it weren’t entrenched in the subdued but strangely frantic movement of the music. Sumner’s minor-chord lead-out punctuates the song’s final minute as Morris’ drums provide a clipped yet echoing chill.

The band’s subtle but marked shift from the punk tendencies on Unknown Pleasures to the gothic atmospherics of Closer is completely natural and unsurprising. Though decidedly muted, the dark fringes of “Shadowplay” are still nonetheless impactful and, more importantly, they offer a glimpse into the band’s brief but incomparably brilliant musical direction. 6. “Twenty Four Hours” (from Closer, 1980) The normally understated rhythms of drummer Morris are briefly exchanged for a kinetic unpredictability on “Twenty Four Hours.” When paired against the rest of Closer’s largely melancholic pacing, the atypical dynamics of movement in “Twenty Four Hours” seem strange yet just as oddly appropriate. Joy Division’s dynamic of melodically wavering between the quietly frantic and eerily calm is at the forefront of the song’s four and a half minutes, with just the slightest suggestions of the dark electro-pop the album would spawn in numerous other bands, perhaps most notably in New Order. Curtis sings over the mournful yet frenetic melody: “Gotta find my destiny/ before it gets too late,” offering a moment, however brief, of hope.

A large part of the song’s success lies in the fact that it sees Curtis detaching himself from the relentless dirge that thematically and musically shrouds the rest of the album in futility. By no means uplifting, the song simply allows for a fleeting moment of light on an otherwise overwhelmingly bleak album. 5. “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (from Substance, 1988) Joy Division’s first chart hit (and the last single the band would record), “Love Will Tear Us Apart” didn’t even appear on either of the band’s two full-length releases. The song’s mid-tempo pulse runs parallel to the combination of Hook’s bass line and Sumner’s eerily well-timed bursts of synth, all coiled together in a dark synchronicity with Curtis sounding as vocally tenuous as ever. Given the upbeat pace and subdued but catchy refrain, it’s no surprise the song still stands as the band’s most recognizable track even more than thirty years after its release. Though its autobiographical implications regarding Curtis’ life are oftentimes a point of contention, the song’s merit transcends whatever context that may have inspired it.

The song shows that Joy Division were more than capable of bridging their music to the notoriously fickle pop sensibilities of mainstream listeners without surrendering any of their experimental clout. A moment equally heartbreaking and historic for Joy Division, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” indirectly signaled the tragic end of its vocalist and the immediate beginning of the indelibly influential sound that resonates just as powerfully today. 4. “New Dawn Fades” (from Unknown Pleasures, 1979) You’d be hard pressed to find a Joy Division song that displays the band’s incomparable proclivity for musical entropy better than “New Dawn Fades.” From the song’s backtracked and unsettlingly modified sample opening (taken from the preceding track, “Insight”) to the conversational push/pull of Hook and Sumner’s chord progression threaded throughout, “New Dawn Fades” surges toward the climax of Curtis’ vocals, soaring and yet becoming crippled by its lyrical context.

The contrasting distorted and clean guitar/bass work from Sumner and Hook here evoke the album’s reoccurring theme of emotional decay, with Curtis at the very edge of the fray, singing, “It was me, waiting for me/ Hoping for something more” to lead in the guitar solo denouement. Though firmly in the post-punk camp, “New Dawn Fades” is one of a few undeniably heavy songs on Unknown Pleasures with Morris more exacting than erratic behind the drum kit. The frenzied but focused songwriting here speaks volumes to punk’s influence on Joy Division and the enormous value the band placed on melodic contrast. 3. “Passover” (from Closer, 1980) An often overlooked track, “Passover” is Joy Division at their most introspective, both lyrically and musically. Hook and Morris provide a low, discordant rumble for the song’s ethereal movement, with Sumner’s guitar randomly puncturing the fog, while Curtis delivers lines more devotional than mournful, trading abbreviation for the space between the edges of his voice and the furthest echo from the instruments.

For this song, Curtis briefly directs the lyrical focus away from the abstract sentiments of his depression to the far more specific reality that was the doubt and apprehension concerning the potential impact of the band’s music. Curtis’ vulnerability is cast under a new shadow on “Passover,” and in the track he questions perceptions of himself, not generated from his already existing dark consciousness but from the desire for “sanctuary from these feverish smiles.” Discussion of Joy Division’s thematic concern with the loss of innocence and youth is a well-worn path, but here those themes take on an almost meta quality, with the band’s despairing lyrics finding their root in the tangible context of their growing fame and the inadvertent effects of that fame on Curtis. 2. “Transmission” (from Substance, 1988) Originally released in 1979, “Transmission” highlights Joy Division’s singular type of frenetic pop, a style at least partially influenced by Curtis’ struggles with epilepsy. While the disease’s direct impact on both Curtis’ lyrics and the band’s at times erratic melodies will never be fully known, songs like “Transmission” suggest that Joy Division were just as interested in songs that would allow for performance as well as playability.

Hook’s distinctive bass threads a line just as rhythmically crucial to the song’s movement as Morris’s punctuated drumming. Curtis delivers lines like, “The things that we’ve learnt are no longer enough,” with an unbridled fervor, his voice edging right up against its limits, while the music comes to an electronic, rhythmic boil. Another Joy Division song that lends itself to compositional decay, every instrument, including the vocals, unravels from its coldly detached beginnings into a syncopated frenzy that, in spite of the song’s grimly dystopian lyrics, lends itself to the dance floor. 1. “Dead Souls” (from Substance, 1988) Released in 1980 as the B-side to “Atmosphere,” “Dead Souls” begins with Morris’ drums rolling out a beat before the briefly disjointed guitar work of Sumner unknots into the anthemic riff that gives the otherwise unrelenting melancholy of this song its only hint of color. In the aftermath of Curtis’ suicide, “Dead Souls” has acquired a certain level of notoriety due to the unfortunate relevance of its lyrics, which directly confront the cruel realities of psychosis with a jarring vulnerability.

Given the band had already established an inclination for creating songs both fragile and strangely powerful in their despondency, “Dead Souls” remains a singular track even now, with Curtis imploring his unnamed audience with the opening line, “Someone take these dreams away,” with a chilling authenticity. Equally unsettling is the distinctive crescendo of Hook, Sumner, and Morris playing yet again at the cusp of derailment, only stopping to let the listener peer with them over the edge and into the waiting void.

Joy Division band members Biographies of band members and associates Ian Kevin Curtis: Born 15th July 1956, died 18th May 1980 Vocals, 1976 to 1980; also wrote the song lyrics Occasionally played Vox Phantom and Vox Teardrop guitars Brought up in Macclesfield, where he attended the Kings School Worked in a record store which expanded his musical interests Later worked as a civil servant in Manchester and in Macclesfield Lyrically inspired by WS Burroughs, JG Ballard and David Bowie His frenetic stage style mirrored the epileptic fits he suffered Married Deborah Woodruffe on 23rd August 1975, in Henbury Committed suicide on the eve of Joy Division's planned US tour (for more detail about Ian Curtis click here ) Peter Hook: Born 13th February 1956 Bass, 1976 to 1980; occasionally sang backing vocals Played a Yamaha bass and a Shergold Marathon six-string bass Brought up mainly in Salford; went to Salford Grammar School Worked in Manchester at the Town Hall and on the Ship Canal Noted

 for playing his bass almost in the style of a lead guitar Continued as bass player with New Order after Ian's death Formed Revenge in 1989 with Dave Hicks and Chris Jones Formed Monaco with David Potts (who had joined Revenge) Married TV comedienne Caroline Aherne in 1994 (now divorced) Stephen Morris: Born 28th October 1957 Drums, August 1977 to 1980 Equally at home with both traditional and electronic drum kits (a Black Rodgers drum kit; Simmonds and Synare synthesisers) Brought up in Macclesfield, where he attended the Kings School Initially worked for a time in his father's kitchen fitting business Continued with New Order on drums and later on synthesisers His face appears on the cover of New Order's album Low Life Formed The Other Two with keyboard player Gillian Gilbert Married Gillian Gilbert, partner in New Order and The Other Two Bernard (Barney) Sumner: Born 4th January 1956 Guitar, 1976 to 1980; synthesiser 1979 to 1980 (Gibson and Shergold guitars; Powertran

 and ARP synthesisers) Brought up in Salford, where he attended Salford Grammar School Also used the names Dicken (similar to his his stepfather's name, Dickin) and Albrecht Worked for a company who did cartoon animations for television Continued as guitarist with New Order, also taking over the vocals Formed Electronic in 1989 with Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr Guested on records by the Chemical Brothers and Primal Scream Married Sue Barlow on 28th October 1978, since divorced.

(For more detail about Bernard Sumner's early years click here ) Also performed in Warsaw Drums, June to August 1977 (also drummer with Panik) Others associated with Joy Division Rob Gretton: born 15th January 1953 First met Joy Division when DJ at Rafters Club in Manchester Became manager of Joy Division after seeing them play in April 1978 Continued as manager of New Order until his death in May 1999 Also associated with other local bands (Slaughter and the Dogs, Panik) A partner in Factory and the prime mover behind the Hacienda Club Martin Hannett: born 31st May 1948 Producer of most of Joy Division's recordings and other Factory classics Noted for his ear for sounds, his attention to detail and his eccentricities Played synthesisers on some of the band's studio recording sessions Formerly a DJ and gig arranger, sometimes using the name Martin Zero His agency (Music Force) booked a number of early Warsaw gigs Left Factory at the end of 1981 after a disagreement, and died in 1991 Tony Wilson Wiki for Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart — Last.fm Shouts Wiki "

Love Will Tear Us Apart" is a song by the British post-punk band Joy Division.

The lyrics were written by the band's vocalist, Ian Curtis, who committed suicide in May 1980, a month after the song was released as a single. The song was then re-promoted in 12" format in June 1980. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was written in August and September of 1979 and was debuted when the band supported Buzzcocks on their UK tour in September and October 1979, and it is one of the few songs in which Ian Curtis played guitar (albeit somewhat minimally). The title of the song is a play on the title of a Neil Sedaka song "Love Will Keep Us Together" made popular by The Captain & Tennille in 1975. The lyrics are perceived to reflect the problems in Ian Curtis' marriage to Deborah Curtis, as well as his general frame of mind in the time leading up to his suicide. Deborah Curtis had the phrase "Love Will Tear Us Apart" inscribed on Ian Curtis' memorial stone. The song was first released in April 1980 and, after Curtis' suicide that May, became the band's first chart hit, reaching number 13 in the UK.

It also debuted at #1 in New Zealand in June 1981. The band broke up after his death and reformed as New Order. "Love" was re-released in 1983 and reached number 19 on the UK charts and re-appeared at #3 in New Zealand during March 1984. In November 1988, it made one more Top 40 appearance in New Zealand, peaking at #39. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" appears on the Substance compilation album. It was first recorded for a John Peel session in November 1979, then re-recorded in January 1980 and March 1980. It is the latter version that appears on Substance. The January 1980 version originally appeared as the single's B-side. In 1995, to publicise the release of Permanent, the track was reissued, complete with a new remix done by Arthur Baker and a new radio edit, also known as the Permanent Mix. On September 24, 2007 (2007-09-24), the single was again reissued, in its original configuration.

This time, it was to publicise the Collector's Edition re-issues of the band's three albums. Although the single was now issued on the Warner label, it retained all the classic Factory packaging, down to the FAC 23 catalogue number. Original Artist

Question: After the suicide of Ian Curtis his band Joy Division played on under which name?
Answer: New Order