Joy Division

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History

Sumner and Hook attended a Sex Pistols show at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall on 4 June 1976. While only 35 to 40 people were in attendance, the performance that night has been credited with igniting the Manchester music scene and inspiring a number of audience members to form their own groups. Sumner said the punk rock group "destroyed the myth of being a pop star, of a musician being some kind of god that you had to worship." Inspired by the performance, Sumner and Hook formed a band with their friend Terry Mason, who had also attended the show. Sumner bought a guitar, Hook a bass and Mason a drum kit. They placed an advertisement in the Virgin Records record store in Manchester looking for a singer. Curtis, who knew the others from previous gigs, responded to the ad and was hired without an audition. Sumner said, "I knew he was all right to get on with and that’s what we based the whole group on. If we liked someone, they were in."
While Buzzcocks manager Richard Boon suggested the band call themselves the Stiff Kittens, the band instead chose the name Warsaw, in reference to the song "Warszawa" by David Bowie. Warsaw played their first gig on 29 May 1977 supporting the Buzzcocks and Penetration at the Electric Circus. Tony Tabac performed drums that night. Mason was soon made the band’s manager and was replaced on drums by drummer Steve Brotherdale, who also played in the punk band Panik. During July 1977 the band recorded a set of demos at Oldham. The band fired Brotherdale soon after the demo sessions, unable to work with his aggressive personality. During his tenure in the group Brotherdale had also tried to get Curtis to leave Warsaw and join Panik, but Curtis declined. Driving home from the studio one night, they pulled over and asked Brotherdale to check on a flat tyre; when he got out of the car, they sped off. In August 1977 the band put out an advertisement in a music shop window for a replacement drummer; Stephen Morris, who had attended the same school Curtis had, was the sole respondent. Deborah Curtis, Ian’s wife, stated that Morris "fitted perfectly" with the other men, and that with his addition Warsaw became a "complete ’family’".
In order to avoid confusion with the London punk band Warsaw Pakt, the band renamed themselves Joy Division in late 1977, borrowing their new name from the prostitution wing of a Nazi concentration camp in the 1965 novel by Karol Cetinsky’s World War II novel The House of Dolls. The group played their first gig as Joy Division on 25 January 1978.

Early Releases

Joy Division was approached by RCA Records to record a cover of Nolan "N.F." Porter’s "Keep On Keepin’ On" and was afforded recording time at a professional Manchester studio for their compliance. Joy Division spent late March and April 1978 writing and rehearsing material. It was during a 14 April concert that the group caught the attention of Tony Wilson and Rob Gretton, who became supporters of the band. In Wilson’s case, Curtis insulted him for not putting the band on his defunct Granada Television show So It Goes; Wilson responded that Joy Division would be the next band he would showcase on TV. Joy Division spent the first week of May 1978 recording at Manchester’s Arrow Studios. Gretton became the band’s manager soon after the Arrow Studios sessions. The band was unhappy with the result of the recording sessions and asked to be dropped from their contract.
The band made their recorded debut in June 1978 when a track of theirs was featured on the compilation album Short Circuit - Live At The Electric Circus, which had been recorded live on 2 October 1977. That same month, Joy Division self-released their debut EP An Ideal for Living. In the Melody Maker review of the EP, Chris Brazier said, "This has the familiar rough-hewn nature of home-produced records but they’re no mere drone-vendors - there are a lot of good ideas here, and they could be a very interesting band by now, seven months on." The packagingâ€“which featured a drawing of a member of the Hitler Youth on the coverâ€“coupled with the nature of the band’s name, fueled speculation about their political affiliations. While Hook and Sumner admitted in later years to a fascination with fascism at the time, Morris insisted that the group’s obsession with Nazi imagery throughout their career came from a desire to keep memories of the sacrifices of their parents and grandparents during World War II alive, and that accusations of Neo-Nazi sympathies merely provoked the band "to keep on doing it, because that’s the kind of people we are.".
In September Joy Division made their television debut performing on the local news show Granada Reports, hosted by Tony Wilson. Later in December Joy Division contributed two tracks recorded with producer Martin Hannett to the compilation double 7" EP A Factory Sample, the first release by Tony Wilson’s record label Factory Records. Joy Division soon joined Factory’s roster, and Rob Gretton was made a partner in the label to represent the interests of the band. Meanwhile on 27 December Ian Curtis suffered his first recognisable epileptic seizure. After a show Curtis had a seizure during the ride home and had to be taken to a hospital. In spite of Curtis’ illness, Joy Division’s career continued to progress. Curtis appeared on the front cover of the 13 January 1979 issue of the NME due to the persistence of music journalist Paul Morley and that same month the band recorded their first radio session for BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel. Deborah Curtis noted, "Sandwiched in between these two important landmarks was the realization that Ian’s illness was something we would have to learn to accommodate."
GRANADA TV, 20 SEPTEMBER 1978

Unknown Pleasures

In April 1979, the band began recording their debut album Unknown Pleasures at Strawberry Studios in Stockport. Producer Martin Hannett contributed significantly to the final sound. The band initially disliked the "spacious, atmospheric sound" of the album, which did not reflect their more aggressive live sound. Hook said in 2006, "It definitely didn’t turn out sounding the way I wanted it . . . But now I can see that Martin did a good job on it . . . There’s no two ways about it, Martin Hannett created the Joy Division sound." The album cover was designed by Peter Saville, who would go on to provide artwork for future Joy Division releases. Unknown Pleasures was released in June and sold through its initial pressing of 10,000 copies. Tony Wilson said that the relative success of the album turned the indie label into a true business and a "revolutionary force" that operated outside of the major record label system. Reviewing the album for Melody Maker, writer Jon Savage called Unknown Pleasures an "opaque manifesto" and declared, "Leaving the twentieth century is difficult; most people prefer to go back and nostalgize, Oh boy. Joy Division at least set a course in the present with contrails for the future â€” perhaps you canâ€™t ask for much more. Indeed, Unknown Pleasures may very well be one of the best, white, English, debut LPs of the year".
SHE’S LOST CONTROL, BBC2, 15 SEPTEMBER 1979
Joy Division performed on Granada TV again in July and made their only nationwide TV appearance in September on BBC2. They supported the Buzzcocks in a 24-venue UK tour that began that October, which allowed the band to quit their regular jobs. The non-album single "Transmission" was released in November. Joy Division’s burgeoning success drew a devoted following nicknamed the "Cult With No Name", who were stereotyped as "intense young men dressed in gray overcoats.".

Closer and Ian Curtis suicide

In January 1980, Joy Division set out on a European tour. While the tour was difficult, Curtis only experienced two grand mal seizures in the two months preceding the tour’s final date. With Martin Hannett again producing, the band recorded their second album Closer in March at London’s Britannia Row Studios. March also saw the release of the Licht und Blindheit single (featuring the songs "Dead Souls" and "Atmosphere") on the small French label Sordide Sentimental.
Lack of sleep and long hours destabilized Curtis’ epilepsy and his seizures became almost uncontrollable. Curtis would often have seizures during shows, which left him feeling ashamed and depressed. While the band was concerned about their singer, audience members on occasion thought Curtis’ behaviour was part of the show. On April 8, Joy Division was set to play a gig at the Derby Hall in Bury. Curtis had attempted suicide the previous night by overdosing on phenobarbitone. With Curtis recovering, it was decided that the band would play a combined set with Alan Hempstall of Crispy Ambulance and Simon Topping of A Certain Ratio filling in for the singer on the first few songs. Curtis came onstage to perform for only part of the set. When Topping came back out to finish the set for Curtis, some members of the audience started throwing bottles at the stage. Gretton leapt into the crowd and the show soon turned into a riot. Several April gigs were cancelled due to the continuing ill health of Curtis. Following a one-off gig in Birmingham on May 2, the band took a two-week rest in anticipation of their scheduled American tour.
Joy Division were due to begin their first American tour in May 1980. While Curtis had expressed a desire to take time off to a few acquaintances, he feigned excitement about the tour around the band because he did not want to disappoint his bandmates or Factory Records. At the time, Curtis’ relationship with his wife Deborah Curtis (the couple married in 1975 as teenagers) was collapsing. Contributing factors were his ill health, her being mostly excluded from his life with the band, and his relationship with a young Belgian woman named Annik HonorÃ© whom he had met on European tour. The evening before Joy Division were to embark on the American tour, Curtis returned to his home in Macclesfield in order to talk to his estranged wife. While he first asked Deborah Curtis to drop the divorce suit, he eventually told her to leave him alone in the house until he caught his train to Manchester the following morning. Early the following morning of 18 May 1980, Curtis hanged himself in the kitchen; Deborah Curtis discovered his body when she returned around midday. Tony Wilson said in 2005, "I think all of us made the mistake of not thinking his suicide was going to happen [...] We all completely underestimated the danger. We didn’t take it seriously. That’s how stupid we were."

Aftermath

Curtis’s suicide "made for instant myth". Jon Savage wrote in his obituary for Curtis in Melody Maker, "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." In June 1980 the posthumous single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was released, which hit number thirteen on the British singles chart. In July 1980, Closer was finally released, peaking at number six on the British album chart. NME reviewer Charles Shaar Murray wrote, "Closer is as magnificent a memorial (for ’Joy Division’ as much as for Ian Curtis) as any post-Presley popular musician could have."
The members of Joy Division had made a pact long before Curtis’ death that, should any member leave, the remaining members would change the name of the group. Eventually renaming themselves New Order, the band was reborn as a three piece with Sumner assuming vocal duties; the group later recruited Morris’ girlfriend Gillian Gilbert to round out the lineup as keyboardist. New Order’s first single, the 1981 release "Ceremony", featured the last two songs written with Ian Curtis. While the group struggled in its early years to escape the shadow of Joy Division, New Order eventually went on to much greater success than their previous band had.
Further material has been released by Joy Division after the band’s demise. Still, a compilation of live tracks and rare recordings, was released in 1981. By the mid-1980s many Joy Division releases were out of print, so Factory issued the Substance compilation in 1988, reaching number seven in the album charts. Seven years later, the 15th anniversary of Curtis’ death was memorialized with another compilation, Permanent (was issued in 1995 by London Records, which had acquired the Joy Division catalogue after Factory Records went bankrupt in 1992), a tribute album (A Means to an End), and a biography of his life (Touching From a Distance) written by his widow, Deborah Curtis. A comprehensive box set, Heart and Soul, was released in 1997 combining the band’s seminal studio albums with early recordings, demos, outtakes, radio sessions, and live tracks.
In 1999, the Factory Too label began a program of concert-performance reissues -- all overseen by the remainder of the original lineup -- with Preston Warehouse 28 February 1980. Another live recording, Les Bains Douches 18 December 1979, was released in 2001
Back in the public eye in 2007 following the sad passing of former mentor Tony Wilson, Joy Division re-released their classic single Love Will Tear Us Apart in September, a couple of weeks before Anton Corbijn’s acclaimed biopic of the band, Control, arrives on the big screen. Prior to the single’s release, Joy Division’s back catalogue Unknown Pleasures, Closer and Still were repackaged and featured additional CDs of live material.
UNKNOWN PLEASURES (COLLECTOR’S EDITION) is an expanded 2-CD set featuring the original album on Disc One plus a bonus Disc Two presenting historic, previously unreleased live material. The album’s ten classic songs resonate with the rich textures and deep sonic spaces of Martin Hannett’s production. Highlights include â€œInsight,â€ â€œDisorder,â€ â€œNew Dawn Fadesâ€ and â€œShe’s Lost Control.â€ The latter, one of the band’s best known tracks, is the inspiration for the title for the film Control. Disc Two features a previously unreleased concert recorded live at the Factory in the band’s hometown of Manchester on July 13, 1979. It features thirteen songs including â€œCandidate,â€ â€œShe’s Lost Control,â€ â€œInsightâ€ and their smash single â€œLove Will Tear Us Apartâ€ (which did not appear on either of their original albums).
CLOSER (COLLECTOR’S EDITION) is an expanded 2-CD set featuring the original album on Disc One plus a bonus Disc Two presenting historic, previously unreleased live material. As with Joy Division’s seminal ’79 debut UNKNOWN PLEASURES, CLOSER was produced by Martin Hannett, who weaves sprawling emotional chaos and shifting atmospheres and textures together into an enormously powerful ten-song tour de force. Stand-outs include â€œHeart And Soul,â€ â€œIsolation,â€ â€œEternal,â€ â€œDecadesâ€ and the wrenching â€œTwenty Four Hours.â€ Disc 2 features a previously unreleased concert performance recorded live at the University of London on February 8, 1980. It features twelve songs including â€œDead Souls,â€ â€œGlass,â€ â€œTwenty Four Hoursâ€ and an encore of â€œThe Eternalâ€ and â€œDigital.â€
STILL (COLLECTOR’S EDITION) is an expanded 2-CD set featuring the original album on Disc One plus a bonus Disc Two presenting historic, previously unreleased live material. At the time of its original release in ’81, all of the material on STILL was previously unissued except for two songs, â€œGlassâ€ and â€œDead Souls,â€ both stand-out studio recordings from 1978 and 1979, respectively. Also featured is material from Joy Division’s last-ever concert, recorded at Birmingham University in May 1980 including the only time they performed â€œCeremonyâ€ live (the song would later become a New Order single). Another track captured at Birmingham is â€œShadowplay,â€ a song covered in 2007 by The Killers for the soundtrack for the film Control. Other highlights include a live cover of The Velvet Underground’s â€œSister Rayâ€ and a 1979 studio recording of â€œSomething Must Break.â€ Disc Two presents six songs from a soundcheck and concert recorded live at Town Hall in High Wycombe on February 20, 1980. The eight concert song performances include â€œTwenty Four Hours,â€ â€œThe Sound Of Musicâ€ and â€œLove Will Tear Us Apart.â€ Soundcheck recordings of six selections include â€œIsolationâ€ and â€œThe Eternal.â€

Musical Style

Joy Division took a while to develop their sound. As Warsaw, the band played "fairly undistinguished punk-inflected hard-rock". Music critic Simon Reynolds asserted that "Joy Division’s originality really became apparent as the songs got slower." The group’s music took on a "sparse" quality; Reynolds detailed that "Peter Hook’s bass carried the melody, Bernard Sumner’s guitar left gaps rather than filling up the group’s sound with dense riffage, and Steve Morris’ drums seemed to circle the rim of a crater." Sumner described the band’s characteristic sound in 1994: "It came out naturally: I’m more rhythm and chords, and Hooky was melody. He used to play high lead bass because I liked my guitar to sound distorted, and the amplifier I had would only work when it was at full volume. When Hooky played low, he couldn’t hear himself. Steve has his own style which is different to other drummers. To me, a drummer in the band is the clock, but Steve wouldn’t be the clock, because he’s passive: he would follow the rhythm of the band, which gave us our own edge." Over time, Ian Curtis began to sing in a low, baritone voice, which often drew comparisons to Jim Morrison of The Doors (a group which was in fact one of Curtis’ favourite bands). During the recording sessions for Closer, Sumner began using self-built synthesizers and Hook used a six-string bass for more melody.
Producer Martin Hannett "dedicated himself to capturing and intensifying Joy Division’s eerie spatiality". Hannett believed punk rock was sonically conservative because of its refusal to utilise studio technology to create sonic space. The producer instead aimed to create a more expansive sound on the group’s records. Hannett demanded clean and clear "sound separation" not only for individual instruments, but even for individual pieces of Morris’ drumkit. Morris recalled, "Typically on tracks he considered to be potential singles, he’d get me to play each drum on its own to avoid any bleed-through of sound." Sumner acted as the unofficial musical director of the band, a role that he carried over into New Order.

Lyrics

Ian Curtis was the group’s sole lyricist. Curtis would write frantically when the mood took him. He would then listen to the band’s music (which was often arranged by Sumner) and would choose the lyrics that seemed appropriate. Words and images such as "coldness, pressure, darkness, crisis, failure, collapse, loss of control" reoccur in his songs. Curtis told the fanzine Printed Noise, "We haven’t got a message really; the lyrics are open to interpretation. They’re multidimensional. You can read into them what you like." Deborah Curtis recalled that only with the release of Closer did many who were close to the singer realise "His intentions and feelings were all there within the lyrics." Annik Honore talking to Tony Wilson about Closer said "I’m terrified, don’t you understand? He means it." The surviving members of the band in retrospect regret not seeing warning signs in Curtis’ lyrics. "This sounds awful but it was only after Ian died that we sat down and listened to the lyrics," Morris said in 2007. "You’d find yourself thinking, ’Oh my God, I missed this one.’ Because I’d look at Ian’s lyrics and think how clever he was putting himself in the position of someone else. I never believed he was writing about himself. Looking back, how could I have been so bleedin’ stupid? Of course he was writing about himself. But I didn’t go in and grab him and ask, ’What’s up?’ I have to live with that."

Legacy

Despite their short career, Joy Division have exerted a strong musical and critical influence. The band’s dark and gloomy sound, which Martin Hannett described in 1979 as "dancing music with Gothic overtones", presaged the gothic rock genre. While the term "gothic" originally described a "doomy atmosphere" in music of the late 1970s, the term was soon applied to specific bands like Bauhaus that followed in Joy Division’s wake. Standard musical fixtures of early gothic rock bands included "high-pitched post-Joy Division basslines usurped the melodic role" and "vocals that were either near operatic and Teutonic or deep, droning alloys of Jim Morrison and Ian Curtis." The band, and especially Ian Curtis, has been an inspiration for a number of bands and musicians that include U2, The Smashing Pumpkins, Manic Street Preachers, 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. In 2005, Joy Division were inducted along with New Order into the UK Music Hall of Fame.
Two biopics have been released that dramatise Joy Division on film. 24 Hour Party People (2002) presented a somewhat fictionalised account of the rise and fall of the Factory Records, in which the members of Joy Division served as supporting characters. The 2007 film Control, directed by Anton Corbijn, is a biography of Ian Curtis (portrayed by Sam Riley) that uses the Deborah Curtis biography Touching From a Distance as a basis; other people who were consulted for the film included Tony Wilson and New Order, who scored the film. Control had its international premiere on the first night of Director’s Fortnight at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, where it was critically well-received.
2008 will be another important year with the release of feature length documentary "JOY DIVISION" directed by Grammy nominated Grant Gee (Radiohead’s Meeting People Is Easy) and co-written by acclaimed journalist/writer Jon Savage (England’s Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond). The band’s remarkable story is depicted through atmospheric never-before-seen live performance footage, photographs both iconic and personal, period films and newly unearthed audio tapes.This unparalleled visual account of a time and place is coupled with heartfelt and animated, present tense accounts from the surviving members of the band Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris, plus other key characters in the story, including friend and similarly isolated musician Genesis P. Orridge, legendary Factory Records owner Tony Wilson, iconic graphic artist Peter Saville, photographer/ filmmaker Anton Corbijn, Annik HonorÃ© and others.
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