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Joy Division

 
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In a piece cited in a Warner Bros, publicity release Melody Maker magazine called Joy Division "the greatest band ever, the group whose music inspired [modern-rock stalwarts] U2, Depeche Mode, Nirvana, Radiohead and countless others." The Northern English band’s gloomy post-punk was extremely influential, to be sure, but its mythic importance owes much to the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis in 1980. The remaining members found greater success as New Order, but Joy Division continued to exert a profound spell on subsequent generations of alternative rock musicians and fans.

The band was born in Manchester, an industrial town in Northern England, in the late 1970s. Punk rock was a burgeoning phenomenon, and the genre’s most powerful exemplars, the Sex Pistols, performed at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976. Attending this performance were three school chums, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Terry Mason. Sour Times printed a quote from Sumner regarding the Pistols: "They were terrible," he recalled. "I thought they were great. I wanted to get up and be terrible too." Their musical aspirations kicked into gear by the energy of the punk movement, the three decided to form a band. With Sumner on guitar, Hook on bass and Mason on drums, they lacked only a singer. Curtis, whom they knew from various shows around town, agreed to front the group, which was initially called Stiff Kittens, and then Warsaw. The latter name was inspired by "Warzawa," a moody instrumental on protean British avant-rocker David Bowie’s album Low,

Mason was replaced by Tony Tabac on drums before Warsaw’s first gig, a show at Manchester’s Electric Circus in May of 1977 that also featured punk-pop favorites the Buzzcocks. The band continued playing regionally, replacing Tabac with Panik’s Steve Brotherdale during the summer, but the latter lasted only a few months— albeit months during which Warsaw made its very first recordings, known collectively in lateryearsas The Warsaw Demo. Stephen Morris came on board toward the end of the year. "Steve Morris played cabaret style and we had to teach him the way we wanted him to play, which was difficult," Hook recalled in Goldmine, "but when he learned he was brilliant." The newdrummer helped the group to forge its sonic identity, and they returned to the studio in December to record four songs for an EP, An Ideal for Living. This disc attracted the attention of RCA Records, but the label’s attempt to make the group sound "more professional" led to a parting of ways.

"An Important Band"
The success of a London band, Warsaw Pakt, persuaded Warsaw to adopt a new moniker. The name Joy Division came from the term for prostitution units frequented by Nazi officers during World War II; the band learned it from a novel, Karol Cetinsky’s The House of Dolls. A fight broke out at the first Joy Division show, and riots became a staple of their live appearances. Their name and cryptic, frequently Germanic artwork inspired speculation that the group members were Nazi sympathizers, a charge they passionately denied.

Joy Division eventually signed a deal with Factory Records, which was founded by local music producers Tony Wilson and Rob Gretton. Their initial release on the label was part of a compilation called A Factory Sampier, which featured two Joy Division songs; the band also re-released their first EP and recorded some material for influential BBC disc jockey John Peel’s program. Their full-length debut came with 1979’s Unknown Pleasures, which Goldmine’s Fernando Lopez De Victoria called "one of the most impressive debut albums ever issued." The group began playing more high-profile shows, even opening for popular alternative-rockers The Cure in London. The music paper NME wrote, "Joy Division now sketch withering grey abstractions of industrial malaise," adding "Musically Joy Division is more punishing than any Heavy Metal band…. When Joy Division left the stage I felt emotionally drained. They are, without any exaggeration, an Important Band." Later in the year, the group joined the Buzzcocks on tour, and recorded what would become their signature song, "Love Will Tear Us Apart," for Peel’s program. Though not yet commercially available, it became extremely popular.

Success and Suicide
The band toured across Europe in early 1980, but the bloom began to come of the rose of success for Curtis. His marriage was compromised by his relationship with a Belgian woman, Annik Honore, and he suffered an epileptic fit after a London concert in April. Never previously diagnosed with the illness, he was devastated by it. "He was only like 22 or something," Sumner told The New Music television program, which was transcribed for the Much Music web site. "We took him to the hospital and they said, ‘Yeah, he’s had an epileptic fit.’ After that, he just got really bad and he started getting it more and more." The treatment offered at the time, Sumner added, "was just to dose someone up with barbs, so he was on really heavy barbiturates all the time and that just changed his whole personality, really, but there was nothing we could do about it." In a book written by Curtis’ widow some years later, Hook maintains that the singer nonetheless concealed the extent of his despair. "He must have been a pretty good actor," asserted the bassist. "We didn’t have a bleeding clue what was going on. You tried to help him with your limited experience, and you did what you could, but as soon as you left him, he went back, you know?"

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" appeared on Joy Division’s second full-length album, Closer, which received excellent reviews. Yet the content of the recording was a tipoff for some of Curtis’ deteriorating emotional condition. And Deborah herself later acknowledged—in a radio interview transcribed for a web site–that Curtis had long contemplated ending his life. "He’d always said that he would kill himself and he didn’t want to live after the age of 25," she affirmed, but recalled hoping "he’d grow out of it," since the two had a child and the band was doing well. Yet Curtis also pictured himself as a pop-cultural martyr, like singer Jim Morrison of the Doors or movie idol James Dean, both of whom died young and left behind powerful myths. Whatever his motivations, Curtis hanged himself at his home in the town of Macclesfield on May 18, 1980, just before Joy Division was scheduled to leave on a tour. He had apparently just watched a dark German film on television; an album by proto-punk trailblazerlggy Pop was allegedly on his turntable when his body was found.

Posthumous Influence
In the wake of Curtis’ suicide, Close. sold briskly; the remaining members of the band went on to form the far more successful band New Order. 1981 sawthe release of a posthumous collection, Still. Though many fans viewed the latter as an opportunistic release, the legacy of Joy Division exerted a powerful force on the subsequent generation of alternative rock. "It was very important," singer U2 singer Bono of the band in an interview for The New Music. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails covered a Joy Division song for a film soundtrack some years later, and a couple of tribute albums during the mid-1990s testified to the staying power of Joy Division’s songs, with contributions by techno artist Moby, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, Girls Against Boys and many others.

In 1995, Qwest Records released Permanent, a collection comprising most of Joy Division’s celebrated recordings and a remix of "Love Will Tear Us Apart." That song in particular had come to be recognized as a defining moment in the history of rock, and Bill Wyman listed a portion of the track at the top of his list of "100 Greatest Rock’N’ Roll Moments" for Addicted to Noise. "’Love Will Tear Us Apart’ may contain one of the most haunting melodies every concocted," claimed Johnny Angel of the San Francisco Bay Guardian. "Ian Curtis and Joy Division were one of the turning point of rock music," said Tom Atencio, an executive producer of one tribute anthology and American representative of New Order, in Billboards "The Sex Pistols, Joy Division, and Nirvana are all essential for modern rock." Mark Williams, then an executive at Virgin Records, described Joy Division in the same article as "our generation’s [cult-rock phenomenon] Velvet Underground. "More people know about them than actually bought their records when they came out."

Selected discography
An Ideal for Living, Enigma, 1978.
A Factory Sampler, Factory, 1978.
The Peel Sessions, Dutch East India, 1979.
Unknown Pleasures, Factory, 1979.
Close. (includes "Love Will Tear Us Apart"), Factory, 1980.
Still, Factory, 1981.
Substance, 1977-80, Qwest, 1988.
Permanent: The Best of Joy Division, Qwest, 1995.

Sources
Periodicals
Addicted to Noise, January 11, 1996.
Billboard, August 5, 1995.
Chicago Tribune, January 12, 1996; May 13, 1996.
Goldmine, February 7, 1992.
Melody Maker, June 1995.
New Musical Express (NME), May 26, 1979.
San Francisco Bay Guardian, July 9, 1996.
Sounds, November 21, 1981.
Additional information was provided by Warner Bros./Qwest publicity materials, and from the Internet sites HotWired, Joy Division Shadowplay, Much Music, Sour Times and various unofficial Joy Division sites.
  • Genres: Rock

Biography

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. ~ John Bush, Rovi
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Joy Division

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Joy Division

Joy Division in 1979. Left to right: Stephen Morris, Peter Hook, Ian Curtis, Bernard Sumner
Background information
Also known as Stiff Kittens, Warsaw
Origin Salford, Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom
Genres Post-punk
Years active 1976–1980
Labels Factory
Associated acts New Order, Peter Hook and The Light
Past members
Ian Curtis
Peter Hook
Stephen Morris
Bernard Sumner

Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band primarily consisted of Ian Curtis (vocals and occasional guitar), Bernard Sumner (guitar and keyboards),[1] Peter Hook (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Stephen Morris (drums and percussion).

Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences to develop a sound and style that pioneered the post-punk movement of the late 1970s. According to music critic Jon Savage, the band "were not punk but were directly inspired by its energy".[2] Their self-released 1978 debut EP, An Ideal for Living, caught the attention of the Manchester television personality Tony Wilson. Joy Division's debut album, Unknown Pleasures, was released in 1979 on Wilson's independent record label, Factory Records, and drew critical acclaim from the British press. Despite the band's growing success, vocalist Ian Curtis was beset with depression and personal difficulties, including a dissolving marriage and his diagnosis of epilepsy. Curtis found it increasingly difficult to perform at live concerts, and often had seizures during performances.

On the eve of the band's first American tour in May 1980, Curtis committed suicide. Joy Division's posthumously released second album, Closer (1980), and the single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" became the band's highest charting releases. After the death of Curtis, the remaining members continued as New Order, achieving critical and commercial success.

Contents

History

Formation

On 20 July 1976, Sumner and Hook (who had been friends since the age of eleven) separately attended the second Sex Pistols show at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall. The following day Hook borrowed £35 from his mother to buy his first bass guitar.[3] Sumner later said that he felt that the Pistols "destroyed the myth of being a pop star, of a musician being some kind of god that you had to worship".[4] 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, and Mason a drum kit. They invited schoolfriend Martin Gresty to join as vocalist, but he turned them down after getting a job at a local factory.[5] An advertisement was placed in the Virgin Records store in Manchester for a vocalist. Ian Curtis, who knew the three from meeting at earlier gigs, responded and was hired without audition.[4] According to Sumner, "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."[6]

Buzzcocks manager Richard Boon and frontman Pete Shelley have both been credited with suggesting the band call themselves the Stiff Kittens, and they were billed under this name for their first public performance, but the band instead chose the name Warsaw shortly before the gig, in reference to the song "Warszawa" by David Bowie.[7][8][9] Warsaw played their first gig on 29 May 1977, supporting the Buzzcocks, Penetration, and John Cooper Clarke at the Electric Circus.[9] The band received national exposure due to reviews of the gig in the NME by Paul Morley and in Sounds by Ian Wood.[10][11] Tony Tabac played drums that night after joining the band two days earlier.[9][12] Mason was soon made the band's manager and Tabac was replaced on drums in June 1977 by Steve Brotherdale, who also played in the punk band Panik.[13] During his tenure with Warsaw, Brotherdale tried to get Curtis to leave the band and join Panik and even got Curtis to audition for the band.[14][15] In July 1977, Warsaw recorded a set of five demo tracks at Pennine Sound Studios, Oldham.[16] Uneasy with Brotherdale's aggressive personality, the band fired him soon after the demo sessions. Driving home from the studio, they pulled over and asked Brotherdale to check on a flat tyre; when he got out of the car, they sped off.[17]

In August 1977, the band placed an advertisement in a music shop window seeking a replacement drummer. Stephen Morris, who had attended the same school as Curtis, 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'".[18] In order to avoid confusion with the London punk band Warsaw Pakt, the band renamed themselves Joy Division in early 1978, borrowing their new name from the prostitution wing of a Nazi concentration camp mentioned in the 1955 novel The House of Dolls.[15][19] In December, the group recorded what became their debut EP, An Ideal for Living at Pennine Sound Studio and played their final gig as Warsaw on New Year's Eve at The Swinging Apple in Liverpool.[20] Billed as Warsaw to ensure an audience, the band played their first gig as Joy Division on 25 January 1978 at Pip's Disco in Manchester.[21]

Early releases

Joy Division were approached by RCA Records to record a cover of Nolan "N.F." Porter's "Keep On Keepin' On" and were afforded recording time at a professional Manchester studio in return. Joy Division spent late March and April 1978 writing and rehearsing material.[22] During the Stiff/Chiswick Challenge concert at Manchester's Rafters Club on 14 April, the group caught the attention of Tony Wilson and Rob Gretton. Curtis berated Wilson for not putting the group on his defunct Granada Television show So It Goes; Wilson responded that Joy Division would be the next band he would showcase on TV.[23] Gretton, the venue's resident DJ, was so impressed by the band's performance that he convinced them to take him on as their manager.[3] Gretton, whose "dogged determination" would later be credited for much of the band's public success, contributed the business skills that Joy Division lacked to provide them with a better foundation for creativity.[24][25] Joy Division spent the first week of May 1978 recording at Manchester's Arrow Studios. The band were unhappy with the Grapevine Records head John Anderson's insistence on adding synthesiser into the mix to soften the sound, and asked to be dropped from the contract that they had recently signed with RCA.[26][27]

Joy Division made their recorded debut in June 1978 when the band self-released An Ideal for Living, and two weeks later a track of theirs, "At a Later Date", was featured on the compilation album Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus (which had been recorded live in October 1977).[28][29][30] In the Melody Maker review of the EP, Chris Brazier said that it "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".[31] The packaging of An Ideal for Living—which featured a drawing of a Hitler Youth member on the cover—coupled with the nature of the band's name, fuelled speculation about their political affiliations.[32] While Hook and Sumner later admitted to being intrigued by fascism at the time, Morris insisted that the group's obsession with Nazi imagery came from a desire to keep memories of the sacrifices of their parents and grandparents during World War II alive. He argued that accusations of neo-Nazi sympathies merely provoked the band "to keep on doing it, because that's the kind of people we are".[19]

In September 1978, Joy Division made their television performance debut on the local news show Granada Reports, hosted by Tony Wilson.[33] Later in the month, 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, after buying themselves out of the deal with RCA.[34][35] Rob Gretton was made a partner in the label to represent the interests of the band.[36] On 27 December, Ian Curtis suffered his first recognisable epileptic episode. During the ride home after a show at the Hope and Anchor pub in London, Curtis had a seizure and was taken to a hospital.[37] In spite of his 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; that same month the band recorded their first radio session for BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel. According to Deborah Curtis, "Sandwiched in between these two important landmarks was the realization that Ian's illness was something we would have to learn to accommodate."[38]

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."[39] 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.[36] 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—perhaps you can't ask for much more. Indeed, Unknown Pleasures may very well be one of the best, white, English, debut LPs of the year".[40]

Joy Division performed on Granada TV again in July 1979, and made their only nationwide TV appearance in September on BBC2's Something Else. They supported the Buzzcocks in a 24-venue UK tour that began that October, which allowed the band to quit their regular jobs.[4] 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".[41]

Closer and Curtis's 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.[42] With Martin Hannett again producing, the band recorded their second album, Closer, in March at London's Britannia Row Studios.[43] 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.[44]

Lack of sleep and long hours destabilised Curtis's epilepsy and his seizures became almost uncontrollable.[45] 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 his behaviour was part of the show.[46] On 7 April, Curtis attempted suicide by overdosing on phenobarbitone.[4] The next evening, Joy Division was set to play a gig at the Derby Hall in Bury. 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 on vocals for the first few songs. Curtis came onstage to perform for part of the set. When Topping came back out to finish the set for Curtis, some in the audience started throwing bottles at the stage. Gretton leapt into the crowd and a riot ensued.[36] Several April gigs were cancelled due to the continuing ill health of Curtis, but the band filmed a promotional video for the forthcoming "Love Will Tear Us Apart" single that month.[47] The band played what would be their final show at the University of Birmingham's High Hall on 2 May.[48] Hook later described how Curtis's illness was affecting the band's cohesion, leading to an out-of-kilter performance.[49]

Joy Division were due to begin their first American tour in May 1980. While Curtis had expressed a desire to take time off to visit a few acquaintances, he feigned excitement about the tour around the band because he did not want to disappoint his band mates or Factory Records.[50] At the time, Curtis's 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 Honoré whom he had met on a 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. He asked her to drop the divorce suit she had filed; later, he told her to leave him alone in the house until he caught his train to Manchester the next morning.[51] Early on the morning of 18 May 1980, Curtis hanged himself in his kitchen; Deborah Curtis discovered his body when she returned around midday.[52] 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."[43]

Aftermath

Curtis's suicide "made for instant myth", in the words of music critic Simon Reynolds.[53] 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."[54] In June 1980, the posthumous single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was released, which hit number thirteen on the UK Singles Chart.[55] In July 1980, Closer finally came out, peaking at number six on the UK Albums Chart.[4] 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."[56]

The members of Joy Division had made a pact long before Curtis's death that, should any member leave, the remaining members would change the name of the group.[48] Eventually renaming themselves New Order, the band was reborn as a three-piece with Sumner assuming vocal duties; the group later recruited Morris's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert to round out the line-up as keyboardist and second guitarist. New Order's first single, the 1981 release "Ceremony", featured the last two songs written with Ian Curtis.[57] While the group struggled in its early years to escape the shadow of Joy Division, New Order eventually went on to much greater commercial success than their predecessor band.[58]

Further Joy Division material has been released since the band's demise. Still, a compilation of live tracks and rare recordings, was issued in 1981. Factory put out the Substance compilation in 1988, which included several out-of-print singles.[59] Another compilation, Permanent, was released in 1995 by London Records, which had acquired the Joy Division catalogue after Factory Records went bankrupt in 1992. A comprehensive box set, Heart and Soul, came out in 1997. The compilation album The Best of Joy Division was released in 2008.

Musical style

Joy Division took time to develop their sound. As Warsaw, the band played "fairly undistinguished punk-inflected hard-rock". 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; in Reynolds's description, "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's drums seemed to circle the rim of a crater."[60] 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."[4] Over time, Ian Curtis began to sing in a low, baritone voice, which often drew comparisons to Jim Morrison of The Doors (one of Curtis's favourite bands).[61]

Sumner acted as the unofficial musical director of the band, a role that he carried over into New Order.[62] While Sumner was the group's primary guitarist, Curtis played the instrument on a few recorded songs and during a few shows. Curtis hated playing guitar, but the band insisted he do so. Sumner said, "He played in quite a bizarre way and that to us was interesting, because no one else would play like Ian."[63] During the recording sessions for Closer, Sumner began using self-built synthesisers and Hook used a six-string bass for more melody.[64]

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.[61] The producer instead aimed to create a more expansive sound on the group's records. Hannett said, "[Joy Division] were a gift to a producer, because they didn't have a clue. They didn't argue."[4] Hannett demanded clean and clear "sound separation" not only for individual instruments, but even for individual pieces of Morris's 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."[65]

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 used the lyrics that were most appropriate.[66] Words and images such as "coldness, pressure, darkness, crisis, failure, collapse, loss of control" recur in his songs.[60] In 1979, NME journalist Paul Rambali wrote, "The themes of Joy Division's music are sorrowful, painful, and sometimes deeply sad."[67] Musicologist Robert Palmer wrote in Musician that the writings of William S. Burroughs and J. G. Ballard were "obvious influences" to Curtis, and Morris also remembered the singer reading T. S. Eliot.[68]

The band refused to explain their lyrics to the press or print the words on lyrics sheets.[67] 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."[63] The other band members later admitted they paid little attention to what Curtis was writing.[62] In a 1987 interview with Option, Morris commented: "We just thought the songs were sort of sympathetic and more uplifting than depressing. But everyone's got their own opinion."[69] Deborah Curtis recalled that only with the release of Closer did many who were close to the singer realise "[h]is intentions and feelings were all there within the lyrics."[70] The surviving members of the band in retrospect regret not seeing warning signs in Curtis's 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."[62]

Live performances

In contrast to the sound of their studio recordings, Joy Division typically played loudly and aggressively during live performances. The band were unhappy with Hannett's mixing of Unknown Pleasures, which reduced the abrasiveness of their sound. According to Sumner, "the music was loud and heavy, and we felt that Martin had toned it down, especially with the guitars."[4] In concert, the group interacted little with the crowd; Paul Morley wrote, "[D]uring a Joy Division set, outside of the songs, you'll be lucky to hear more than two or three words. Hello and goodbye. No introductions, no promotion."[71] While singing, Curtis would often perform what was referred to as his "'dead fly' dance", where the singer's arms would "start flying in [a] semicircular, hypnotic curve".[4] Simon Reynolds noted that Curtis's dancing style was reminiscent of an epileptic fit, and that he was dancing in the manner for some months before he was diagnosed with epilepsy.[41] Live performances became problematic for Joy Division, due to Curtis's condition. Sumner later said, "We didn't have flashing lights, but sometimes a particular drum beat would do something to him. He'd go off in a trance for a bit, then he'd lose it and have a[n epileptic] fit. We'd have to stop the show and carry him off to the dressing-room where he'd cry his eyes out because this appalling thing had just happened to him."[72]

Legacy

Despite their short career and cult status, Joy Division have exerted a wide-reaching influence. John Bush of Allmusic argues that Joy Division "became the first band in the post-punk movement by ... emphasizing not anger and energy but mood and expression, pointing ahead to the rise of melancholy alternative music in the '80s."[73]

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.[74] Standard musical fixtures of early gothic rock bands included "high-pitched post-Joy Division basslines usurp[ing] the melodic role" and "vocals that were either near operatic and Teutonic or deep, droning alloys of Jim Morrison and Ian Curtis."[75] Joy Division has influenced bands ranging from contemporaries U2 and The Cure to post-punk revival artists such as Interpol, Bloc Party and Editors.[76] U2 frontman Bono stated that his group loved Joy Division.[77] The singer said in the band's 2006 autobiography U2 by U2, "It would be harder to find a darker place in music than Joy Division. Their name, their lyrics and their singer were as big a black cloud as you could find in the sky. And yet I sensed the pursuit of God, or light, or reason ... a reason to be. With Joy Division, you felt from this singer, beauty was truth and truth was beauty, and theirs was a search for both."[78] Artists including electronica performer Moby and former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante have described their appreciation for Joy Division's music and the influence it has had on their own material.[79][80] In 2005, Joy Division were inducted along with New Order into the UK Music Hall of Fame.[81]

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 Factory Records, in which the members of Joy Division served as supporting characters. Tony Wilson said of the film, "It's all true, it's all not true. It's not a fucking documentary", insisting that whenever possible during the production of the film, he favoured the "myth" over the truth.[82] The 2007 film Control, directed by Anton Corbijn, is a biography of Ian Curtis (portrayed by Sam Riley) that uses Deborah Curtis's biography of her late husband, Touching from a Distance (1995), as its basis.[83] Control had its international premiere on the opening night of Director's Fortnight at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, where it was critically well-received.[84] That year Grant Gee directed the band documentary Joy Division.[85]

Discography

Studio albums

References

  • Curtis, Deborah. Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division. London: Faber, 1995 (2nd ed. 2001, 3rd ed. 2005). ISBN 0-571-17445-0
  • Gimarc, George. Punk Diary: The Ultimate Trainspotter's Guide to Underground Rock 1970–1982. Backbeat Books, 2005. ISBN 0-87930-848-6
  • Johnson, Mark. An Ideal For Living: A History of Joy Division. London: Bobcat, 1984. ISBN 0-7119-1065-0
  • Ogg, Alex. No More Heroes: a Complete History of UK Punk from 1976 to 1980. Cherry Red Books, 2006. ISBN 978-1-901447-65-1
  • Ott, Chris. Unknown Pleasures. (33⅓ series) New York: Continuum, 2004. ISBN 0-8264-1549-0
  • Reynolds, Simon. Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984. Penguin, 2005. ISBN 0-14-303672-6
  • Savage, Jon. "Joy Division: Someone Take These Dreams Away". Mojo. July 1994.
  • West, Mike. Joy Division. Todmorden: Babylon, 1984. ISBN 0-907188-21-4

Notes

  1. ^ Sumner was also credited as "Bernard Dicken", "Bernard Albrecht" and "Bernard Albrecht-Dicken" on Joy Division releases
  2. ^ Savage, Jon. "Foreword". Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division. London: Faber, 1995 (2nd ed. 2001, 3rd ed. 2005). ISBN 0-571-17445-0
  3. ^ a b Barrett, Christopher (25 August 2007). "Joy Division". MusicWeek.com. http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?storyCode=1031301&sectioncode=2. Retrieved 6 August 2009. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Savage, Jon. "Joy Division: Someone Take These Dreams Away". Mojo. July 1994.
  5. ^ Ogg, p. 571
  6. ^ Curtis, Deborah. Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division. London: Faber, 1995 (2nd ed. 2001, 3rd ed. 2005). ISBN 0-571-17445-0, p. 42
  7. ^ West, pp. 9–10
  8. ^ Curtis, pp. 43–44
  9. ^ a b c Gimarc, p. 68
  10. ^ Johnson, p. 13
  11. ^ West, p. 10
  12. ^ Curtis, p. 44
  13. ^ Gimarc, p. 73
  14. ^ Curtis, p. 48
  15. ^ a b Ogg, p. 572
  16. ^ Ott, p. 10
  17. ^ Curtis, p. 49
  18. ^ Curtis, p. 50
  19. ^ a b Reynolds, p. 111
  20. ^ Johnson, p. 17
  21. ^ Johnson, p. 19
  22. ^ Ott, p. 33
  23. ^ Curtis, p. 61
  24. ^ Johnson, p. 24
  25. ^ West, p. 14
  26. ^ Ott, p. 42
  27. ^ Gimarc, p. 135
  28. ^ Gimarc, p. 141
  29. ^ Gimarc, p.143
  30. ^ Curtis, pp. 51–52, 140
  31. ^ Brazier, Chris. An Ideal For Living review. Melody Maker. 24 June 1978.
  32. ^ Curtis, p. 54
  33. ^ Curtis, p. 202
  34. ^ Factory Records did not have record contracts, so Joy Division (and, later, New Order) were never officially signed to the label.
  35. ^ Gimarc, p. 158
  36. ^ a b c Shadowplayers [DVD]. LTM, 2006
  37. ^ Curtis, p. 69
  38. ^ Curtis, p. 71
  39. ^ Wilkinson, Roy. "Ode to Joy". Mojo Classic: Morrissey and the Story of Manchester. 2006.
  40. ^ Savage, Jon. Unknown Pleasures review. Melody Maker. 21 July 1979.
  41. ^ a b Reynolds, p. 115
  42. ^ Curtis, p. 107
  43. ^ a b Raftery, Brian. "He's Lost Control". Spin. May 2005.
  44. ^ Gimarc, p. 307
  45. ^ Curtis, p. 113
  46. ^ Curtis, p. 114
  47. ^ Gimarc, p. 322
  48. ^ a b Morley, Paul; Thrills, Adrian. "Don't Walk Away in Silence". NME. 14 June 1980.
  49. ^ Henwood, Chris. "Peter Hook and The Light perform Unknown Pleasures - A Joy Division Celebration". Birmingham Mail. http://www.birminghammail.net/what-is-on-in-birmingham/rock-and-pop/2012/05/18/music-peter-hook-and-the-light-perform-unknown-pleasures-a-joy-division-celebration-97319-30993213/#ixzz1vUFr4Snl. Retrieved 18 May 2012. 
  50. ^ Reynolds, p. 117
  51. ^ Curtis, pp. 131–132
  52. ^ Curtis, p. 132
  53. ^ Reynolds, p. 118
  54. ^ Savage, Jon. "From safety to where?" Melody Maker. 14 June 1980.
  55. ^ Curtis, p. 138
  56. ^ Murrary, Charles Shaar. "Closer to the Edge" [Closer review]. NME. 19 July 1980.
  57. ^ Ott, p. 112
  58. ^ Ankeny, Jason. "New Order (biography)". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p5017. Retrieved 22 September 2010. 
  59. ^ Raggett, Ned. "Substance (review)". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r10646. Retrieved 22 December 2007. 
  60. ^ a b Reynolds, p. 110
  61. ^ a b Reynolds, p. 112
  62. ^ a b c Lester, Paul (31 August 2007). "'It felt like someone had ripped out my heart'". The Guardian. UK. http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/story/0,,2159073,00.html. Retrieved 18 October 2007. 
  63. ^ a b Curtis, p. 75
  64. ^ Reynolds, p. 116
  65. ^ Reynolds, p. 113
  66. ^ Curtis, p. 74
  67. ^ a b Rambali, Paul. "Take No Prisoners, Leave No Clues". NME. 11 August 1979.
  68. ^ Palmer, Robert. "The Substance Of Joy Division: A Talk With New Order". Musician. August 1988.
  69. ^ Woodard, Josef. "Out From The Shadows: New Order". Option. November/December 1987.
  70. ^ Curtis, p. 139
  71. ^ Morley, Paul. "Simply the First Division". NME. 16 February 1980.
  72. ^ Lester, Paul. "Torn Apart: The Legend of Joy Division." Record Collector. November 2007.
  73. ^ Bush, John. "Joy Division — Biography". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p71273. Retrieved 22 December 2007. 
  74. ^ Reynolds, p. 352
  75. ^ Reynolds, p. 353
  76. ^ Reynolds, Simon (7 October 2007). "Music to Brood by, Desolate and Stark". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/movies/07reyn.html?_r=1&ref=movies&oref=slogin. Retrieved 16 December 2007. 
  77. ^ NewOrderStory [DVD]. Warner Bros., 2005.
  78. ^ McCormick, Neil (ed). U2 by U2. HarperCollins Publishers, 2006. ISBN 0-00-719668-7, p. 92
  79. ^ Moss, Corey (24 June 2002). "Moby Gets Cloned, Romps With Dirty Degenerates". MTV. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1455360/20020621/moby.jhtml. Retrieved 22 December 2007. 
  80. ^ Dalley, Helen. "John Frusciante". Total Guitar. August 2002.
  81. ^ "More names join UK Music Hall Of Fame". NME. UK. 18 October 2005. http://www.nme.com/news/new-order/21281. Retrieved 18 October 2007. 
  82. ^ "It was the best party ... ever". The Guardian. UK. 3 March 2002. http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,661059,00.html. Retrieved 22 December 2007. 
  83. ^ Corbijn, Anton; Wise, Damon. "Joy Division". Mojo. November 2007.
  84. ^ "Critics applaud Joy Division film". BBC. 17 May 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6667197.stm. Retrieved 2 November 2007. 
  85. ^ Murray, Noel. "Toronto Film Festival 07". The A.V. Club, 11 September 2007. Retrieved 11 April 2010.

 
 
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