Joy Division

MenuMembers Early 1978: Failures of the Modern Man

Ian Curtis (1956- 1980) Late 1978: A Factory Sample

Bernard Sumner Early 1979: Unknown Pleasures

Peter Hook Late 1979: Something ElseStephen Morris Early 1980: Love Will Tear Us Apart

Origins Afterwards: The Eternal

Early 1977: Warsaw Concerto JOY DIVISION SINGER DEAD

Late 1977: An Ideal for Living THE OBITUARY PAGE

May 18th, 1980 IAN CURTIS ended his life, aged 23.

THE AUTOGRAPH OF IAN Musical Style

Joy Division Album Discography Unknown Pleasures and Closer

Joy Division was an English rock band formed in 1976.

The band evolved from their initial punk rock influences to develop a style that pioneered the post-punk movement of the late 1970s.

Members

There were four band members, Ian, Bernard, Peter, and Stephen.

Stephen Morris

Peter Hook

Ian Curtis

Bernard Sumner

Ian Curtis (1956- 1980)

He was an English musician, Singer, and songwriter.

Curtis, who suffered from epilepsy and depression, committed suicide on May 18, 1980., on the Eve of Joy Division’s first North American tour, resulting in the bands dissolution.

Curtis was known for his baritone voice, dance style, and songwriting filled with imagery desolation, emptiness and alienation.

His life and death have been dramatized in various films.

Bernard Sumner

English singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, and producer.

He is the founding member and lead vocalist and guitarist of the band New Order.Sumner is also known for being a founding member of the bands of Joy Division and Bad Lieutenant.

He played the guitar and keyboards in the band Joy Division.

Peter Hook

English bass player, musician, singer, DJ, nightclub owner, recorded company boss and author. He is currently lead vocalist and bassist for Peter Hook and the Light.

Hook was a co-founder of the seminal post-punk band Joy Division along with Bernard Sumner in the mid-1970s.

Following the death of Ian Curtis, the band reformed as the modern rock band, New Order, and Hook played bass with them until his departure in 2007.

Stephen Morris

He is a musician best known for his work with rock band, New Order and, previously, Joy Division. He also drummed in The Other Two, a band made up of Morris and his wife, Gillian Gilbert. Morris also performed live with the New Order spin-off band, Bad Lieutenant.

He is known for his machine-like drumming that seamlessly wove with New Order's and Joy Division's drum machine sounds.

He was ranked No. 5 on Stylus magazine's 50 Greatest Rock Drummers of All Time.

Origins

This story begins on July 20th 1976, when the Sex Pistols played at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester, supported by local bands Slaughter and the Dogs and the Buzzcocks (making their debut). According to legend, this gig inspired Joy Division to buy guitars and form a band. Although the truth may be less dramatic, there is no doubt the event did stimulate the Manchester music scene in general and the future members of Joy Division in particular.

Early 1977: Warsaw Concerto

 During this period they used to rehearse at the Black Swan pub in Salford, among other venues. Although they now had a full complement, they were not ready for public performances. Neither did they have a name. The name Stiff Kittens was proposed by Richard Boon (the idea is also credited to Pete Shelley) but this was never adopted by the band. The band were due to appear at Manchester's Electric Circus on May 29th 1977 on a bill which included the Buzzcocks. Their first performance earned them a mention (not entirely favorable) in the national music magazines.

Late 1977: An Ideal for Living

In December 1977 they recorded four songs that later would be released on an EP as An Ideal For Living. This was very much a home-brewed affair, with the band members and their friends stuffing the records into their sleeves. The design (by Bernard) featured Germanic imagery which helped to fuel unjustified speculation about the band's politics.

Early 1978: Failures of the Modern Man

In January 1978 the band became Joy Division. In November 1977 the London-based group Warsaw Pakt had released an album, so Warsaw decided to change their name to avoid being confused with another band.

The first gig as Joy Division was played at Pips Disco in Manchester on January 25th 1978. It was not an auspicious start as fighting broke out in the crowd. Rioting became a feature of many later gigs, usually because the audience did not get to hear as much of Joy Division as they wanted.

Partly due to the name, Joy Division often had problems with Nazi accusations spreading around in the press. These both puzzled and angered the band, and they did not wish to dignify them with a reply. Far from containing Nazi propaganda, their lyrics preach quite the contrary message.

Late 1978: A Factory Sample

In the summer of 1978 Joy Division were members of the Manchester Musicians Collective, which held court at the Band on the Wall. 

Tony Wilson arranged for the band to appear on Granada TV on September 20th. They performed Shadowplay on the magazine program Granada Reports. 

On October 11th they went into the Cargo Studios in Rochdale to record two songs for the compilation EP A Factory Sample. 

On December 27th Joy Division played their first concert in London, at the Hope And Anchor in Islington. Only 30 people paid to get in, although the price was only 60 pence! This gig was disastrous in other ways: Bernard was struggling with a bad attack of flu, and Ian had a violent fit when the band were travelling home after the gig.

Early 1979: Unknown Pleasures

In January 1979 a picture of Ian Curtis adorned the front page of the New Musical Express. This minor triumph was coupled with major tragedy, as Ian was diagnosed as epileptic.  His experiences with epilepsy inspired him to write She's Lost Control. 

In April 1979 the album Unknown Pleasures was recorded at Strawberry Studios, Stockport with Martin Hannett as producer. 

Unknown Pleasures was released in June.

Late 1979: Something Else

On July 20th the band made a second appearance on Granada TV, on the program What's On. They played She's Lost Control. On July 28th Joy Division performed brilliantly at the Stuff the Superstars festival at the Mayflower Club in Manchester.

In August 31st they played at the Electric Ballroom in London in front of 1,200 spectators, the biggest crowd ever at a Joy Division concert. 

  In October and November Joy Division supported the Buzzcocks in a 24-venue UK tour.

On November 26th Joy Division recorded their Second Peel Session. One of the songs was Love Will Tear Us Apart which soon became the best known unrecorded song in Britain.

Early 1980: Love Will Tear Us Apart

On May 18th 1980, two days before Joy Division were due to leave for America, and two months before his 24th birthday, Ian Curtis committed suicide.

He returned to his home in Macclesfield, then persuaded Deborah to stay the night at her parents' house. After watching Stroszek (a film by Werner Herzog), and listening to Iggy Pop, Ian hanged himself in the kitchen, to be found by Deborah when she returned the next day.

Many reasons have been advanced for Ian's suicide: depression caused by his epilepsy or by the drugs he was taking to control it, the break-up of his marriage, worries about the American tour, or a morbid desire to emulate those of his heroes who had died young. People who were with him shortly before his death give conflicting accounts of his state of mind. It appears that Ian had a secretive nature, concealing his feelings from others (he even managed to conceal his epilepsy until he actually had a fit), so the true reason for his death will remain obsure..

Afterwards: The Eternal

n the months following Ian's death, Closer was released and climbed into the top ten album chart. By June 1982 the album had sold 250,000 copies. Love Will Tear Us Apart reached number 13 in the singles chart. In September 1980 Factory released Atmosphere as a single (after releasing it in the US as the B-side of She's Lost Control).

In 1981 saw the release of the double album Still, which included a variety of unreleased studio material (with some of the tracks over-dubbed by the surviving members of the band) and the live recording of Joy Division's last concert. The album title is thought to be a reference to bootlegging.Despite their artistic success, the band did not become rich during Ian's lifetime, and Deborah Curtis had to work to pay the household bills.

JOY DIVISION SINGER DEAD

Ian Curtis, vocalist with Joy Division, was found dead in Manchester Street on Sunday morning. He is believed to have committed suicide.  Curtis has recently been involved with heavy recordings schedules  a new album, a new single, and a free single  and would have been embarking on a short American tour with Joy Division in the near future. 

THE OBITUARY PAGE

It was Monday, the 19th of May, and John Peel has just appeared on the national Radio 1 airwaves. I was thinking to myself, "wouldn't it be nice if he played the new JOY DIVISION single, "Love will tear us apart". (Originally, intended for release the previous Friday, but it was a trifle late.) 

A few seconds later, the shock news came onto the air. "Bad news lads", monotoned Peel solemnly. "Ian Curtis, of Joy Division, has just died." I didn't know whether to feel sad, angry, cheated or what Joy Division had been my favorite for the previous year; their brand of bleak, gothic, experimental yet directioned   rock had carved a place for them into the hearts and record collections of a multitude, including my own. 

May 18th, 1980 IAN CURTIS ended his life, aged 23.

The driving force behind Joy Division's dark vision, he hanged himself in his Macclesfield home as the band rested between a European and American tour. Iggy Pop's 'The Idiot' was found on his turntable alongside a note which read "at this very moment, I wish I were dead. I just can't cope anymore".

Since Curtis' death there have a number of Joy Division releases, including 1988's 'Substance' and 1999's 'Preston Warehouse 28 February 1980' In 1998, a box set, containing both previously recorded and live material, was released.

THE AUTOGRAPH OF IAN

The autographs of Ian Curtis and Peter Hook of Joy Division. These were obtained by a local guy at an early concert at The Royal Standard, Bradford, West Yorkshire on 10 September 1978 when they were practically unknown outside of Manchester at that time. 

Musical StyleJoy Division were an extremely important band in the stylistic development of popular music, following the initial punk rock explosion of 1977. In the wake of this explosion, Joy Division, though the band were only active for a total of four years, pioneered a unique style that had not been witnessed before, nor to an extent, has been wholly replicated since. This essay will first analyse the individual aspects of Joy Division's style that contributed to their overall uniqueness, and how those individual aspects were employed and adapted by later bands and artists.

 Joy Division Album Discography

Joy Division's two "proper" albums were Unknown Pleasures and Closer. Both excellent and both quite different as the Joy Division sound evolved considerably between the two.

Unknown Pleasures was stark and minimalist while Closer was more poignant being recorded in the final months of Ian's life. These two albums are essential for anyone new to Joy Division. 

Unknown Pleasures

Released 20 July 197938:21 minutesProducer: Martin Hannett

1 Disorder 6 She's Lost Control

2 Day Of The Lords 7 Shadowplay

3 Candidate 8 Wilderness

4 Insight 9 Interzone

5 New Dawn Fades 10 I Remember Nothing

Closer

Released 18 July 198043:59 minutesProducer: Martin Hannett Engineer: Martin Hannett Photography: Bernard Pierre Wolfe

1 Atrocity Exhibition 6 Heart & Soul

2 Isolation 7 Twenty Four Hours

3 Passover 8 The Eternal

4 Colony 9 Decades

5 A Means To An End    

Legacy Joy Division singer Ian Curtis has the dubious distinction of being a momentous rock performer revered for the wrong reason.

Joy Division’s music was good enough to stand the test of time without becoming embalmed in a tragic melodrama. But when Curtis committed suicide in 1980 at age 23, he instantly overshadowed his band’s considerable musical accomplishments and skewed them for posterity.

 Curtis has become the unwitting godfather of the Goth-rock movement, and he’s mythologized as the quintessential rock martyr, the guy who sang about the black hole of existence and then authenticated his lyrics by hanging himself from the rafters in his kitchen a day before the British band was to begin its first North American tour.

“No language, just sound, that’s all we need to know,” Curtis/Riley declares while the band turns the song’s insistent rhythm into a blur.

Remembering Ian Curtis

Alone again in the house, Ian listened to Iggy Pop and wrote a long letter to his estranged wife. In the early hours of Sunday morning he hanged himself in the kitchen using the rope from a clothes airer. His body was found by Deborah when she returned later the same day.

Many theories have been advanced to explain Ian's suicide, but none of these can be proved.

With the benefit of hindsight, some warnings of the eventual outcome can be found in Ian's behavior and in some of his writing. Unfortunately Ian had a secretive nature, and was good at concealing his feelings from others. He even managed to conceal his epilepsy until he actually had a fit. He certainly managed to conceal any suicidal tendencies from those around him, so the true reason for his death will remain obscure. Perhaps it is better not to speculate and to let Ian Curtis rest in peace.

Control: The Ian Curtis film

   

The film expands on Deborah's Touching From A Distance book, which was a personal account of her life with Ian Curtis, to give a fuller account of the man and his life. To achieve this, writer Matt Greenhalgh interviewed all the relevant people including Annik Honore. Ian Curtis's was in a relationship with Annik at the time of his death and she has previously declined to discuss the matter with the media simply saying it was "too painful".

Directed by lifelong Joy Division fan Anton Corbijn the film is in black and white  to reflect the atmosphere of Joy Division and the mood of the era. Anton is keen to point out that the film is about Ian Curtis - not Joy Division.

Still Acclaimed Joy Division - Curtis, guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris - formed on the Manchester music scene in the late 1970s. They released first album Unknown Pleasures in 1979, with follow-up Closer being released after Curtis's death.

Their most famous single, Love Will Tear Us Apart, only reached number 13 a month after Curtis died yet it was among five finalists in the Brit Awards poll this year to find the best British song of the past 25 years.

Ian Curtis Dancing

Works Cited

Joy Division Central

Joy Division: A tribute to Ian Curtis  1956 - 1980