How Joy Division Became New Order

I was recently asked to produce a list of my top 30 singles of all time. This proved to be a very difficult task but number one on my list was no problem at all and I immediately installed Joy Division's haunting and powerful single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" at the top of my list. The single only reached number 13 in the UK charts and as far as I can see never reached the Billboard Top 100, but it has been covered by many other artists since and is often quoted as being one of the most influential singles of all time. It has appeared in many TV shows, notably "Cold Case."

"Joy Division" were a short lived Manchester UK band comprising Ian Curtis, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris. You may well recognize the last three names as they went on to form "New Order" together with Morris's wife Gillian Gilbert and to have massive international success. The event that led to the demise of "Joy Division" was the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. He had been beset by depression and epilepsy throughout his short life and his marriage to wife Deborah was going through problems. The marital situation was the basis for the lyrics of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and sadly Curtis hanged himself in 1980, aged just 23 and on the eve of Joy Division's first American tour which was then called off.

Curtis had joined Hook and Sumner after all three met at a Sex Pistols gig in Manchester. Hook and Sumner had long been friends and were impressed with Curtis's vocals and his ability to write meaningful and commercially successful lyrics. Morris joined the group later and they were at first called "Warsaw" but changed the name to "Joy Division" to avoid confusion with an established punk group "Warsaw Pakt." The group signed to Tony Wilson's "Factory" record label and were championed by the BBC"s legendary DJ John Peel. Their first album 1979"s "Unknown Pleasures" sold out its initial 10,000 pressing very rapidly and was called by one critic the "best debut album of the year" while also being largely responsible for the growth of Factory Records.

The band's second and only other album "Closer" was released in 1980 but their European tour of that year was beset by difficulties as Ian Curtis's seizures became more frequent, which increased his depression. He attempted suicide in April that year but continued to perform with the group when at all possible, but on May 18th 1980 his wife discovered his body at their home.

Rather than continue under the name "Joy Division" the remaining three members renamed themselves "New Order" and their first single, "Ceremony" was an Ian Curtis song that would have been recorded by the old group. New Order went on to amazing worldwide success, but that's another story.