Joy Division

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Background information
Origin Salford, Greater Manchester & Macclesfield, Cheshire, England
Genre(s) Post-punk
Years active 1976–1980
Label(s) Factory Records
Associated
acts New Order
Former members
Ian Curtis (deceased)
Peter Hook
Stephen Morris
Bernard Sumner
Joy Division were an English rock band that formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. With their dark, cavernous sound and use of guitars, throbbing bass, and electronics, they pioneered the post-punk sound of the late 1970s. In May 1980 their vocalist, Ian Curtis, committed suicide. In June, 1980, the band released their most popular song entitled Love Will Tear Us Apart. The remaining members reformed as New Order and went on to receive critical and commercial success.

The group achieved only modest success during their career, and released only two official albums, however they have since been acclaimed as one of the most inventive and influential bands of their era. Thom Jurek writes, "They left just a small bit of music and an echo that still rings".[1]

Their name is taken from the World War II historical novel “The House of Dolls,” wherin author Yehiel De-Nur described "Joy Divisions"—separate units within concentration camps where Jewish women were housed for sexual slavery.

Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Early years
1.2 Early work as Joy Division
1.3 Unknown Pleasures
1.4 European tour
1.5 Ian Curtis's suicide
1.6 Closer
1.7 The end of Joy Division
2 Legacy
3 Lyrics
4 Equipment
4.1 Synthesisers
4.2 Electric guitar
4.3 Bass guitar
4.4 Drums
4.5 Other equipment
5 Live performances
5.1 Dance
6 Accusations of neo-Nazism
7 Members
7.1 Members
7.2 Other members
8 Discography
8.1 Albums
8.1.1 Compilations
8.1.2 Live albums
8.2 Singles and EPs
8.3 Compilation appearances
8.4 Video
9 Film
9.1 Control
9.2 24 Hour Party People
10 References
11 Sources
12 External links



[edit] History
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[edit] Early years
The famous Sex Pistols show at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall on June 4 1976 inspired Bernard Sumner [2] and Peter Hook to form a band with their friend Terry Mason. Sumner bought a guitar, Hook a bass and Mason a drum kit. They placed an advertisement in a Manchester record store, Virgin Records, for a singer and recruited Ian Curtis. Curtis, who knew the others from previous gigs, had also attended the Sex Pistols concert, along with his wife, Deborah.

Just before their first gig on May 29, 1977 supporting the Buzzcocks and Penetration at the Electric Circus, the band renamed themselves Warsaw, even though they appeared on the bill as Stiff Kittens (suggested by Richard Boon and Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks). (The name change to Warsaw was purportedly inspired by the David Bowie track "Warszawa", found on his 1977 album Low and not inspired by the Polish city of the same name). Five weeks and half a dozen gigs later, Warsaw replaced Mason with punk drummer Steve Brotherdale from another band called Panik. On July 18 1977, they recorded five crude punk songs that became The Warsaw Demo. Having recorded the demo, the band fired Brotherdale. 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. Brotherdale later tried to get Curtis to join Panik, but Curtis declined. The band put out an advertisement in a music shop window for a replacement drummer and hired respondent Stephen Morris. The band chose Morris because Curtis recalled him from his school days. Morris had attended the same school two years below Curtis. Unlike the band's previous drummers, Morris clicked well with the other members. His metronome-like drumming owed more to krautrock than the aggressiveness of punk.


[edit] Early work as Joy Division
Warsaw renamed themselves Joy Division in late 1977 in order to avoid confusion with the London punk band Warsaw Pakt, borrowing their new name from the prostitution wing of a concentration camp from the 1955 book The House of Dolls. "No Love Lost," an early Joy Division/Warsaw track, contains a lyrical reference to Yehiel De-Nur's book:

"...Through the wire screen, the eyes of those standing outside looked in at her as into the cage of some rare creature in a zoo.
In the hand of one of the assistants she saw the same instrument which they had that morning inserted deep into her body.
She shuddered instinctively.
No life at all in the house of dolls.
No love lost..."
The band's signature style began to take shape in late 1977. Sessions recorded in December 1977 were a departure from the sound of The Warsaw Demo. The group played their first gig as Joy Division on January 25, 1978. Regular gigs in the north of England throughout early 1978 provided the band with enough material and experience to record a debut album. However, after the producer added synthesizers to several tracks, the band scrapped the record. The album leaked as a bootleg recording called Warsaw in 1982 and has been re-pressed and re-released several times[3] since then. Rob Gretton became the band's manager in May 1978. Over the next twenty years, he contributed much to Joy Division and to New Order.

In the summer of 1978, the band debuted on vinyl with one Warsaw track on a compilation album entitled Short Circuit - Live At The Electric Circus which was recorded live on October 2, 1977. In June 1978, Joy Division released their December 1977 sessions as a 7" EP under the title An Ideal for Living. They remastered and re-released An Ideal for Living as a 12" in late 1978. On September 20, 1978, they performed on the local TV news show Granada Reports; then in December 1978, they appeared on the compilation double 7" 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 they had been developing since that past summer. Early 1979 saw the band gain more publicity. Curtis appeared on the front cover of the New Musical Express and they recorded a radio session in January (aired on BBC Radio 1 on February 14 by John Peel). On March 4, they supported The Cure at the Marquee Club, a major venue in London.


[edit] Unknown Pleasures
In April 1979, the band began recording their debut album Unknown Pleasures. The record was bleaker and darker in tone than most of its contemporaries, featuring Hook's bass as the lead melodic instrument, drums treated with digital delay, Sumner's jagged guitar style and Curtis's baritone vocals that have been likened to Jim Morrison and Iggy Pop. Producer Martin Hannett contributed significantly to the final sound. (Coincidentally, a non-album track, "Digital" was the first song the band recorded with Hannett as producer as well as the last song the group performed live before Curtis' death). 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 and chaotic. 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 design. The image represents the final life 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 only nationwide TV appearance in September on BBC2, supported the Buzzcocks in a 24-venue UK tour during October and November, and performed on Peel's show again in December. Despite the fact that Unknown Pleasures was selling well and receiving good reviews from the music press, all was not well. Diagnosed with epilepsy in January 1979, Curtis' illness worsened during 1979 and would often have tonic-clonic seizures on stage that resulted in convulsions, or absence seizures that would cause brief trance-like pauses.


[edit] European tour
Music samples:
"She's Lost Control" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
Sample of "She's Lost Control" from Unknown Pleasures
Problems listening to the file? See media help.
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
Sample of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" from Substance
Problems listening to the file? See media help.
"24 Hours" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
Sample of "24 Hours" from Closer
Problems listening to the file? See media help.
Joy Division had one European gig at Les Bains Douches on December 18th 1979, from which a popular live recording was taken. Their official tour started on January 11th 1980 at Paradiso in Amsterdam. They played 10 gigs in Europe, their last being on January 21st 1980 at Kant Kino, Berlin.


[edit] Ian Curtis's suicide
On May 18, 1980, the evening before Joy Division were to embark on their first American tour, Curtis returned to his home and convinced his wife, Deborah, to spend the evening at her parents' house. Curtis watched the Werner Herzog film Stroszek on television, then listened to the Iggy Pop album The Idiot and wrote a letter to his estranged wife. He then hanged himself in the kitchen. Deborah found him the following morning.

The exact reasons for his suicide have never fully been explained. However there are two factors which are thought to have affected his state of mind strongly. The first was his epilepsy, he was suffering worsening seizures and the band regularly had to cancel concerts to allow him sufficient time to recover. Some of the seizures occurred on stage during concerts. Curtis also attempted suicide several months before his death by overdosing on the medicine prescribed to control his epilepsy. The second factor affecting him was his marriage break down. He had engaged in an extra marital affair with a young Belgian woman called Annik Honoré, whom he met in Europe in late 1979. And his wife Deborah had filed for divorce.[4].


[edit] Closer
In July 1980 the band's second album, Closer, was released to overwhelmingly positive reviews. It charted, peaking at number 6 on the British album chart. Sales of Unknown Pleasures were also robust. Recording of the album began in late March 1980 and was complete before Curtis's death. It was produced by Martin Hannett. As with the early Warsaw/Joy Division track "No Love Lost" the band again featured a song with a literary reference. The opening track on Closer, "Atrocity Exhibition," shares its title with the novel The Atrocity Exhibition by J. G. Ballard.


[edit] The end of Joy Division
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 June 1980, Hook, Morris and Sumner entered Graveyard Studios with fellow Factory act Kevin Hewick for a session, produced by Martin Hannett. The track was called 'Haystack'. It was not released as a single by Factory, but was later released on a Kevin Hewick compilation. Factory Records head Tony Wilson reportedly suggested to the band that Hewick replace Curtis as vocalist in the group. [5]

The members of Joy Division had made a pact that, should any member leave the group the remaining members would abandon the name "Joy Division" and all material associated with it. The remaining members held true to this commitment, and Joy Division was officially disbanded. The band was reborn as a three piece called New Order, later recruiting Morris' girlfriend Gillian Gilbert to round out the group on keyboards. Initially, the band was mum as to whether the name referred to the 'new order' of the band, or if it was a reference to Nazi Germany as was the name Joy Division. 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 synthpop 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.


[edit] Legacy
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, Interpol, 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 John 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. The ending solo from "New Dawn Fades," as performed by Moby, was featured in the 1995 film Heat as Al Pacino chases down Robert De Niro. In 1999, a New Jersey band named Thursday recorded a song called "Ian Curtis" that included Joy Division song titles, such as Isolation, Heart & Soul and Twenty Four Hours, as lyrics. In 2005, Joy Division were inducted along with New Order into the UK Music Hall of Fame.


[edit] Lyrics
The band were described in the press at the time as "doom laden". This was due in part to the often dark lyrics written by Ian Curtis. Death, sadness, anger, bitterness or loss were recurrent themes. For example the 1979 song "Shadowplay" includes the line "In the shadowplay, acting out your own death, knowing no more". Ian Curtis denied the band were doom laden in a 1980 recorded interview. He said "people have been saying 'oh yeah, it's all about death and doom...' but we're not...none of the songs are...I think it's a heavy metal thing, that..."[6]. The biography of Joy Division at Billboard describe the lyrics as "isolated, tortured."[7]


[edit] Equipment

[edit] Synthesisers
Joy Division often experimented with different sounds, especially once in collaboration with Martin Hannett. Within the band it was said that Sumner was the driving force behind new instrumental ideas and he instigated the use of synthesizers in Joy Division's music. Synthesizers became common in the latter part of the band's career, featuring prominently in the songs "Isolation," "Decades" and "The Eternal" from the Closer album, as well as "Atmosphere" and "Something Must Break." Ironically the band had been unhappy with their 1978 scrapped RCA album recordings because the producer had used synthesizers.

Synthesizers at the time were notoriously prone to overheating and going out of tune. Joy Division's ARP String Machine and Powertran Transcendent were no exceptions, as the synthesizer on the live version of "Decades" featured on the "Still" compilation testifies.

An out-take from the Closer sessions, "As You Said" (sometimes called "Incubation 2") subsequently released on the FAC28 flexi-disk and on the CD box set Heart And Soul, is entirely electronic in its sound, and is one of only two Joy Division songs that doesn't include any vocals, the other track being "Incubation". In a 2005 Q magazine article the members of New Order claimed that Joy Division would have become an electronic band had Ian Curtis not died.


[edit] Electric guitar
Bernard Sumner was the group's lead guitarist. He played the Shergold Custom Masquerader and a Gibson SG Standard primarily. During the Warsaw days Sumner used a cheap SG copy, upgrading to a genuine Gibson after the success of Unknown Pleasures. He also played the synthesizers. For this reason on some live tracks Ian Curtis took over basic guitar duties. "I Remember Nothing," "Heart and Soul," "Atmosphere," "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Incubation" all featured Curtis playing the electric guitar live. Although a competent but not a skilled guitarist, Curtis' playing enhanced the band's sound at live gigs. It is unlikely that Curtis played guitar on studio recordings although this remains a possibility because no official word ever came from the band. Footage exists of Curtis playing Sumner's Shergold Custom Masquerader and Vox Phantom Mark VI guitar (often mistakenly attributed as being a Teardrop, Guitar Organ or ordinary Phantom).[citation needed]


[edit] Bass guitar
Peter Hook chose to play his bass guitar more like a lead guitar on many tracks. Hook started to use a Shergold Marathon six stringed bass guitar on the Closer album, which allowed for a scale of higher notes to be played. He continued to use the Marathon with New Order, as well as a conventional Yamaha BB1200 four-stringed bass. His original bass, a Hondo Rickenbacker copy, was damaged after an altercation during a gig in Manchester in September 1979. Some reports state that this bass was destroyed during this altercation, but the bass survived enough to be used on the band's January 1980 European Tour. Hook also performed backing vocals for the group and was the 'other voice' on the song "Interzone." On the tracks "Atrocity Exhibition" and "Sound of Music," Hook and Sumner swapped instruments so that Hook was playing electric guitar and Sumner bass guitar.


[edit] Drums
Stephen Morris used an extensive drum kit to allow a great range of rolls, rhythm shifts and beats. Morris was an active drummer, especially on the tracks "She's Lost Control" and "Transmission" where the insistent beat fueled Curtis' gyrations. Morris also used Simmonds and Synare electronic drumpads and a BOSS DR-55 drum machine on the songs "Insight," "She's Lost Control," "Isolation," and "Decades", in combination with conventional drums to broaden the tonal palette.


[edit] Other equipment
The melodica was an instrument used by Joy Division during a few recordings. It was used predominately on "In a Lonely Place," which only exists as a rehearsal recording that can be heard on the "Heart and Soul" box set. It was used briefly on the song "Decades". New Order used the melodica a number of times and were said to have "inherited" it from Curtis, who purchased one after hearing it used by dub-reggae artist Augustus Pablo.


[edit] Live performances
The usual scene at a Joy Division gig was Curtis in the middle at the front, Sumner to his right, Hook to his left and Morris with his drum kit at the back. After experimenting with strobe lighting the band played under white low level lights, without variation, due to Curtis's epilepsy.

Curtis usually held onto the microphone stand for most of a song, only leaving it to dance. He sometimes walked off stage after he had finished his vocals, leaving the rest of the band to finish without him. Curtis rarely spoke to the audience at gigs apart from the occasional "thank you" at the end of a song. At the Preston Warehouse gig in 1980 Curtis was unusually talkative in order to keep the audience informed of the equipment failure the band suffered part way through the set. This gig has since been issued on a CD and culminates in an intense version of "She's Lost Control" despite the equipment failures.

On April 8, Curtis was pulled out of hospital to play a gig at the Derby Hall in Bury. At the urging of Factory Records founder Tony Wilson, Joy Division's set began with Alan Hempstall of Crispy Ambulance and Simon Topping of A Certain Ratio filling in on vocals for Curtis, who was initially too ill to perform. However, members of the audience protested, turning the gig into a riot in which Hook, Gretton, and other crew members fought with angry onlookers. [8]


[edit] Dance
Curtis had a unique dance which he performed regularly. He rotated his arms very quickly back and forth in front of him as though fighting with a large wheel or attempting to swim. It is sometimes referred to as an 'epileptic dance' because the movements resemble someone having an epileptic fit.


[edit] Accusations of neo-Nazism
The band's name, along with Sumner reverting to his father's surname Albrecht, and the imagery used on early releases, garnered the band criticism for their perceived insensitivity. Accusations of neo-Nazism, a charge the group denied, dogged them for the remainder of the band's career. These accusations resurfaced after Joy Division ended and reformed as New Order, a name sometimes interpreted as a reference to Adolf Hitler's speeches promising "the new order of the Third Reich". The band later stated they got the name from a newspaper article on the new society the Khmer Rouge had envisaged for Cambodia and that a variety of other names had been considered, some more frivilous than others. Gillian Gilbert said in a television interview she simply considered it to mean the new order within the band as they moved on from Joy Division.

One reference to Nazism exists within Joy Division lyrics. Rudolf Hess's prisoner of war number is used in the song 'Warsaw'. On a later live album, the band's guitarist Bernard Sumner can be heard saying, "You all forgot Rudolf Hess", before the song At A Later Date.[citation needed]


[edit] Members

[edit] Members
Ian Curtis – lead vocals, guitar
Bernard Sumner – guitar, keyboards,
Peter Hook – bass guitar, vocals
Stephen Morris – drums, percussion

[edit] Other members
Terry Mason – drums (mid-1976 to May 1977)
Tony Tabac – drums (May to June 1977)
Steve Brotherdale – drums (June to August 1977)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums
Unknown Pleasures (1979)
Closer (1980)

[edit] Compilations
Still (1981) - collection of rare recordings along with their final concert performance
The Peel Sessions (LP, Strange Fruit SFRLP 211, 1986, 1987) - the band's two Peel Sessions combined on one album
Substance (1988) - singles compilation
Warsaw (1994) - very early recordings
Permanent (London 828624, 1995) - compilation; reached #16 on the UK album charts
Heart & Soul (1997) - 4 CD set of complete works
Joy Division The Complete BBC Recordings (CD, Strange Fruit SFRSCD094, 2000) - contains the two Peel Sessions, two songs from their 'Something Else' BBC TV appearance and an interview.

[edit] Live albums
Preston Warehouse (Factory FACD 2.60) - recorded February 28, 1980
Les Bains Douches (Factory FACD 2.61) - recorded December 18, 1979
Fractured (Factory FACD 2.61z) - box set combining Preston Warehouse and Les Bains Douches in special packaging
Re - Fractured (2004, limited release) - box set combining Preston Warehouse and Les Bains Douches, together with a third disc containing recordings from a concert in Amsterdam, and a poster and t-shirt sporting the word 'Refractured', all contained in a special box

[edit] Singles and EPs
An Ideal for Living (UK, Enigma PSS139, 1978)
"Transmission" (UK, Factory FAC 13, 1979)
Licht und Blindheit (France, SS33002, 1980)
"Komakino" (UK, Factory FAC 28, 1980)
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" (UK, Factory FAC 23, 1980)
"Atmosphere/She's Lost Control" (UK/US, Factory FACUS 2, 1980)
The First Peel Session (UK, Strange Fruit SFPS013, 1986)
The Second Peel Session (UK, Strange Fruit SFPS033, 1987)
"Atmosphere" (UK, Factory FAC 213, 1988)
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" (UK, London UK YOJ 1, 1995)

[edit] Compilation appearances
Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus (10" LP, Virgin VCL 5003, June 1978) — "At a Later Date"
A Factory Sample (2×7", Factory FAC 2, January 1979) — "Digital," "Glass"
Earcom 2: Contradiction (12"EP, Fast Product FAST 9B, October 1979) — "Autosuggestion," "From Safety to Where...?"
Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the '80s Underground (Rhino, 2004)
There are also a tremendous number of bootleg recordings, both live and studio.[9]


[edit] Video
Here Are All The Young Men (UK, Factory FACT 37, 1982). Live recordings of some of their gigs. Low quality, available on DVD.
Joy Division: Under Review Region 2 DVD only available Oct.31 2006. A documentary including interviews with the remaining former band members charting the band's history.

[edit] Film

[edit] Control
Main article: Control (2007 film)
In 2007 a new film Control, directed by Anton Corbijn was released. The film depicts Curtis' life and uses the Deborah Curtis biography as a basis, although the plot has been broadened to cover areas of Ian's life that Deborah was not privy. Other people close to Ian were consulted for the film, including Tony Wilson, and of course the band, who scored the film using the Joy Division name. Control had its international premiere on the first night of Director's Fortnight at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival (May 17, 2007; the twenty-seventh anniversary of Ian Curtis' final night alive). Curtis is played by 24 Hour Party People star Sam Riley, who played Mark E. Smith, while his wife Deborah is portrayed by Samantha Morton, and Alexandria Maria Lara plays Annik Honoré. The members of New Order attended the premiere. In 2007 the Belgian indie magazine Side-Line published an interview online with Annik Honoré originally made in 2005 in which she tells for the first time about her view on the upcoming film.[10]


[edit] 24 Hour Party People
Main article: 24 Hour Party People
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 fictionalized account of the rise and fall of the Factory Records, with whom both Joy Division and New Order were signed.