Joy Division

Joy Division were a rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. The band dissolved in May 1980 after the suicide of its lead singer, Ian Curtis. The remaining members reformed as New Order and they have gone on to achieve much critical and commercial success.

With their dark, cavernous sound and their use of synthesizers and electronics, Joy Division are considered the pioneering band of the post-punk movement of the late 1970s and the early 1980s.^*

Though they found only modest success during their career, and released only two studio albums, Joy Division have since been acclaimed as one of the most inventive, evocative and influential groups of their era; Thom Jurek writes "They left just a small bit of music and an echo that still rings".^*

History

1976

Inspired by a Sex Pistols gig at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall on July 20 1976, Bernard Sumner (also credited as "Bernard Dicken", "Bernard Albrecht" and "Bernard Albrecht-Dicken") and Peter Hook formed a band with friend Terry Mason. Sumner bought a guitar, Hook purchased a bass, and Mason a drum kit. The band placed an advertisement in a Manchester record store and recruited Curtis as their singer. Curtis knew Sumner, Hook and Mason from previous gigs and was also in attendance at the Sex Pistols concert with his wife, Deborah. Richard Boon and Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks suggested the name "Stiff Kittens" for the band. Although "Stiff Kittens" appeared on some gig flyers, the band didn't like the name and never officially accepted it.

1977

Lacking confidence in his abilities as a drummer, Mason quit the group the day before their first gig to become their manager. He was replaced by Tony Tabac. Just before their first gig on May 29 1977, supporting Buzzcocks and Penetration at the Electric Circus, the band renamed themselves Warsaw; though they had already appeared on the bill as the Stiff Kittens. Five weeks and half a dozen gigs later, Tabac was replaced by punk drummer Steve Brotherdale from another band called Panik. They recorded The Warsaw Demo on July 18 1977, consisting of five crude punk songs.

After the demo, Brotherdale was fired. One member asked him to check on what he "thought" was a flat tire. When he got out of the car, the other three drove off. Brotherdale tried to get Curtis to join Panik but was rebuffed. Stephen Morris, who responded to an ad in a music store window, was hired as Brotherdale's replacement. He was hired primarily because Curtis remembered him from his academic days as Morris attended the same school two years below Curtis. Unlike the previous drummers, Morris clicked well with the three. His metronome-like drumming owed more to krautrock than the aggressive bombast typical of many punk drummers.

In late 1977, in order to avoid confusion with the London punk band Warsaw Pakt, Warsaw renamed themselves Joy Division. The name was in reference to groups of Jewish women used as sex slaves in Nazi concentration camps depicted in Ka-Tzetnik 135633's 1955 novel The House of Dolls. Although the choice of name was more reflective of a desire to challenge taboos, this choice along with Sumner's adoption of the surname Albrecht garnered the band a lot of criticism for perceived insensitivity. They were even dogged by accusations of neo-Nazism, a charge they strenuously denied. The accusations resurfaced to a certain degree after Joy Division broke up and reformed as New Order, a name that could be interpreted as a reference to Hitler's speeches promising "the new order of the Third Reich." .

The band's music and style stabilized around this time. Sessions recorded in December 1977 sound considerably different from The Warsaw Demo.

1978

The group played their first gig as Joy Division on January 25 1978. They played regularly in the north of England throughout early 1978, and then recorded enough material for a debut album. However, after the studio engineer added synthesizers to several tracks, the band scrapped it. The album would be released as a bootleg in 1982 and then officially 10 years later.

Rob Gretton became the band's manager in May 1978. Over the next 20 years, his addition would play an integral part in forming the Joy Division/New Order legacy.

Joy Division's debut on vinyl was on a compilation in the summer of 1978 called Short Circuit. Though listed as Joy Division, it was actually a track from the Warsaw days recorded live on October 2 1977 The song, recorded live, was preceded by Curtis screaming "You all forgot Rudolf Hess" which momentarily stuns the audience into silence. In June 1978 their December 1977 sessions were released as a 7" EP under the title An Ideal for Living. In late 1978, An Ideal for Living was remastered and re-released as a 12".

On September 20 1978, they performed on the TV show Granada Reports; then in December 1978, they appeared on the compilation 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 that Joy Division had been developing since that past summer.

1979

Early 1979 saw Joy Division gain more publicity. Ian Curtis appeared on the front cover of the New Musical Express. Joy Division recorded a radio session in January (aired on BBC Radio 1 on February 14 by the respected DJ John Peel). On March 4, they supported The Cure at the Marquee Club, a major venue in London.

In April 1979, the band began recording their landmark debut album Unknown Pleasures. The record was far bleaker and darker than most of its contemporaries, featuring Hook's bass as the lead melodic instrument, drums soaked in icy reverb, Sumner's jagged guitar and Curtis's baritone vocal style. A large debt was owed to the genius of meticulous producer Martin Hannett. 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, chaotic and at times even violent.

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 sleeve design. The image was found by Sumner in a book of Astronomy and represents "the final flashes 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 first and last nationwide TV appearance in September on BBC2, supported The Buzzcocks in a 24-venue UK tour during October and November, and performed again on Peel's BBC radio show in December.

Despite the fact that Unknown Pleasures was selling well and receiving good reviews from the music press, all was not well. Curtis, who suffered from epilepsy, would often have onstage tonic-clonic seizures that resulted in unconsciousness and convulsions, or absence seizures that would cause brief trance-like pauses. Even after disposing of their light show, Curtis would still have these problems; and the band decided to rest over the Christmas holiday.

1980

In January 1980, Joy Division set out on a European tour. Several dates were cancelled due to Curtis's deteriorating health.

On February 28th, the band played a gig at the Warehouse in Preston. The gig was plagued with sound problems but was later released on Dynamic Records.

With Martin Hannett, again producing, the band began recording their second album Closer at the end of the European tour in March.

On April 8, the band played a gig at the Derby Hall in Bury. After jamming with support band Section 25, Joy Division's set began with Alan Hempstall of Crispy Ambulance and Simon Topping of A Certain Ratio filling in for Curtis who was initially too ill to perform. Curtis did manage to return, but only for a few songs. When the band resumed jamming without their singer, some members of the audience protested, turning the gig into a riot in which Hook, Gretton, and other crew members fought with angry onlookers. (Johnson 1984)

Death of Curtis

Following a one-off gig in early May 1980, the band took a two weeks' rest before their first American tour was scheduled to start. At the time, Curtis's relationship with his wife, Deborah Curtis, was collapsing due to his infidelity with a Belgian woman, Annick Honoré, whom he had met on tour (no photograph of Honoré had ever been published until the 2006 book Torn Apart: The Life of Ian Curtis by Middles & Reade in which Annick gives her first public account of their relationship). Alone in his Macclesfield home, on May 18 1980, Curtis reportedly watched Werner Herzog's Stroszek — about an artist who commits suicide — listened to Iggy Pop's debut solo album, The Idiot, and hanged himself. The following day, Curtis' body was discovered by his wife in their kitchen.

Aftermath

The band had long decided that if any one of them left or was unable to perform for any reason, they would end the band. 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 July 1980, Closer was finally released to overwhelmingly positive reviews; it also charted, peaking at number 6 on the British album chart. Sales of Unknown Pleasures were also robust.

At first glance Curtis' suicide appears to be exclusively the product of his own depression and ill health. Deborah Curtis' book Touching from a Distance gives the impression that Curtis always wanted to die young.

Despite Curtis' suicide, Joy Division essentially did not end in 1980, as the surviving members immediately toured and soon recorded new music. Eventually renaming themselves "New Order," the band was accordingly reborn. 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 Synth Pop 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.

The band, and especially Ian Curtis, has been an inspiration for a number of musicians that include U2, The Smashing Pumpkins, 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 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.

Much of the history of Joy Division was portrayed in the 2002 MGM/United Artists released film 24 Hour Party People which followed the rise and fall of the Factory Records, with whom both Joy Division and New Order were signed. In 2005, plans for a movie - Control, directed by Anton Corbijn - depicting Curtis' life were also revealed. Plans are underway for the group's remaining members to record a soundtrack for the film under the name Joy Division. Live performances are also being considered. ^*

Equipment

Joy Division often experimented with different sounds, especially once in collaboration with Martin Hannett. Within the band, it is said that Sumner was the driving force behind new instrumental ideas and usage. He, for instance, instigated the use of synthesizers in Joy Division's music. (Ironically the band had been unhappy with the 1978 scrapped RCA album recordings because the producer had dared to use synthesizers.)

Synthesizers were used quite predominantly in the latter part of Joy Division's career, featuring prominently in songs such as "Isolation", "Decades" and "The Eternal" from the Closer album as well as "Atmosphere" and "Something Must Break". Interestingly, an outtake 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").

Synthesizers at the time were notoriously prone to overheating and going out of tune - Joy Division's ARP String Machine and Powertran Trancendent were no exceptions - as the synthesizer on the live version of "Decades" featured on "Still" testifies. Another problem with using a synthesizer live was that Sumner, the group's lead guitarist, was obviously not able to play both synthesizer and guitar at the same time. For this reason, Ian Curtis took over basic guitar duties on some live tracks. "I Remember Nothing", "Heart and Soul", "Atmosphere", "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Incubation" all featured Curtis playing the electric guitar live, although it is unlikely that Curtis played guitar on studio recordings. The use of the synthesizer as a more and more favoured instrument towards the latter part of Joy Division's existence supports a possible theory that Joy Division may well have taken the electronic based direction that New Order were to take had Curtis not died.

Footage exists of Curtis playing Sumner's Shergold Custom Masquerader and also VOX Phantom guitar/organ and VOX Teardrop guitars, which were apparently cheap at the time. Although not a skilled guitarist, Curtis' playing enhanced the band's sound at live gigs. Sumner, as previously mentioned, was the group's lead guitarist and used two or more different models with Joy Division; the mentioned Shergold Custom Masquerader and a Gibson SG Standard were two he is definitely known to have used.

Peter Hook chose to play his bass guitar more like a lead guitar on many tracks. This enabled songs to have more dominant bass riffs to complement the other instruments. Hook started to use a Shergold Marathon six stringed bass guitar on the "Closer" album, which allowed for higher notes to be played on the bass. He continued to use the Marathon with New Order, as well as a conventional Yamaha RB1200 four-stringed bass. His original bass, a Rickenbacker copy was destroyed after an altercation during a gig in Manchester in September 1979. 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.

The melodica was another instrument used by Joy Division during a select few recording sessions: briefly on "Decades" and quite predominantly on "In a Lonely Place", which only exists as a rehearsal recording (this recording can be heard in the "Heart and Soul" box set). 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. Sumner apparently didn't look after the original very well and was seen to smash it to bits over the back of his head during a New Order gig at the 'Tabernacle' in London shortly after the release of their first album 'Movement'.

Morris used an expansive drum kit to allow a great ranges of rolls, rhythm shifts and beats. Morris seemed to be the most physically active band member behind Curtis, especially on tracks such as "She's Lost Control" and "Transmission" where the insistent beat fuelled Curtis's gyrations. Morris also used Simmons and Synare electronic drumpads and a Boss DR-55 drum machine on some songs ("Insight", "She's Lost Control", "Isolation", "Decades") in combination with conventional drums to broaden the tonal palette.

In 2005 the Warsaw demo was publicly released, under the band name "Warsaw".

Live performances

The usual scene at a Joy Division gig was Curtis in the middle at the front, Sumner standing to Curtis' right, Hook standing to Curtis' left and Morris and his drum kit behind Curtis. The band usually played with little light, probably due to Curtis' epilepsy, which sometimes inhibited his performances. 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 the song without his presence on stage.

Also, Curtis very 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 (the reason being to keep the audience informed of the equipment failure the band suffered partway through the set).

Members

Main Members

Ian Curtis − vocals, guitar (mid-1976 to May 1980)
Bernard Sumner a.k.a. Bernard Albrecht − guitar, keyboards (mid-1976 to May 1980)
Peter Hook − bass (mid-1976 to May 1980)
Stephen Morris − drums (August 1977 to May 1980)

Other Members

Terry Mason − drums (mid-1976 to May 1977)
Tony Tabac − drums (May to June 1977)
Steve Brotherdale − drums (June to August 1977)

Discography

Albums

Image:Unknownpleasures.jpg|Unknown Pleasures
(Factory - 1979) Image:JoyDivisionCloseralbumcover.jpg|Closer
(Factory - 1980) Image:Joydivisionstill.jpg|Still
(Factory - 1981) Image:Joy Division-Substance (album cover).jpg|Substance
(Factory - 1988)

The Peel Sessions (LP, Strange Fruit SFRLP 211, 1986, 1987)
Permanent (album) (compilation, 1995) UK #16
Heart & Soul (4 CD complete works, 1997)
Preston Warehouse 28 February 1980 (live)
Les Bains Douches 18 December 1979 (live)
Warsaw (Very early recordings, released in 1994)
Fractured Box Set (Preston and Les Bains Douche live albums in special packaging)
Re - Fractured Box Set (Preston and Les Bains Douche live albums together with a third disc containing recordings from a concert in Amsterdam. Also contains simple poster and a T-shirt sporting the word 'Refractured' all contained in a special box. Released in 2004 in limited numbers)

Singles and EPs

An Ideal for Living (UK, 1978)
"Transmission" (UK, 1979)
Licht und Blindheit (France, 1980)
"Komakino" (UK, 1980)
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" (UK, 1980)
"Atmosphere/She's Lost Control" (UK/US, 1980)
The First Peel Session (UK, 1986)
The Second Peel Session (UK, 1987)
"Atmosphere" (UK, 1988)
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" (UK, 1995)

Video

Here Are the Young Men

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...?"

There are also a tremendous number of bootleg recordings, both live and studio.

Reference: ^*

Trivia

"No Love Lost", an early Joy Division/Warsaw track, contains a lyrical reference to Ka-Tzetnik 135633's 1955 book The House of Dolls:

"...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 song "Atrocity Exhibition", from the album Closer, shares its title with the novel The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard.
The name change to Warsaw was purportedly inspired by the David Bowie track Warszawa, found on his 1977 album Low.
Video game designer Hideo Kojima named a black market store in his game Snatcher "Joy Division" in tribute to the band. However, it was changed to "Plato's Cavern" for the English language releases to avoid potential legal issues.
The title of another Kojima game, Substance, is a nod to Joy Division's Substance.
"Warsaw" was featured in the 2004 video game Tony Hawk's Underground 2.
When the band recorded Closer, Curtis was given a copy of the album on cassette, although he didn't have a cassette player to play it on.
The first song the band recorded with Hannett as producer was "Digital". This was also the last song they ever performed live before Curtis' death.
In 2005, they were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame.
Ian Curtis' suicide and the often somber tone of Joy Division served as an inspiration for the graphic novel The Crow; author James O'Barr reportedly based protagonist Eric Draven's spasmodic, contorted fits of grief on Curtis' onstage choreography. The soundtrack of the 1994 movie based on The Crow featured a Nine Inch Nails cover of Joy Division's Dead Souls.
There is a Russian reggae band named Jah Division who have performed dub remixes and cover versions of Joy Division songs.
The tribute band Joy Order/New Division interprets the music of the band through a four-piece ensemble consisting of gamelan, bass, baritone sax, and recorder.
Alternative band Bright Eyes has a song entitled "Joy Division" and post-punkers Half Man Half Biscuit have "Joy Division Oven Gloves".

References

24 Hour Party People (film, 2002)
Ka-Tzetnik 135633 (pseudonym of DeNur, Yehiel). The House of Dolls. 1955. Trans. from the Hebrew by Moshe M. Kohn. New York: Simon and Schuster.
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
Ott, Chris. Unknown Pleasures. (33⅓ series) New York: Continuum, 2004. ISBN 0-8264-1549-0

External links

Joy Division Central – Massive Joy Division site covering every aspect of the band. Updated daily.
Joy Division Fans Club – biographies, detailed discography, live history, pictures, equipment information, studio recording sessions details, etc.
Shadowplay – song information, discography, recording session details, etc.
Incubation – Joy Division's most detailed discography and press articles
Joy Division Myspace Page Joy Division Myspace Page
Cartoon tribute to Joy Division

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