Joy Division

Joy Division is a music band out of the U.K. who gained popularity with songs like Transmission and She's Lost Control.

Joy Division History

Ian Curtis formed Warsaw with Bernard Summer, Terry Mason and Peter Hook after witnessing one of the legendary Sex Pistols gigs at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in the summer of 1976. Hailing from Manchester, England, the boys came together out of a love for punk music and a hunger for success. Terry Mason was the original drummer, but was soon reallocated to band manager. Tony Tabac took over, but proved unreliable; Steve Brotherdale replaced Tony, but he was too aggressive a personality for the band; then eventually Steve Morris became Warsaw’s official drummer after replying to an adverstisement placed in a local music shop. By 1980 Joy Division had achieved national acclaim, though their time under the spotlight was cut short by the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis on May 18th of that year.

As Warsaw, the boys played their first gig on the 29th May 1977 at the Electric Circus. They changed their name to Joy Division in January 1978 after discovering that there was already a London based band called Warsaw Pakt. According to Ian Curtis, ‘Joy Division’ is what the Nazis called female prisoners that were used as prostitutes for the German army. Curtis’ interest in Nazi Germany spawned from an unhealthy obsession with death and human suffering. His lyrics are saturated with themes of paranoia, alienation, and in retrospect, seem to romanticise and dramatise the idea of suicide. Early on in his musical career, Ian Curtis was diagnosed with epilepsy, and his dancing style onstage rather disturbingly mirrored the fits he would have offstage. Ian loved to perform, though it was often felt that his performances were real, that he was not a front man acting for his audience, but that he was in fact exposing himself to them; his performances held a voyeuristic function for the crowd.

Joy Division Grows Up

According to Ian’s wife Deborah Curtis, from a young age Ian had been fascinated with the ‘live fast die young’ philosophy, idolising tragic heroes like James Dean and Jim Morrison. When he was a teenager he decided that he didn’t want to live beyond his early twenties. He even took an overdose with his friend, Tony Nuttall, in a failed attempt to take his own life. Those who were close to him thought this desire to live the ultimate rock n roll dream was merely a phase, though his untimely death proved, tragically, that he was a man of his word.

The band played their first gig under the new guise ‘Joy Division’ on the 25th January 1978 at the Pips Disco in Manchester. Joy Division released their LP Unknown Pleasures in June 1979, establishing them with national music hotshots the New Musical Express (NME) and the late Radio 1 presenter John Peel. The album defines Manchester as a Northern working class city, the band’s haunting melodies focusing on themes of boredom and of disillusionment with the mundane 9-5 ethic. Joy Division were on the brink of a breakthrough American tour, the release of new single ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ and brand new album Closer when Ian Curtis decided to hang himself in his Macclesfield home. He left his baby daughter Natalie without a father, his wife without a husband, and he denied Joy Division the success they had strived for, and were on the verge of achieving. However, after Ian’s death Bernard Summer, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris formed New Order, with Stephen’s girlfriend Gillian Gilbert on keyboards. The band took a new direction, influenced by the electronica trend of the late ‘80s, though the spirit and legacy of Ian Curtis and Joy Division remains.

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