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1976
Inspired by a Sex Pistols gig at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall on July 20, 1976, guitarist Bernard Sumner (also listed on labels as "Bernard Dicken," "Bernard Albrecht" and "Bernard Albrecht-Dicken") and bassist Peter Hook formed a band with friend Terry Mason, who attempted to play drums but didn't last long in the band.
They placed an advertisement in a Manchester record store, and recruited singer Ian Curtis, who also attended the Sex Pistols gig with his wife Deborah and already knew Bernard, Peter, and Terry from previous gigs.
1977
Though not much of a punk drummer, Tony Tabac joined the group in early 1977. They began practicing on a regular basis but did not have a name. Just before their first gig (Electric Circus May 29th 1977), supporting The Buzzcocks and Penetration, the band decided on the name Warsaw, though they had already appeared on the bill as the Stiff Kittens, a name suggested by Pete Shelly of the Buzzcocks and Richard Boon. After this gig, they immediately dropped it in favor of Warsaw.
Five weeks and half a dozen gigs later, Tony Tabac was replaced by punk drummer Steve Brotherdale from another band called Panik. They recorded The Warsaw Demo on July 18th 1977, consisting of five crude punk songs.
After the demo, Brotherdale was fired after being asked to fix a flat tire while on the motorway; the remaining band members drove off without him. Brotherdale tried to get Ian Curtis to join Panik but Curtis refused. Stephen Morris, who responded to an ad in a music store window, was hired as a replacement. Unlike the previous drummers, Morris clicked well with the other three. His metronome-like drumming owed more to krautrock than the aggressive bombast typical of many punk drummers. In late 1977, Warsaw renamed themselves Joy Division to avoid confusion with London punk band Warsaw Pakt. It was also around this time that their music began to mature. Sessions recorded in December of 1977 sound considerably different than The Warsaw Demo.
1978
The group played their first gig as Joy Division on January 25th 1978. They then played regularly in the north of England throughout early 1978, and recorded enough material for a debut album. However, after the studio engineer added synthesizers to several tracks, the band scrapped it. It would be released as a bootleg in 1982 and then officially 10 years later.
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 2nd, 1977. In June 1978 their December 1977 sessions were released as a 7" EP under the title An Ideal For Living. In late 1977, An Ideal For Living was remastered and rereleased as a 12".
On September 20th, 1978, they performed on the TV show Granada Reports and in December 1978, they appeared on the compilation EP A Factory Sample, contributing two tracks recorded a couple months earlier. This EP sold out within a couple 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 14th by the respected indie DJ John Peel), and on March 4th, 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 contemporary rock music, featuring Hook's bass as the lead melodic instrument, drums soaked in icy reverb, Albrecht's jagged guitar and Curtis' baritone vocal style. Whereas punk rock had been extroverted and aggressive, Joy Division were more introverted and personal. The album cover, designed by Peter Saville based on a graph of 100 consecutive pulses from the pulsar CP 1919, is regarded a classic of minimalist sleeve design. 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 John Peel's BBC radio show in December.
While Unknown Pleasures sold well and received good reviews from the music press, all was not well. Curtis suffered from epilepsy and on stage he would often have tonic-clonic seizures that resulted in unconsciousness and convulsions, or absence seizures that would cause brief trancelike pauses. Even after disposing of their lightshow, 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 though due to Curtis' deteriorating health.
With Martin Hannett, who also produced Unknown Pleasures, the band began recording their second album Closer at the end of the European tour in March. They released their most famous song "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (voted the number 1 single of all time by the New Musical Express in a 2003 poll), in April. Despite receiving brilliant reviews, the single failed to move beyond the independent charts.
On April 8 the band played a gig at the Derby Hall in Bury. Curtis sang only a few songs, the rest being sung by Alan Hempstall of support band Crispy Ambulance. The audience reacted badly to this, and the gig disintegrated into a riot in which Hook fought with angry onlookers.
Following a one off gig in early May, the band took two weeks' rest before their first American tour was scheduled to start. At the time, Curtis' relationship with his wife Deborah Curtis was collapsing due to his infidelity. Alone in his Macclesfield home, on 17 May 1980, Ian watched a movie called Stroszek about an artist who commits suicide. On 18 May 1980, Ian Curtis was discovered by his wife Deborah in their kitchen, hanging by his neck, the victim of suicide. He had reportedly been listening to Iggy Pop's album, The Idiot.
Aftermath
The band had decided long ago 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, a reissued Love Will Tear Us Apart hit number 13 on the British Singles Chart, their biggest commercial success to date. In August 1980, Closer was finally released to overwhelmingly positive reviews and also charted, peaking at number 6 on the British Album Chart. Sales of Unknown Pleasures were also robust.
At first glance Ian Curtis' suicide appears to be exclusively the product of his own depression and ill health. However, Deborah Curtis' book Touching From A Distance, gives the impression that Ian always wanted to die young. Ian Curtis has been an inspiration for numerous musicians including Kurt Cobain and Trent Reznor.
The surviving members formed an electronic band called New Order, often cited as one of the leading synth pop, techno and dance music groups of their era.
1. Exercise One
2. Ice Age
3. Sound of Music
4. Glass
5. Only Mistake
6. Walked in Line
7. Kill
8. Something Must Break
9. Dead Souls
10. Sister Ray
11. Ceremony
12. Shadowplay
13. Means to an End
14. Passover
15. New Dawn Fades
16. Transmission
17. Disorder
18. Isolation
19. Decades
20. Digital
:) ... budaletina prava).
