The dramatic and legendary story of Joy Division, a symbol of English rock from the late seventies sprung from the ashes of punk and began in Manchester.
In 1976, the year of the famous Sex Pistols tour "Anarchy in the UK", three school friends, infected by the exciting and energetic punk wave, decided to form a band. The group, consisting of Bernard Dicken on guitar, Peter Hook on bass and Terry Mason on drums, adopted the name Stiff Kittens and debuted at Electric Circus Club in Manchester on December 9, 1976.
A few months later the band entered in contact with Ian Curtis, a young social worker from Macclesfield. The vocal and poetic style of Ian Curtis became indispensable for Stiff Kittens, who began to make a place in the crowded musical scene of Manchester, influenced by bands like Drones, The Fall, V2, Panik and Slaughter and The Dogs.
In May 1977 they decided to change their name and, touched by the beauty of 'Warszawa', suggestive instrumental composition presented by David Bowie on his 1977 album 'Low', were renamed Warsaw. With this new name, after the recording of a test tape and the signing of a new and definitive drummer, Steve Morris, also from Macclesfield, the young quartet made its official debut, on August 27, 1977, at Eric's Club, Liverpool as the opening act for X-Ray Spex. There were numerous performances, culminating in the farewell concert of the Electric Circus club, which also featured other historical bands such as The Buzzcocks, The Fall and the reggae group Steel Pulse.
The concert was partially recorded in a EP published by Virgin, titled 'Short circuit'. At the end of 1977, Warsaw became Joy Division, partly because in that period a London heavy metal band called Warsaw Pakt had recently published their first album. For the election of the new name, Curtis and company were inspired by the house of the dolls, a novel acclimated in a Nazi concentration camp in which the author denominated Joy Division to the place where the arrested women were kept for sexual pleasure. Joy Division's definitive lineup featured Ian Curtis as lead-singer, Peter Hook on bass, Bernard Sumner (aka Dicken and alias Albrecht) on guitar and Steve Morris on drums.
The group recorded four neurotic and obscure compositions (later collected in an EP titled 'An ideal for living') in December 1977 and published by Enigma in June 1978. Also in 1978, the newly born independent company Factory Records released 'A Factory Sample', a double LP at 45 revolutions with two intense compositions by Joy Division ('Glass' and 'Digital') and tracks signed by Durruti Columm, Cabaret Voltaire and John Dowie. Guided by brilliant producer Martin Hamnett, Joy Division recorded the first session for John Peel's Radio One program on January 31, 1979, and in the summer of that year, their first album, 'Unknown pleasures', appeared.
Tony Wilson, founder of Factory, had invested all his energy and savings (eight thousand five hundred pounds) on this record; his efforts were rewarded on the spot. Indeed, 'Unkrnown pleasures' got to the top of the independent English charts and imposed on Joy Division as one of the essential groups of the after-punk period, represented by names like The Cure, Siouxsie and The Banshees, Pil and Wirs.
Curtis's sombre voice, his decadent poetry, and the dry, hypnotic, and minimalist rhythm of his music became the main ingredients of the group's music and enacted their huge success live. In his performances, Curtis turned into a mad ragdoll, fascinating the public in his neurotic and discordant movements.
1979 ended with the recording of the second "John Peel Session" (November 26, 1978) and the release of the rapturous single 'Transmission'. 1980 was inaugurated with a lucky European tour, at the end of which (March 1980) the group returned to the studio to record their second album, 'Closer', and the single 'Love will tear us apart'. At the very moment the band was about to embark on a tour to the US, Curtis hung himself in his room at dawn on May 18, 1980.
The breakup of his marriage and the consequent depressive crisis, aggravated by clear and progressive signs of epilepsy, seemed as the most likely reasons for suicide. In his room was found a note written a while before: "... at this moment I decide to die. I do not write anymore". The American tour was canceled immediately, and a month after the tragic event, Factory released the hit single 'Love will tear us apart' which quickly sold one hundred and sixty thousand copies and reached thirteenth place in the English charts.
Joy Division became a myth, and when in June of that same year (1980) appeared their second album, 'Closer, all acclaimed it as a masterpiece. The whole album is invaded by an air of resignation, each note is wrapped in a grave and glacial atmosphere and the tone is more dramatic than the one that had characterized 'Unknown pleasures'. With the release of the single 'Atmosphere' (1980) and the double album 'Still' (1981), consisting of unpublished tracks and live fragments, Joy Division's story became a legend.
Curtis became a myth, and his companions signed GiIlian Gilbert and undertook a new adventure that, under the eloquent initials of New Order, allowed them to break with the past and embrace a different future. The memory of Joy Division remained alive throughout the following decade, refreshed in 1988 in a memorial anthology, lapidary titled 'Substance 1977-1980'
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