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Joy Division was formed under this name in 1977 but before that they called themselves Warsaw, and shortly before that Stiff Kittens. The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, The Buzzcocks, The Damned and The Clash had set Britain ablaze with punk rock and "everyone" who saw their concerts wanted to play in a band it seemed.
Bernard Sumner [aka Bernard Dicken / Bernard Albrecht] and
Peter Hook were the two school friends who initially formed a band after attending the initial punk rock concerts of '76.
Ian (Kevin) Curtis met and joined the band as they were still the Stiff Kittens. On the night of their first public performance and regardless the tickers and posters announcing the band as Stiff Kittens they told their manager that they were now Warsaw. Things went fast in these days, and they received poor reviews as their concerts apparently were more like (bad) rehearsals, and they had a hard time finding a decent drummer.
Stephen Morris joined the band as drummer in mid-late '77, and the line-up was then settled. The decision to change name again, despite the fact that they had just recorded a 4-track demo, came as a result of name conflict with a band from London, Warsaw Pakt. They settled on Joy Division, apparently deriving from the novella,
"The House of Dolls" (by Ka-tzetnik 135633, aka Yehiel De-Nur), touching on sado-masochism in German concentration camps [The 'joy divisions' were those which housed prostitutes and women kept alive for the pleasure of the officers of the camps]. After a difficult start with bad reviews and a hard and difficult struggle being heard at all in that giant pot of new bands of imitators and wannabees. Their rehearsals and concerts got increasingly better, and they even received good reviews, as something new. This was in late 1978 and early '79. Now, their
official releases is another topic of debate. All their releases with Factory Records are certified official, however, before signing with Factory the band released
An Ideal for Living (a 4 track EP), a few two-tracks singles and several now unofficial recordings - most of which were released as bootlegs - others remain unreleased, but most of these were recorded in 1977 or '78. The fact is that they signed an illegal contract with a record label, and even recorded an 11-track album in May 1978. The band was dissatisfied with the production quality and a producer decided to add synthesizers to tracks against their will. In a short aftermath the band was brought together with people from Factory Records and a solicitor made sure the other record company never released the first album. However, officially unreleased, it exists as a bootleg album under the name of
Warsaw (1981) and the songs are like demo-versions of something interesting, and even features tracks officially released either as single releases or on the debut album (e.g.
"Novelty", "Transmission", "Ice Age", "Interzone", and "Shadowplay"). Joy Division only released two studio albums in its short lifetime,
Unknown Pleasures (1979) and
Closer (1980). These two albums changed a whole scene within popular music. Everything that followed and had some inspiration in post-punk and / or the punk rock era as such, was very likely to have bonds to either or both of these albums. The music of Joy Division is so unique and very unlike anything else at the time. In the first aftermath of the 1980s, bands and artists (Depeche Mode, U2, Bauhaus, The Cure, etc.) took and borrowed from their musical universe. The 1990s electronic hardcore and rave bands drew on the sound of Joy Division, and especially their industrial almost drum-machine sound on tracks like "Disorder", "Wilderness", "Atrocity Exhibition", "Isolation", and "Heart and Soul" - much thanks to the skilled drum arrangements by Stephen Morris as well as the particular choice of production (with drums and bass up front) as laid out by Martin Hannett. In the new millennium post-punk had its second (?) revival with bands like Interpol, The Strokes, Bloc Party, The Killers, The National, The Editors, etc. on both the American and European continent, bands literally owing everything to Joy Division. In the initial music by Joy Division you may hear their own inspirational sources in Iggy Pop, The Stooges and Velvet Underground, which naturally is much more raw garage rock and punk rock in its style but looking at
Unknown Pleasure, and even more so on
Closer, "Love Will Tear Us Apart", and "Ceremony" (a track released by New Order, the band that grew out of the ashes of Joy Division, but was written by Ian Curtis / Joy Division), exemplifies their very own original style of post-punk and suggests what direction the band was evolving. Ian Curtis committed suicide on May 18, 1980, two months before the release of
Closer. Less than 14 days after the now unnamed trio played a live set in Manchester (Ian's suicide happened on the night before their American tour, which was then cancelled), and only four months later, New Order, a band consisting of only Joy Division members (and later Gillian Gilbert on keyboard), released its first single "Ceremony" / "In a Lonely Place" (Sep. 1980) (source: "An Ideal for Living' - An History of Joy Division" by Mark Johnson; Proteus Books 1984).
I never aimed for the total collection of all their various types of releases but kind of was satisfied with the major ones. At some point I bought a 1200 limited copy of a bootleg release
Le Terme, a renowned 'pirate' release, but I ended up selling it because I needed money to finance new albums, and I don't really regret that today. It was a bootleg that will never be worth the same as what they would themselves recognise as decent material.
The legacy of Joy Division lives on. New Order grew out of the shades and out of the despair of gothic rock post-punk, and became a major influence for many others. New Order's debut album
Movement (1981) was very much the natural progression from
Closer by basically the same people. Some claim that you here have a proof of the maturity of a new band rising from the ashes of Joy Division. Yes, they chose to change name but no matter what that would've signalled at the time, critics and fans would still have been curious to see what would happen with the remainders of the great Joy Division.
"Will they still be able to work together?", "Will they sound differently?", "Who will replace Curtis???", were just a few of the immediate questions. Ian Curtis' "only" contribution to JD was his lyrics and original vocal, whereas the rest of the band was the true foundation of the music and in that drummer Stephen Morris was
the backbone and probably only truly skilled instrumentalist. People tend to categorise the music of Joy Division as dark and sinister, and as contrary to that of New Order. But the enormous progress from Stiff Kittens, Warsaw, the debut album
Unknown Pleasures to the last singles "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Atmosphere" gives you an idea of where it could've taken them. The beauty of these last songs have so much more in common with
"Dreams Never End" from the debut album by New Order, and even the track
"Leave Me Alone", my favourite from
Power, Corruption & Lies (1983), the second album and the critically acclaimed breakthrough by New Order. But of course they would change their music - that's what they had been doing all along! They always sought to be progressive and not to repeat themselves - and that's how the band continued to make interesting music whether as New Order, Electronic, Bad Lieutenant, The Other Two, Monaco, or whatever side-projects these talented musicians have been involved in. Joy Division is where they all started. It may sound outdated but the importance and the source of inspiration is what remain.
[ R.I.P. Ian Curtis. ]
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