On the fourth of June back in 1976, two childhood friends Peter Hook and Bernard
Sumner both attended a Sex Pistols concert, albeit separately. Feeling inspired by the
band’s performance, the day right after the concert, Hook spent £35 of his mother’s money
on a bass guitar and the two friends formed a band, joined by Terry Mason their soon-to-be
drummer. The trio put an ad in for a vocalist and soon thereafter, found Ian Curtis, who was
immediately hired. Mason quickly became the band’s manager and so they acquired a new
drummer: Stephen Morris. Originally calling themselves “Warsaw”, they later changed their
name to Joy Division to avoid confusion with a London punk band named Warsaw Pakt.
Now fully formed, the band set off debuting in 1978 with their EP: An Ideal For Living,
but they didn’t really take off until 1979 with their debut album: Unknown Pleasures. What
was unknown to the band members until December of ’78 however, was Ian Curtis’ severe
epilepsy that began to affect his performances in concerts and in life in general. Their
skyrocket to success was halted almost as soon as it began. In 1980 with Curtis’ health
worsening emotionally, mentally, and physically, he sadly took his life at the very young age
of twenty-three. Shortly before his untimely passing, the members all made a pact, that if
any member were to leave, they would reform under a new name… and so, therefore: New
Order was born.
New Order turned Joy Division’s post-punk sound and twisted it into an electronic
masterpiece with the introduction of synthesizers and their newly acquired band member
Gillian Gilbert who was the girlfriend of Morris. Sumner took over as the frontman despite
struggling to sing and play guitar simultaneously. The New band debuted with a single
release: Ceremony with In a Lonely Place on B-side. These two songs were the last two
written before Curtis’ passing. They released 5 albums during their ’81 to ’93 era each with
stellar hits from Blue Monday to Bizarre Love Triangle, and The Perfect Kiss. Blue Monday
was and still is by far their biggest hit, becoming the best-sold 12’’ single of all time, with
over 3 million copies sold. Despite its success however, it actually lost money due to the
expense of producing the records.
Despite going through two separate breakups, the band is still active today with
three of the four original New Order members still being a part of the band. They just
recently wrapped up a 2025 tour in Japan, Australia and the U.S. The band is not showing
intentions of releasing new songs, but they are looking at reissues and compilations as
album anniversaries come up. Their evolution from post punk-pioneers to electronic
innovators keeps the names of Joy Division and New Order relevant and heard around the
world today.
