Of this group, British broadcaster Tony Wilson said: "Joy Division were the first to use the energy and simplicity of punk in order to express more complex emotions." Despite their short existence and only two released albums, Joy Division made an invaluable contribution to the development of post-punk.
The history of the group began in 1976 in the English city of Manchester. The founders of Joy Division are Bernard Sumner, Terry Mason and Peter Hook (old school friends).
The mid-1970s is considered the era of punk in music. In 1976, almost no one knew about the Sex Pistols, but it was their concert that inspired Sumner, Hook and Mason to create their own group. Friends bought instruments and started looking for a vocalist for the as yet unnamed band.
They met Ian Curtis, then an ordinary young man from a family of ordinary workers, who would later be recognized as a cult figure in rock music and the "godfather of post-punk". It was Curtis who was the author of all the songs of the Joy Division group.
When the team was formed, it was time to choose a name for the group. It has changed many times - the original version was the phrase Stiff Kittens, later it was changed to Warsaw. Under this name, the group existed until 1978.
The first recordings and concerts of Joy Division
The original line-up played only a few small shows and made their studio debut on July 18, 1977.
Shortly thereafter, Terry Mason was retrained from drummer to manager, and Stephen Morris sat on drums. Curtis, Sumner, Hook and Morris - this was the composition of the Joy Division group until the end of the group's existence.
The band's first studio recording cannot be called successful. The songs had nothing to do with the further work of the group, Curtis did not yet understand how outstanding his voice was and did not know how to use it. For these reasons, the recordings were not released.
On October 2, 1977, the first major Warsaw concert took place in Manchester, dedicated to the demolition of the Electric Circus hall. Other local groups also took part in this event. It was then that the band announced their name change to the definitive Joy Division. It was inspired by the novel A Doll's House. "Entertainment divisions" were the concentration camps-brothels where Nazi officers went.
In the winter of the same year, the mini-album An Ideal for Living was released, which included four songs: Warsaw, No Love Lost, Leaders of Men and Failures, with a total duration of 12 min 47 s. The cover, which depicts a Hitler Youth beating a ram, deserves considerable attention.
The release came out in early June 1978. Critics spoke unflatteringly about this record, noting the primitive sound quality.
TV, Factory Records, tour and Curtis's illness
1978 was a busy year for Joy Division. After the unsuccessful release of the first album, the group gained its first popularity.
It all started in April, when Rob Gretton, a partner and one of the leaders of the Manchester record company Factory Records, came to the club where the Joy Division group performed. Gretton soon became the band's new manager, and Joy Division began collaborating with Factory Records, recording songs from Digital and Glass.
In September of the same year, Joy Division made their first appearance on Tony Wilson's Granada Reports television show. This episode of the program was remembered by the audience for a long time, mainly due to Curtis and his strange abrupt dance, reminiscent of convulsions, with which the musician accompanied the performance of the song Shadowplay.
Two months later, the band embarked on a tour of England, during which they performed in London. While returning to Manchester, Curtis had an epileptic seizure.
Later, the doctor gave him an official diagnosis and prescribed the appropriate drugs, which were supposed to alleviate the condition of the musician. However, attacks occurred more often due to overexertion, loud noises, alcohol and bright spotlights.
Album Unknown Pleasures, BBC and song Love Will Tear Us Apart
In June 1979, Joy Division and Factory Records released Unknown Pleasures. Since the release of the album An Ideal for Living, the band's work has undergone significant changes, and this was reflected even in the design of the album's cover, which no longer contained references to Nazi culture.
It looked as minimalistic as possible - a lot of curved white lines, reminiscent of radio pulse graphs, on a black background.
The album contains 10 songs, five on each side of the record. Among them were: Disorder, New Dawn Fades, She's Lost Control and other famous compositions of the group.
Joy Division has become much more likely to perform in public. During the concerts, Curtis danced in the same way as on the first television broadcast of Tony Wilson. Some viewers were sure that the musician had taken drugs. Hook, Sumner, and Morris sometimes mistook his movements for an actual epileptic fit.
In the early autumn of 1979, the group performed on the BBC. The first single Transmission was released in October. In the same month, the group traveled to Belgium. There the group took the stage of one of the clubs in Brussels.
It was there that Curtis met journalist Annick Honore. A romantic relationship developed between them. By that time, Curtis had already been married for about four years, he had a daughter.
On November 26, Joy Division presented their new song Love Will Tear Us Apart to the world.
Album Closer
In early 1980, the group gave concerts in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany. The recording of the next album Closer and the composition Love Will Tear Us Apart, which became a single, began in March.
The album includes 9 new songs. The release took place in the summer, when Curtis was no longer alive. The album Closer and the song Love Will Tear Us Apart received positive reviews from critics.
Death of Curtis and breakup of Joy Division
In the spring of 1980, Curtis' condition deteriorated rapidly. Attacks occurred more and more often, sometimes even during performances. Despite impressive prospects in the form of a tour of America and Europe, in April he made an unsuccessful suicide attempt.
After that, the group continued to work, recording new songs and giving concerts. In mid-May, the tour of America was to begin - the musicians were supposed to go to New York.
Curtis was under constant pressure. He was tired of work, his wife found out about his relationship with Annick Honore and demanded a divorce. On May 18, 1980, Curtis hanged himself in his own kitchen.
Without him, the group could not continue its existence. A few months later, Sumner, Hook and Morris created a new team, New Order.
