DISORDER.

"Don't think I'd have stayed just for one more day, it seems so much like home, no room to go astray, don't think I could watch - with mindless, empty tasks, intake moving in, forced to walk a lonely path."

Completely obsessed with this band, recently. It’s not breaking news that Joy Division is one of the best bands of all time despite its short career in music industry, but I discovered them like a year ago and now I can’t even stop listening “Transmission”.

Joy Division rapidly evolved from their initial punk rock influences, to develop a sound and style that pioneered the post-punk movement of the late 1970s.
Around 1976 some kids in Manchester were looking for a vocalist for their group, Stiff Kitens. The members were Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Terry Mason and, one day during a Sex Pistols’ performance, they chose a guy wearing a black shirt that said “I HATE” at the back to become the lead singer. They did not make him an audition, they liked the guy; he was extreme and he wanted to do extreme things, extreme music. The guy was Ian Curtis.

In 1977, the band changed its name to Warsaw, based on a David Bowie's song called “Warsawa” and Terry Mason left the drums to become the manager. Tony Tabac replaced him on drums for the first live presentation of the band in May 77’. A month later, Tabac was replaced by Steve Brotherdaleand and the band recorded with him his first demo: The Warsaw Demo, five copies with five songs, one for each member and one for Mason. The relationship with Brotherdale was difficult and the group decides to leave him in August 77’. The new drummer was Steve Morris who became the permanent drummer. The band was already formed.

In October 77’ the band recorded the song “At a later date “ in Electric Circus for the live record “Short Circuit” and in December of that year they went to the studio to write songs for their first EP: An ideal for living.

To avoid confusion with the punk band Warsaw Pakt the group decides to change its name in 1978 for Joy Division. The name came from the novel “The House Of Dolls” by Ka-tzetnik 135633. The novella describes "Joy Divisions", which were allegedly groups of Jewish women in the concentration camps during World War II who were kept for the sexual pleasure of Nazi soldiers.

The band recorded their debut album "Unknown Pleasures" (1978), but it was rejected by them after the recording producers altered the record by mixing it with synthesizers.

On 14 February '79, Joy Division played at the BBC, where they recorded several songs for the famous John Peel program- subsequently it became known (and published) as “The 1st Peel Session”. This performance gave them a lot of publicity and in March of the same year they played as the support band for The Cure at the Marquee in London.

In April of the same year, the band decided to record "Unknown Pleasures", this time with the producer Martin Hannett and carried out with the Factory label.

On 31 August '79,they brought 1200 people together at the Electric Ballroom in London. That was the largest audience the band ever had.

On September 15, they appeared on television in the BBC program Something Else. The violent movements of the singer during the performance of “Transmission” and “She's lost control” impressed the audience. Soon they attract attention for other reasons. Curtis was suffering from epilepsy.

On 26 November, they performed again at the John Peel show where they recorded “The 2nd Peel Session”. One song was “Love Will Tear Us Apart” which soon became a classic of the band and one of the best known songs, "not recorded" in England: until April 10 of 1980 when it was released as a single, it could only be heard at concerts.

In March they recorded some material for their second album, “Closer” which single was “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. Curtis medical treatment did not help and his general condition seemed to get worse and worse as the agenda of the band increased. His attacks were continuing, even on stage.

On May 18 of 1980, a day before embarking on their long-awaited first U.S. tour, Ian Curtis was found hanged at his home. He was accompanied by “The Idiot” by Iggy Pop on his record player, a newspaper clipping which was marking a film by Werner Herzog, an ashtray full of cigarettes and a suicide note. He was just 24 years old.
Two months after his death, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” was a Top 10 of the UK charts and “Closer ", the album where you can see subtle references to the singer’s decision, sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Great Britain.