Joy Division 'Best Of Joy Division' album

U.K. post-punk icons Joy Division formed in Manchester, England in 1977, and had an immense and profound impact on contemporary music in a brief time together. They recorded only two studio albums, Unknown Pleasures and Closer (#157 on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums Of All Time”), prior to lead singer Ian Curtis’ 1980 suicide. Their defining song, “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” a single-only release, became their breakthrough hit after that tragedy. Joy Division’s remaining members—guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook, and drummer Stephen Morris—disbanded the group (later re-forming as New Order), but not without making a lasting mark with their haunting, atmospheric music.

Joy Division were an English rock band that formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band consisted of Ian Curtis (vocals and guitar), Bernard Sumner (guitar and keyboards),Peter Hook (bass guitar and vocals), and Stephen Morris (drums and percussion), who replaced three previous short-tenured drummers in late 1977.

Music critic Jon Savage said "Joy Division were not punk but were directly inspired by its energy."Joy Division gradually moved away from their early punk rock influences and developed a dark and gloomy sound that placed them as pioneers of the post-punk movement of the late 1970s. The band self-released their debut EP An Ideal for Living in June 1978, and soon caught the attention of Manchester television personality Tony Wilson. Joy Division’s debut album Unknown Pleasures was released in 1979 on Wilson’s independent record label Factory Records and drew critical acclaim from the British press. Despite the band’s burgeoning success, Ian Curtis was troubled by his crumbling marriage and his diagnosis of epilepsy, which made it increasingly difficult for the singer to perform live. On the eve of Joy Division’s first American tour in May 1980, Curtis committed suicide. The group’s posthumous second album Closer (1980) and the single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" became their biggest commercial successes. After Curtis’ death, the remaining members soon reformed as New Order and went on to achieve much critical and commercial success.

Formed in the wake of the punk explosion in England, Joy Division became the first band in the post-punk movement by later emphasizing not anger and energy but mood and expression, pointing ahead to the rise of melancholy alternative music in the ’80s. Though the group’s raw initial sides fit the bill for any punk band, Joy Division later incorporated synthesizers (taboo in the low-tech world of ’70s punk) and more haunting melodies, emphasized by the isolated, tortured lyrics of its lead vocalist, Ian Curtis. While the British punk movement shocked the world during the late ’70s, Joy Division’s quiet storm of musical restraint and emotive power proved to be just as important to independent music in the 1980s.

who is who
Ian Curtis – vocals
Bernard Albrecht – guitar
Peter Hook – bass
Stephen Morris – drums

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Joy Division - Best Of Joy Division