Joy Division

Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band consisted of singer Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris.

The genre they where considered to be in was post-punk and they were active from 1976–80. The only label that they had was from Factory.

Ian Curtis was known for his baritone voice, dance style and songwriting. He also suffered from epilepsy and depression which lead to him committing suicide on 18 May 1980, on the eve of Joy Division's first North American tour.

Unknown Pleasures

• Their debut album and was recorded in April 1979 at Strawberry Studios, Stockport and was produced Martin Hannett
• Unknown Pleasures was released in June and sold 10,000 copies

Closer

• Closer was released on 18 July 1980, through the Factory Records label, as a 12" vinyl LP.
• It reached number 6 on the UK Albums Chart, and spent four weeks at number 1 in Australia. It also peaked at number 3 in New Zealand in September 1981.

Love Will Tear Us Apart
First released as a single in June 1980 and became the band's first chart hit, reaching number 13 in the UK Singles Chart.Then peaked at number 42 on the American disco/dance chart.It also reached number 1 in New Zealand in June 1981. The band postponed their US tour after Ian Curtis's death, performed a few short sets as The No-Names, then finally renamed the group as New Order.

New Order
By combining post-punk and electronic dance music, New Order became one of the most critically acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. The band's early years were shadowed by the legacy and basic sound of Joy Division,