Joy Division emerged from Manchester's punk scene and created something far colder and more haunting than their peers. Ian Curtis's baritone and epileptic stage movements, Bernard Sumner's high-register guitar, Peter Hook's melodic bass leads, and Stephen Morris's mechanical drumming produced music that sounded like transmissions from a dying industrial city.
Two albums is all they left behind. Curtis's suicide in May 1980 ended the band at the moment they were becoming one of the most important in the world. The surviving members formed New Order.
Key Albums
Martin Hannett's cavernous production created a sound that defined post-punk.
Released after Curtis's death. Darker, more complex, and devastating in context.
Why They Matter
Joy Division created the sonic and emotional template for post-punk. Their influence on goth, darkwave, indie, and electronic music is impossible to overstate.