Joy Division

Joy Division emerged from Manchester's post-punk desolation in 1976, transforming from the unremarkable Warsaw into one of rock's most influential acts before their 1980 implosion. Ian Curtis's baritone howl, Peter Hook's melodic bass lines that functioned as lead instrument, Bernard Sumner's angular guitar, and Stephen Morris's martial drumming created a sound that was skeletal yet overwhelming. Producer Martin Hannett coated their arrangements in cavernous reverb and synthetic textures, turning 1979's Unknown Pleasures and 1980's Closer into templates for decades of gothic rock and alternative music.

Curtis's lyrics wrestled with alienation, mental illness, and physical collapse, his epilepsy and personal turmoil bleeding into performances that resembled seizures more than theatre. His suicide in May 1980, hours before the band's American tour, cemented Joy Division's mythology whilst robbing them of their future. The remaining members formed New Order, pursuing electronic pop, but Joy Division's brief catalogue remains a monument to despair rendered as art, their influence audible in everything from post-hardcore to synthwave. They captured deindustrialisation's psychic toll without sentimentality.