Joy Division
White lines tracing radio pulses from a distant star, on a plain black sleeve: the cover of Unknown Pleasures is as stark as the music inside. Inspired by the Sex Pistols' 1976 Manchester gig, Joy Division turned punk's energy inward, with Bernard Sumner's jagged guitar, Peter Hook's melodic bass, Stephen Morris's metronomic drums and Ian Curtis's haunted baritone, all wrapped in Martin Hannett's cold, cavernous production.
Closer went deeper still, and 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' set a desperately sad lyric to an almost danceable tune. Curtis died in May 1980, on the eve of their first American tour, and the surviving members carried on as New Order.
If you like Joy Division you should check out: New Order, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Chameleons, The Sound, The Fall, The Velvet Underground, The Doors
