Formed in Manchester in the fall 1976 as Stiff Kittens with Bernard,
Peter, and Terry.
The name dispite rumours to the contrary, was accidentally coined by a
lady named Lou at the house shared by Howard Devoto and Richard Boon,
Buzzcocks' manager. She came into the living room one evening to say that
"Upstairs it's Just full of stiff kittens" when their cat miscarried.
Ian probably joined them under the Sex Pistols/The Clash - gig
(The Anarchy Tour) in Manchester on December 9.th 1976.
They never played or recorded anything under this name and Terry was a
lousy drummer, so he decided to become manager instead.
Tony Tabac became the new drummer late in May.
They changed name to Warsaw
(after the song "Warszawa" from Bowie's Low" album) before the first gig.
Their first gig was at The Electric Circus in Manchester on a Sunday,
May 29.th 1977, a couple of days after Tony had joined them.
Tony Tabac stayed for five weeks and half a dozen gigs.
The new drummer, Steve Brotherdale, came just in time to participate
on the recording of "The Warsaw Demo" on July 18.th 1977.
1. Inside the Line
2. Gutz
3. At a Later Date
4. The Kill
But also Steve left after a short time. He even tried to persuade Ian to
follow him and join the group The Panik, but Ian's voice didn't fit
Panik's melodies so Ian stayed with Warsaw,
Once again Warsaw got a new drummer: Steve Morris. But now the
line-up was complete:
Ian, Peter, Bernard and Steve
would later go on as Joy Division...
...In December 1977 they recorded 4 songs that
were released as a EP in June 1978 with the name of "An Ideal For Living"
(but under the name Joy Division).
In November 1977 the London-group Warsaw Pakt had released
an album "Needle Time" so Warsaw decided to change their name.
They didn't want to be mistaken for Warsaw Pakt. In January 1978 they
changed their name. Joy Division was the choice. The name became from
a lurid novel of sado-masochism in German concentration camps, during 2 WW,
entitled "The House Of Dolls" that was written by Karol Cetinsky and it also
contributes a verse to the song "No love lost"...
"Through the wire-screen,
the eyes of those standing outside
looked in at her as into the cage
of some rare creature in a zoo.
In the hand of one of the assistants
she saw the same instrument which they had,
that morning, inserted deep into her body.
She shuddered instinctively.
No life at all in the House of Dolls.
No love lost."
...the "joy divisions" were those which housed prostitutes and women kept
alive for the pleasure of the nazi officers oh the camps.
The first gig as Joy Division was played at Pip's in Manchester
on January 25 1978.
At the "Stiff Records/Chiswick
Challenge" at Rafters in Manchester, April 14, Tony Wilson, already a
well-known presenter on Granada TV in England was also there for the
contest. At one point during the evening, Wilson was sitting at the
bar when a young man in one of the bands, who was occupying next stool,
turned to him saying, "You bastard! You put Buzzcocks and Sex Pistols and
Magazine and all those others on the telly, what about us then." It was
that kind of a gig.
The playing order was determined by names being drawn out of a hat,
and Joy division naturally got last place among the seventeen bands.
About 1.30 Joy Division caught the atention of Rob Gretton, who stood
out among the punks by wearing a full-dress wedding suit, having come to
the Electric Circus directly after a relative's marriage.
They only were allowed to play three or four songs to a crowd which
had long since disappeared.
"So they went on about ten to two and they were blazing madmen.
And I just went and watched them. Great! Best band I've ever seen - and
they sent a tingle up my spine. And I was dancing all over...I went up
telling them - at the end - telling them how brilliant I tought it
was...And I went raving about them all next day" - Rob Gretton
Joy Division also impressed Tony Wilson, who recognised not only a
spark of future greatness in the band but also Ian Curtis as the boy who
had accosted him at the bar.
On May 3.rd and 4.th Joy Division recorded
material for what was expected to be their debut-album "Joy Division".
1.The Drawback
2.Leaders of Man
3.Walked in Line
4.Failures
5.Novelty
6.No Love Lost
7.Transmission
8.Ice Age
9.Intezone
10.Warsaw
11.Shadowplay
But John Anderson, one of the producers, put synths on the final mix.
The Band were very unhappy - they disliked the synths ( though less than
a year later they used them on Unknown Pleasures),
and the album was never released!
Soon after Rob Gretton took over as manager
(Terry hadn't been a much better manager than drummer!).
On January 31 1979, BBC's John Peel had done a session with them
(later released as the first Peel Session). This certainly gave the
band the publicity they needed, and on March 4 they played support for
The Cure at the Marquee in London. This Peel Session contained:
1.Exercise One
2.Insight
3.Transmission
4.She's Lost Control
In April 1979 they recorded "Unknown Pleasures":
1.Disorder
2.Day of the Lords
3.Candidate
4.Insight
5.New Dawn Fades
6.She's Lost Control
7.Shadowplay
8.Wilderness
9.Interzone
10.I Remember Nothing
withe producer Martin Hannett and the great sleeve-design
was done by Peter Saville, they both continued to work with Joy Division
and New Order on their later releases. "Unknown Pleasures"
was released in June, it received good critics in the music press and it
sold nicely, by June 1982: 100 000 copies.
Their success made them stay on Factory, they
played many gigs that summer and fall:
On August 31 they played at Electric Ballroom in London.
1200 spectators formed the biggest crowd ever at a Joy Division concert!!
At Scala Cinema, in London, Factory organized
an event they called Factory's FAC 9 on September 13.
Part of this event was the showing of two Joy Division related films:
"Joy Division" and "No City Fun" .
On September 15 Joy Division made their first
and last major television appearance: "Something Else" on BBC
2. Ian Curtis made a great impression on the audience with his obsessive
robotic movements during "Transmission" and "She's lost
control".
On October 27.th and 28.th 1979 they were videotaped during
their concerts at the Apollo Theatre in Manchester. This tape was later
released on the video "Here are the young man"
Joy Division (and later New Order) often had
problems with nazi- rumours spreading around in the press. But since the
band never had a good relationship with the press they never gave interviews
to clear things up. The reason for the nazi-accusations was partly their
controversial name (but the press never reflected over that the name came
from a novel that describes the horror of nazism!), and partly because
of things they'd said and done early in their career.
In November 1979 Warner Bros America offered
the band 1 million dollars for distribution in America plus participation
in a series of videos. But the band never answered the offer, they neither
did when the offer was reproposed in May 1980 with more favourable terms
for the band!
On November 26.th they recorded their second
peel session. One of the songs was "Love will tear us apart"
which soon became the best known 'not-recorded' song in Britain. It was
played at the John Peel Show December 10th, but until April 1980 it was
only available live at their concerts:
1.Sound of Music
2.24 Hours
3.Colony
4.Love Will Tear us Apart
In December and January Joy Division toured in Europe.
Their famous Paradiso-gig was on January 11th 1980 and it was
remarkable because of two reasons:
1- It is their most booted concert.
2-They played 2 consecutive sets, a total of
17 songs lasting 70 minutes (due to missing support) !!
In March 1980 Sordide Sentimental released
a 7inch: "Licht Und Bleindheit" in 1578 numbered discs with no groove notations.
1.Atmosphere
2.Dead Souls
Producer was of course Martin Hannett, JD had recorded
the 2 songs in England in October 1979.
In March they also recorded material
for the new album "Closer" and for the single "Love will Tear us apart".
On May 2.nd Joy Division played in Birmingham,
this was going to be their last gig! Luckily that concert was taped and
can be found on side C and D of the "Still" double album (FACT 40).
This was the only time they played "Ceremony" live.
On May 19.th Joy Division were supposed to
leave for their American tour, it all looked so bright. But Ian couldn't
handle the growing success and personal crisis/illness, so he ended his
life on the 18th leaving his wife Deborah Woodruffe and daughter Natalie
alone. Ian almost became 24, he was born July 15 1956.
"Instants that can still betray us.
A journey that leads to the sun.
Soulless and bent on destruction.
Struggle between right and wrong.
You take my place in the show-down,
I'll observe with a pitiful eye.
And humbly ask for forgiveness,
a request well beyond you and I.
Heart and soul, one will burn"
(HEART AND SOUL)
In the following months "Closer"
climbed into the BBC top 10 and "Love will tear us apart" became
a Top10-hit. By June 1982 the album had sold 250 000 copies.
Bernard, Peter and Steve continued as New Order
(but that's another story)...
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