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Joy Division were an English rock band that formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. With their dark, cavernous sound and use of guitars, throbbing bass, and electronics, they pioneered the post-punk sound of the late 1970s. In May 1980, after the suicide of its lead singer, Ian Curtis, the remaining members reformed as New Order and went on to achieve much critical and commercial success.

Though Joy Division found only modest success during their career, and released only two studio albums, the group have since been acclaimed as one of the most inventive, and influential of their era. Thom Jurek writes, "They left just a small bit of music and an echo that still rings".

Formation:
The famous Sex Pistols show at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall on July 20, 1976 inspired Bernard Sumner [2] and Peter Hook to form a band with their friend Terry Mason. Sumner bought a guitar, Hook a bass and Mason a drum kit. They placed an advertisement in a Manchester record store, Virgin Records, for a singer and recruited Ian Curtis. Curtis, who knew the others from previous gigs, had also attended the Sex Pistols concert, along with his wife, Deborah.

Warsaw – first name:
Just before their first gig on May 29, 1977 supporting The Buzzcocks and Penetration at the Electric Circus, the band renamed themselves Warsaw, even though they appeared on the bill as Stiff Kittens (suggested by Richard Boon and Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks). (The name change to Warsaw was purportedly inspired by the David Bowie track Warszawa, found on his 1977 album Low)

Early work as Joy Division:
Warsaw renamed themselves Joy Division in late 1977 in order to avoid confusion with the London punk band Warsaw Pakt, borrowing their new name from the prostitution wing of a concentration camp from the 1955 book The House of Dolls. "No Love Lost," an early Joy Division/Warsaw track, contains a lyrical reference to Yehiel De-Nur's book:

"...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..."

Curtis' failing marriage:
At the time, Curtis' relationship with his wife Deborah (the couple married in 1975 as teenagers) was collapsing. Contributing factors were his ill health, her being mostly excluded from his life with the band, and his relationship with a young Belgian woman called Annik Honoré whom he had met on European tour. The 2006 book Torn Apart: The Life of Ian Curtis by Middles & Reade sheds light on this aspect of Ian's life and Annik gives her first public account of their relationship. She describes an emotional relationship rather than a physical one and it is clear that she was in love with Ian and felt she was in a long term relationship with him.

The end of Joy Division:
On May 18, 1980, the evening before Joy Division were to embark on their first American tour, Curtis returned to his home and convinced his wife, Deborah, to spend the evening at her parents' house. He watched the Werner Herzog film Stroszek on television, then listened to the Iggy Pop album The Idiot and wrote a letter to his estranged wife. He then hanged himself in the kitchen. Deborah found him the following morning.
The members of Joy Division had made a pact that, should any member leave the group the remaining members would abandon the name "Joy Division" and all material associated with it. The remaining members held true to this commitment, and Joy Division was officially disbanded

Legacy:
The band, and especially Ian Curtis, has been an inspiration for a number of bands and musicians that include U2, The Smashing Pumpkins, Manic Street Preachers, Interpol, Trent Reznor (who, as Nine Inch Nails, covered "Dead Souls" for the soundtrack of the movie The Crow), Robert Smith of The Cure, and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante. The continuing importance of Joy Division was shown at the turn of the millennium when Peel asked his listeners to vote for the all-time Festive 50. At number one was the haunting "Atmosphere," while "Love Will Tear Us Apart" sat at number three. Three more songs from the band sat on the list. The ending solo from "New Dawn Fades," as performed by Moby, was featured in the 1995 film Heat as Al Pacino chases down Robert De Niro. In 1999, a New Jersey band named Thursday recorded a song called "Ian Curtis" that included Joy Division song titles, such as Isolation, Heart & Soul and Twenty Four Hours, as lyrics.

Accusations of neo-Nazism:
The band's name, along with Sumner reverting to his father's surname Albrecht, and the imagery used on early releases, garnered the band criticism for their perceived insensitivity. Accusations of neo-Nazism, a charge the group denied, dogged them for the remainder of the band's career. These accusations resurfaced after Joy Division ended and reformed as New Order, a name sometimes interpreted as a reference to Adolf Hitler's speeches promising "the new order of the Third Reich". The band later stated they got the name from a newspaper article on the new society the Khmer Rouge had envisaged for Cambodia and that a variety of other names had been considered, some more frivilous than others. Gillian Gilbert said in a TV interview she simply considered it to mean the new order within the band as they moved on from Joy Division. It is worth noting that there is nothing in any of Joy Division's lyrics that could be considered as promoting far right wing philosophy.