History Music / JoyDivision

* DistinctDoubleAlbum: The first disc on ''Still'' is a rarities album, while the second contains the band's final live show.

* BadassBaritone: Ian's deep singing voice was a key element of the band's dark sound.

However, the relentless touring negatively affected the band. Ian Curtis had epilepsy, and sometimes experienced seizures during concerts, leading to their cancellation. His seizures were getting worse as the band continued touring, but he pushed himself to the point of exhaustion, as the band needed to tour to become better-known in the fairly exclusive music scene of the 1970s He concealed the extent of his disability until the breaking point. His lack of sleep, alcohol abuse, and collapsing marriage only added to his severe depression; he committed suicide on 18 May 1980 (supposedly after watching ''Film/{{Stroszek}}'' on TV and listening to Music/IggyPop's ''Music/TheIdiot''). Their second and final album ''Music/{{Closer}}'' was released two months later to both critical and commercial success, and is widely seen as their masterpiece. The band was a key influence on AlternativeRock on both sides of UsefulNotes/ThePond over the next few decades.

* LeadBassist: Peter Hook carried the melody on a Rickenbacker bass, not unlike [[{{Music/Yes}} Chris Squire]] or [[{{Music/Rush}} Geddy Lee]]. His tendency to play basslines rather high up on the bass came about because in the early days of the band, it was the only way he could be heard with a weak amplifier. Hook's playing inspired many subsequent indie rock bassists to use the upper register of the instrument.
** In fact, Bernard Sumner once said he's more into "rhythm and chords" than melody.

However, the relentless touring negatively affected the band. Ian Curtis had epilepsy, and sometimes suffered seizures during concerts, leading to their cancellation. His seizures were getting worse as the band continued touring, but he pushed himself to the point of exhaustion, as the band needed to tour to become better-known in the fairly exclusive music scene of the 1970s: he concealed the extent of his disability until the breaking point. His lack of sleep, alcohol abuse, and collapsing marriage only added to his severe depression; he committed suicide on 18 May 1980 (supposedly after watching ''Film/{{Stroszek}}'' on TV and listening to Music/IggyPop's ''Music/TheIdiot''). Their second and final album ''Music/{{Closer}}'' was released two months later to both critical and commercial success, and is widely seen as their masterpiece. The band was a key influence on AlternativeRock on both sides of UsefulNotes/ThePond over the next few decades.

However, the relentless touring negatively effected the band. Ian Curtis had epilepsy, and sometimes suffered seizures during concerts, leading to their cancellation. His seizures were getting worse as the band continued touring, but he pushed himself to the point of exhaustion, as the band needed to tour to become better-known in the fairly exclusive music scene of the 1970s: he concealed the extent of his disability until the breaking point. His lack of sleep, alcohol abuse, and collapsing marriage only added to his severe depression; he committed suicide on 18 May 1980 (supposedly after watching ''Film/{{Stroszek}}'' on TV and listening to Music/IggyPop's ''Music/TheIdiot''). Their second and final album ''Music/{{Closer}}'' was released two months later to both critical and commercial success, and is widely seen as their masterpiece. The band was a key influence on AlternativeRock on both sides of UsefulNotes/ThePond over the next few decades.

* {{Bookworm}}: Ian Curtis was an avid reader.

* DeathSeeker: According to Deborah Curtis, Ian didn't plan to live beyond his mid-20s.

* TransatlanticEquivalent: A band influenced by punk hailing from an economically depressed (at the time) northern city, with a depressed lead singer who commits suicide, leaving behind a wife and a young daughter. The drummer forms a new band that turns out to be a long runner. We could easily be talking about Joy Division or Music/{{Nirvana}}.

[[caption-width-right:350: Here are the young men: Joy Division in the late '70s. From left to right: [[Music/NewOrder Bernard Sumner,]] Ian Curtis, [[Music/NewOrder Stephen Morris,]] and [[Music/NewOrder Peter Hook.]]]]

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Averaged around 3-5, with some that drop down to a 2 and a few that arguably go up to a 6.

[[caption-width-right:350: Here are the young men: Joy Division in the late-'70s. From left to right: [[Music/NewOrder Bernard Sumner,]] Ian Curtis, [[Music/NewOrder Stephen Morris,]] and [[Music/NewOrder Peter Hook.]]]]

* 1988 - ''[[Music/SubstanceJoyDivisionAlbum Substance]]'' [[note]] Not to be confused with the 1987 Music/NewOrder compilation of the same name; a good number of outlets refer to the New Order album as ''Substance 1987'' (after the design of its cover art) specifically to distinguish the two albums. [[/note]]

* 1988 - ''Substance'' [[note]] Not to be confused with the 1987 Music/NewOrder compilation of the same name; a good number of outlets refer to the New Order album as ''Substance 1987'' (after the design of its cover art) specifically to distinguish the two albums. [[/note]]

* 1988 - ''Substance'' [[note]] Not to be confused with the 1987 ''Music/NewOrder'' compilation of the same name; a good number of outlets refer to the New Order album as ''Substance 1987'' (after the design of its cover art) specifically to distinguish the two albums. [[/note]]

* 1988 - ''Substance''

* CassandraTruth: Annik Honoré tried to warn Tony Wilson that Ian Curtis was suicidal but he brushed her off, saying that Ian's dark lyrics were just poetic license. Then Curtis did kill himself...

* BoxedSet: Two are known to exist. The first is ''1977-1980'', a [[NoExportForYou Japan-exclusive]] set released in 1990 compiling the band's two studio albums, the ''Still'' and ''Substance'' compilations, and a CD version of the "Atmosphere"/"She's Lost Control" single, all uncompressed and sourced from the original master tapes. Because all other CD releases of Joy Division's material is sourced from second-generation copies and/or [[LoudnessWar noticeably brickwalled]], this set is considered the a holy grail among Joy Division fans. The second box set is ''Heart and Soul'', a 1997 (issued stateside by Rhino in 2001) compilation of every single Joy Division recording that London Records could find in the vaults at the time, properly remastered and presented as a sort of retrospective of the band. It is rather notable for being one of only two official source for the band's final recording, a May 14, 1980 studio rehearsal of "Ceremony" (the other official source, for those wondering, is a vinyl release of the Music/NewOrder and Joy Division versions of both "Ceremony" and "In a Lonely Place", issued exclusively for Record Store Day 2011).

* UpdatedRerelease: In the early '90s, the cover art for ''Substance'' was reworked on the European editions. For the 2015 re-issue, a couple extra tracks were added: "As You Said" and an alternate version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" from the single's B-side were added, collecting all of the band's non-album tracks.

However, the relentless touring negatively effected the band. Ian Curtis had epilepsy, and sometimes suffered seizures during concerts, leading to their cancellation. His seizures were getting worse as the band continued touring, but he pushed himself to the point of exhaustion, as the band needed to tour to become better-known in the fairly exclusive music scene of the 1970s: he concealed the extent of his disability until the breaking point. His lack of sleep, alcohol abuse, and collapsing marriage only added to his severe depression; he committed suicide on 18 May 1980 (supposedly after watching ''Film/{{Stroszek}}'' on TV and listening to Music/IggyPop's ''Music/TheIdiot''). Their second and final album ''Music/{{Closer}}'' was released two months later to both critical and commercial success, and is widely seen as their masterpiece.