Trivia / Unknown Pleasures

• Breakthrough Hit: The success of the album on the U.K. indie chart put Joy Division and Factory Records on the map. It also made Peter Saville an in-demand designer.
• Late Export for You: The album was only released in the U.S. in October 1980, after what would have been their first tour of the country, though there were record stores that sold import copies beforehand based on Joy Division's buzz in the U.K.
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: In 1985, Factory released a box set with the album on cassette and two inserts with the album art and the album credits. The company also released a conventional cassette version.
• Reality Subtext: "She's Lost Control" was partly inspired by Ian Curtis' own experience with Epilepsy.
• Referenced by...:
  • "She's Lost Control" received a reggae cover by Grace Jones as the B-side to her cover of Pretenders' "Private Life".
  • The Arctic Monkeys album AM has an album cover that resembles Unknown Pleasures.
  • The Biopic Control (2007), about Ian Curtis, is named after the song "She's Lost Control".
• Sleeper Hit: Copies of the album mostly sat in Factory Records co-owner Alan Erasmus' flat (which doubled as Factory's headquarters) until the release of the non-album single "Transmission," after which it sold out of its first pressing.
• Trope Codifier: For Post-Punk, with its reverb-heavy production and enigmatic cover art.

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