Ian Curtis had scarcely been buried a year before the three surviving members of Joy Division – Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris – were back in the studio, drying their tears and attempting to write a follow-up record to a group considered as one of the generation’s most original and innovative. On the still-glowing embers of this emblematic post-punk group, New Order were born. A newcomer Gillian Gilbert (a friend of Morris’) joined on keys. Sumner stepped up as the band’s leader. And Martin Hannett, Joy Division’s producer, returned to the controls. The band’s new direction shocked fans around the world. How were they to continue without their charismatic leader, Curtis? While New Order made use of elements from songs intended for Joy Division before the suicide of its singer (Curtis penned the lyrics to their first single, Ceremony), the aesthetic change that the band took on is nothing short of shocking…
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