Joy Division

Joy Division formed in Manchester, England, in January 1977 originally as The Stiff Kittens, then Warsaw. The name they finally settled on came from House of Dolls, a novel about prostitution in a Nazi concentration camp.

Their brilliant first single, Love Will Tear Us Apart, with Ian Curtis' detached, fragile vocals, was a huge indie hit, and their excellent debut album, Unknown Pleasures, won them a large cult following and critical acclaim. 

On May 18 1980, on the eve of the band's first US tour, and shortly after the release of their second album Closer, frontman Curtis committed suicide.

The pressure of following up the band's initial success, coupled with epilepsy and depression, were cited as the reasons Curtis hanged himself in his bedroom. His body was found with Iggy Pop's The Idiot spinning on Curtis' turntable and Werner Herzog's melancholic film Stroszek on his video machine. 

Released only weeks later, there was an almost unbearable poignancy and uncomfortable sense of voyeurism surrounding the lyrics of Joy Division's second album, Closer. Powering the singer's bleak visions of mass murder and mental illness, Martin Hannett's production was at the bleeding edge of early 80s alternative music - sheets of guitar noise, synthesized drums and proto-digital electronics. Much imitated at the time (particularly by the likes of Echo & The Bunnymen) Closer painted a grey, post-punk landscape that was soon to explode into color with the arrival of the New Romantics and the surviving Joy Division members' rebirth as New Order.