22 Facts About Joy Division

Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976.

Joy Division died by suicide on the eve of what would have been the band's first North American tour in May 1980, aged 23.

Joy Division spent the first week of May 1978 recording at Manchester's Arrow Studios.

Joy Division made their recorded debut in June 1978 when the band self-released An Ideal for Living, and two weeks later their track "At a Later Date" was featured on the compilation album Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus .

Joy Division argued that accusations of neo-Nazi sympathies merely provoked the band "to keep on doing it, because that's the kind of people we are".

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On 20 September 1978, Joy Division made their television debut performing "Shadowplay" on So It Goes, with an introduction by Wilson.

Joy Division joined Factory's roster, after buying themselves out of the RCA deal.

Meanwhile, Joy Division's career progressed, and Curtis appeared on the 13 January 1979 cover of NME.

Joy Division performed on Granada TV again on 20 July 1979, and made their only nationwide TV appearance on 15 September on BBC2's Something Else.

Joy Division often had seizures during performances, which some audience members believed were part of the performance.

The following evening, Joy Division were scheduled to play a gig at the Derby Hall in Bury.

Joy Division was anxious about how American audiences would react to his epilepsy.

Joy Division asked her to drop an impending divorce suit, and asked her to leave him alone in the house until he caught a train to Manchester the following morning.

Jon Savage's obituary said that "now no one will remember what his work with Joy Division was like when he was alive; it will be perceived as tragic rather than courageous".

New Order struggled in their early years to escape the shadow of Joy Division, but went on to achieve far greater commercial success with a different, more upbeat and dance-orientated sound.

Joy Division took time to develop their style and quickly evolved from their punk roots.

Joy Division used to play high lead bass because I liked my guitar to sound distorted, and the amplifier I had would only work when it was at full volume.

In contrast to the sound of their studio recordings, Joy Division typically played loudly and aggressively during live performances.

Joy Division'd go off in a trance for a bit, then he'd lose it and have an epileptic fit.

Joy Division played Trans-Europe Express through the PA before they went on stage, "to get a momentum".

Joy Division have influenced bands including their contemporaries the Cure and U2, to later acts such as Bloc Party, Editors, Interpol, The Proclaimers, and Soundgarden.

In 1980, U2 singer Bono said that Joy Division were "one of the most important bands of the last four or five years".