'Joy Division'

...'from their mythical origin as The Stiff Kittens to their programed future as New Order'...

The story begins in 1976, when the Sex Pistols' Anarchy Tour arrived in Manchester England. Three young friends from school, Bernard Dicken (a.k.a. Sumner & Albrecht), Peter Hook, & Terry Mason formed a band called The Stiff Kittens. Ian Curtis joined them in late 1976. The guys never recorded or performed under this name, although they did write their first song 'Gutz'.

The four guys were on their way. They needed to finalize on who was going to play what instrument. Terry was a drummer, but not a very good one and decided early on that he would rather be the band's manager. With that decision made, everything else just seemed to fall into place. Bernard would play the guitar, Peter would play the bass, & Ian, who had already written some lyrics, would sing.

Before the band was to play their first gig and after they were already billed as The Stiff Kittens, they changed their name to Warsaw. Warsaw, which was a simplified name given to David Bowie's song 'Warszawa', played their first gig in Manchester on May 29, 1977, at The Electric Circus. Because new drummer named Tony Tabac only joined them the day before, they had no time to practice together. Their first performance sounded like a well needed rehearsal.

Tony lasted only a month. The show at Rafters on June 30, 1977 was the first show new drummer, Steve Brotherdale, played with Warsaw. In July 1977, the band recorded their first demo which included four songs: 1) Inside The Line; 2) Gutz; 3)At A Later Date; & 4) The Kill. By this time, the band wasn't doing any gigs. Steve recorded a song with a band called The Panik, and later decided to join them. He tried to get Ian to join also, but the music style of The Panik was much different than the style of Warsaw so he stayed with Warsaw. A week later, Steve left Warsaw for good. They needed a new drummer.

It only took a week before Stephen Morris joined. He had never heard Warsaw play and he did not know anyone in the group before joining. He lasted through the band's demise and its afterlife. They started doing gigs again in late August 1977. Warsaw recorded a four-song EP in December 1977, titled 'An Ideal For Living' but didn't release it because of its poor sound quality.

In January 1978, singer Ian, guitarist Bernard, bassist Peter, & drummer Stephen changed the band's name to Joy Division because there was another London-based band called Warsaw Pakt. Since Warsaw had planned to start playing in London, they would have problems getting gigs because of the similarity of the two names. Joy Division came from the book House Of Dolls, a lurid novel about sado-masochism in German concentration camps.

For the next two years and five months, Joy Division played shows and recorded their music. Their first release was 'An Ideal For Living' in October 1978. With this 12", they began their tradition of scrawling messages in the run-off grooves on their vinyl releases. Joy Division had a sad & tragic ending. On May 18, 1980, the eve of their United States tour, Ian Curtis committed suicide. It is said he hanged himself at home. "Speculation in not only futile, but also an invasion of his privacy" (Johnson, 61). He did leave behind a wife, Deborah, who wrote the book Touching From A Distance, (about Ian Curtis and Joy Division)and a baby daughter named Natalie.

::Ian Kevin Curtis::
July 15, 1956 - May 18, 1980

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©2001, 2004 by Nanci Behseresht. This website is my original work except for photographs. Created August 2001. Last updated September 2001. Designed on Internet Explorer. Information provided on this website was adapted from An Ideal For Living (A History Of Joy Division), by Mark Johnson, Bobcat Books, 1986. Fonts used: Garamond, Bookman Old Style, and Optima. Hopefully your browser recognizes these other wise you'll be viewing in boring Times New Roman and/or Verdana. You may contact me at nbehseresht@yahoo.com.

This site is far from finished!