––––––––+ PIONEERS +––––––––
Always making the most of modern technology, but never following an obvious path, this pioneering band, one of the best regarded of the past 50 years have become – perhaps unwittingly – the ultimate trend jumpers, setters and mixers
For five decades, New Order have skipped with some aplomb between gloomy post-punk tunes, atmospheric electronica, jangly Brit guitar music, full-on electro, comedy pop and four-four dance, never really outstaying their welcome or sticking around long enough to be categorised or pigeonholed, and often throwing elements of some of the above styles – or even all of them – into one recording. Being so hard to pin down, then, it’s not surprising that they have helped to create and influence a wide range of genres of music, from goth to dance, post-rock to synth-pop.
But you can’t really talk about the band’s impact without mentioning their first incarnation, as so much about New Order’s sound, career and experimental approach was defined by former band Joy Division, not least three-quarters of their lineup. And there are just as many bands that will tell you that the biggest cementing factor was early Joy Division, as there are those that will say that it was New Order who ultimately defined their sound.
A sound apart
Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and lead singer Ian Curtis first got together in 1976, forming the band Warsaw, with drummer Stephen Morris joining in 1977. After renaming the band Joy Division, they recorded two seminal albums, Unknown Pleasures and Closer. These dark, emotive and highly atmospheric works have become flag bearers for just about any kind of introspective style of music since. And their sound was largely down to producer Martin Hannett’s use of many studio techniques – including early synths and wild effects experimentation – and pushing the band through their sonic boundaries, not always to their liking.
After recording those two albums, Curtis took his life in 1980 after struggling with depression and epilepsy, just a month before the release of the single Love Will Tear Us Apart. That, and second album Closer, would become successes that Curtis tragically never saw, but would be the perfect memorial to both him and Joy Division, as the three remaining members decided to move on, becoming New Order later that year, joined by keyboard player Gillian Gilbert.
A new start
New Order initially took much of the darker Joy Division sound with them, but a combination of their experiences of the New York club scene partnered with European electro would see their sound become more electronic, yet still slightly at odds with the synth-pop of the time.
Their particular style would push Hooky’s bass to the fore, giving their synth sound a driving menace and attitude lacking elsewhere in electronic
