New Order

Emerging in the wake of Joy Division’s dissolution, New Order overcame profound loss to become one of the defining acts of the 1980s. Long before most peers embraced club sounds, the quartet integrated electronic textures and dance rhythms into their new-wave framework, forging a cerebral yet physical strain of synth-pop that addressed intellect, body, and emotion alike. Early recordings remained stark and occasionally harsh while the musicians grappled with Ian Curtis’s suicide; greater assurance and sonic curiosity soon yielded brighter, more approachable material. The 1983 single “Blue Monday” and 1985’s “The Perfect Kiss” secured commercial traction, whereas the album Low-Life from the same year foregrounded a wistful, song-oriented sensibility. Technique, issued in 1989, marked their strongest commercial showing and, for many listeners, their artistic peak, effortlessly merging nightclub energy with songwriting craft. Thereafter internal priorities diverged as members pursued separate ventures and reconvened only sporadically, most notably for the 1993 release Republic. Founding bassist Peter Hook’s departure in 2006 prompted further personnel adjustments, yet the group sustained live activity and issued Music Complete in 2015 along with the 2020 single “Be a Rebel.” Their reach persisted undiminished, inspiring artists ranging from Galaxie 500 and the Chemical Brothers to the Killers.

New Order’s formal history begins in mid-1976, when guitarist Bernard Sumner, then credited as Albrecht, and bassist Peter Hook resolved to start a band after witnessing a Sex Pistols concert. Adding vocalist Ian Curtis and drummer Stephen Morris, they adopted the name Joy Division and delivered their landmark debut album Unknown Pleasures in 1979. Following completion of the second Joy Division record, Closer, Curtis took his own life on 18 May 1980. The surviving members disbanded at once, only to regroup shortly afterward as New Order with keyboardist Gillian Gilbert aboard. Sumner took over lead vocals, and the revised lineup introduced itself in March 1981 via the single “Ceremony,” a melodic piece originally sketched for Joy Division. The album Movement appeared months later; because it occupied similar emotional terrain, critics accused the band of trading on past achievements. With the subsequent single “Everything’s Gone Green,” however, the quartet began layering synthesizers and sequencers, drawing from Kraftwerk and New York electro; the 1982 track “Temptation” extended this direction and became another dance-floor staple.

Following a year’s absence, New Order returned in 1983 with the breakthrough single “Blue Monday.” Issued in an austere sleeve resembling a computer disc and devoid of band information—consistent with their enigmatic public persona—the record paired Sumner’s detached vocals and elliptical lyrics with innovative drum-machine patterns. It remains the highest-selling twelve-inch single ever, surpassing three million copies globally. After the 1983 album Power, Corruption and Lies, the band enlisted producer Arthur Baker for “Confusion,” another forward-looking dance track that briefly entered the American R&B chart. A domestic deal with Quincy Jones’s Qwest label followed, yet apart from the singles “Thieves Like Us” and “Murder,” the group stayed largely out of view during 1984.

Promoted by the single “The Perfect Kiss,” Low-Life arrived in 1985 and represented the band’s most cohesive statement to that point. Departing from prior custom, the sleeve featured individual portraits, signaling closer rapport with listeners. Brotherhood appeared the next year; its single “Bizarre Love Triangle” crossed into mainstream pop territory. Substance, a 1987 anthology of singles and remixes, became their American breakthrough, reaching the Top 40 buoyed by the new track “True Faith,” which climbed to number 32 on the U.S. pop chart. A remixed “Blue Monday 1988” appeared soon after. In 1989, responding to the house-music culture their earlier work had anticipated, New Order released Technique, their most club-centric album, which yielded the hits “Fine Time” and “Round and Round.”

After contributing the 1990 England World Cup anthem “World in Motion,” the band entered an extended hiatus. Hook formed Revenge, Morris and Gilbert recorded as the Other Two, and Sumner collaborated with Johnny Marr and Neil Tennant in Electronic, scoring a Top 40 single with “Getting Away with It.” New Order reassembled in 1993 for Republic, their highest-charting American album to date, led by the single “Regret.” Extensive touring ensued amid reports of creative friction. Remaining publicly noncommittal about a split, the members spent the mid-nineties on individual projects, including a second Electronic album and Hook’s Monaco venture. The 2000 soundtrack for The Beach introduced “Brutal,” New Order’s first new song in several years, and Get Ready followed in 2001. Gilbert had by then stepped away to raise her children with Morris; guitarist Phil Cunningham joined to complete the lineup. After touring in support of Get Ready, the band recorded Waiting for the Sirens’ Call, issued in 2005.

In 2006, following scattered live dates, New Order again dissolved after Hook proposed ending touring. Sumner declared that no further recordings would appear under the New Order name and launched Bad Lieutenant with Cunningham in 2009. Two years later the remaining members announced limited live engagements, with Gilbert returning after a decade’s absence and Tom Chapman replacing Hook on bass. Hook himself stayed active, touring with his band the Light and publishing Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division. Live at the London Troxy, released at the close of 2011, captured their successful return to the stage. Throughout 2012 the group performed extensively, joining Blur and the Specials for a Hyde Park concert that concluded the London Olympics. Later that year they announced Lost Sirens, a collection of outtakes from the Waiting for the Sirens’ Call sessions, which surfaced in January 2013. In 2014 the band signed with Mute Records and delivered Music Complete the following year. Produced primarily by the group with additional contributions from Tom Rowlands and Stuart Price, the album included guest appearances by Brandon Flowers, La Roux, and Iggy Pop and appeared in multiple formats, among them a deluxe vinyl box set whose extended mixes were issued separately in May 2016 under the same title.

New Order maintained a schedule of live performances, documenting them on NOMC15, a 2017 set recorded at Brixton Academy in 2015, and on the 2019 release ∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes…, which captured five nights at the 2017 Manchester International Festival. That performance took place in the studio where Joy Division had made their television debut and featured a twelve-piece synthesizer orchestra alongside the band as they revisited deep-catalog material. The buoyant single “Be a Rebel” surfaced in 2020, later accompanied by several remixes collected on CD and triple twelve-inch formats. Education Entertainment Recreation, documenting a 2018 concert at Alexandra Palace, was released in May 2021. Late in 2022 the band embarked on a North American tour with the Pet Shop Boys billed as the Unity Tour. Early the next year New Order and Joy Division together received a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination.