Joy Division

United Kingdom, 1976–1980

Manchester band formed in 1976, with Ian Curtis as singer. Unknown Pleasures and Closer, produced by Martin Hannett, use spare arrangement and heavy studio treatment, and set much of the post-punk template.

MusicRoots documents 5 artists who influenced Joy Division and 12 artists Joy Division influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Joy Division?

• Sex Pistols — Seeing the Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall on 4 June 1976 directly caused the members to form a band.
• The Velvet Underground — Ian Curtis and the band absorbed the Velvet Underground's drone, minimalism and dark lyricism as a core reference.
• David Bowie — Bowie's Berlin Trilogy provided the sonic and emotional blueprint for Joy Division's atmosphere and production approach.
• Kraftwerk — Kraftwerk's cold, mechanised rhythms were central to Joy Division's industrial atmosphere and use of drum machines.
• Martin Hannett — Hannett made Joy Division sound like Joy Division - taming a fast, aggressive live band into cavernous, separated space, against the band's own objections at the time.

Which artists did Joy Division influence?

• The Cult — Joy Division's dark post-punk fed the atmosphere of The Cult's early Southern Death Cult / Death Cult years.
• Massive Attack — Joy Division's cold, dread-laden post-punk is an acknowledged touchstone for the darkness of Mezzanine.
• The Future Sound of London — Cobain calls himself a bit of an indie kid; the Factory Records end of Manchester is what he came out of before he came out of rave.
• Björk — Joy Division's stark post-punk atmosphere was among the new-wave/post-punk influences on Björk's early experimentation.
• Tears for Fears — Roland Orzabal was drawn to Joy Division, whose bleak emotional themes fed the darker undercurrent of Tears for Fears.
• New Order — New Order emerged directly from the surviving members of Joy Division after Ian Curtis's death in 1980.
• Moby — Joy Division were the formative band of Moby's teenage years; his cover of 'New Dawn Fades' (Heat soundtrack, 1995) is a documented act of homage.
• U2 — U2's early sound leaned on Joy Division — Bono recalled recording 'Another Day' as an abstract number akin to Joy Division's later work.
• The Verve — McCabe named Joy Division an early influence — the post-punk atmosphere beneath The Verve's psychedelic space.
• Kino — Joy Division's stark bass-led post-punk shaped the sound of the Leningrad underground and Kino in particular.
• Interpol — Interpol's baritone vocals, bass-driven riffs and dark, reverb-washed atmosphere drew constant comparison to Joy Division, the post-punk band whose moodiness most shaped their sound.
• Editors — Editors' brooding intensity and angular guitar work are their most-cited debt to Joy Division.