MOJO The Collectors’ Series: Joy Division & New Order – Decades 1976-2023

MOJO’s finest writing on the Manchester legends in a single deluxe volume.

When Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis took his own life on May 18, 1980, he ensured that his band would pass from the pages of the music press and into rock myth. At that time, the Manchester group had just one album to their name, Unknown Pleasures, with another, Closer, ready for release. But within weeks of the singer’s death, the band’s powerful, icy music would be widely recognised for the extraordinary and timeless thing that it is.

In this sumptuous 132-page special edition, MOJO’s writers unfold Joy Division’s dramatic, haunting tale and chart how the remaining members of the group – Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris – resolved to carry on, re-naming themselves New Order and achieving worldwide success with their pioneering fusion of electronic music and indie rock.

While cultural historian Jon Savage recalls post-punk Manchester and its effect on Joy Division’s music, Pat Gilbert revisits the making of Unknown Pleasures and Closer, and, with Peter Hook and Stephen Morris, guides readers through every studio recording Joy Division ever made. Ian Harrison writes about New Order’s difficult road to Top 10 success with Blue Monday; Ann Scanlon looks at the group’s hedonistic later years and millennial comeback; and in-depth interviews with Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook expose the bitter fight in recent years for Joy Division and New Order’s legacy and soul.

With dozens of rare and iconic images, DECADES 1976-2023 is an essential purchase for Joy Division/New Order connoisseurs and all fans of serious music.