Weekend Listening: Joy Division or New Order?

I’m not sure what band I prefer, Joy Division or New Order, but it’s a pointless argument. They’re both amazing. Hailing from gloomy industrial Manchester, Joy Division had such a great promise but met a tragic end when frontman Ian Curtis hung himself at age 23 in 1980 just before their first U.S. tour. It’s one of those, “you should’ve seen it coming” cases. His epilepsy worsened, his marriage fell apart and their lyrics were best described as depressing. Still, there’s beauty in their melodrama post-punk and the group’s most famous song, the majestic “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” became a posthumous hit. After Ian Curtis’s suicide, the remaining members formed New Order. Starting out as a band without a frontman, guitarist Bernard Sumner took over and they started producing themselves which led to a poppier, electro sound with drum programming, heavier synths and bass. Their influence on dance music is still felt today from the Chemical Brothers to LCD Soundsystem. After the jump is the breathless, long mix of “The Perfect Kiss,” from the near perfect album Low-Life.