Joy Division – Love Will Tear Us Apart (12", 45rpm)

Joy Division, founded in Manchester, Ian Curtis (git, voc), Bernard Sumner (kb), Peter Hook (b) and Stephen Moris (dr), traded under the names Stiff Kittens and Warsaw from 1976 and found their final name in 1978. Within the short period of time until the tragic suicide of singer Ian Curtis on May 18, 1980, they changed the music landscape like no other band. Their influence continues to this day: bands from The Cure to Nirvana to Interpol and The National took their cue from Joy Division's unique sound

Yet it was only two studio albums and a few eccentric performances that established their reputation: In 1979, the debut Unknown Pleasures was released with songs like "She's Lost Control" and "Day Of The Lords", which with its brittle and intense sound already ensured loyal fans of the band early on

In 1980 they released their second album Closer, whose dark and melancholic atmosphere received stormy reviews especially for songs like "Isolation" and "Heart And Soul"

The posthumously released compilations "Still" and "Substance" finally provided the missing pieces of the story, presenting the non-album singles "Transmission" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart" as well as previously unreleased studio tracks like "Something Must Break" and "Ice Age" and selected live recordings like "Disorder" and the only recording of "Ceremony"

The band's history is still one of the great legends of rock music, which has provided the occasion for several films: In 2002 Michael Winterbottom made the film "24 Hours Party People" about the Manchester scene, in which Joy Division played a key role. In 2007, photographer and filmmaker Anton Corbijn, who also created the band's iconic photos, made the impressive biopic "Control", based on Ian Curtis' wife Deborah Curtis' biography, "Touching From A Distance"

This year also marks the 40th anniversary of Ian Curtis' death. To mark the occasion, the biography "Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else" by the renowned English journalist and cultural scientist Jon Savage has just been published by Heyne Hardcore.