Joy Division

Legend

Rob Gretton, Martin "Zero" Hannett, Tony Wilson, Alan Erasmus

New Order, Sex Pistols

In 1976, the punk movement erupted to wake up pop music from its apathy. The leading band was the Sex Pistols, whose famous anthems, like "Anarchy in the UK" or "God save the Queen", were the
symbols of this "no future" generation. Most punk musicians could not play, but they did not see this as an obstacle to reach their goal : get on stage, and yell their rage at the world!
Many of them were influenced by famous cult bands of the late 60's and early 70's : The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, The Stooges, Iggy Pop, The Doors, etc.

During the Anarchy in the UK tour, the Pistols played in Manchester on June 4. In the audience that night were three young guys living around Manchester : school mates Peter Hook and Bernard Albrecht, plus Ian Curtis. A few days later, Peter and Bernard decided to start up a band, with Peter on bass and Bernard on guitar; they got Terry Mason as a drummer, but still needed a singer. To get one, they placed an ad in the Virgin record shop in Manchester. Ian answered it and became the
singer of the band, called at the time the Stiff Kittens. He would also write the lyrics.

They rehearsed a lot during a few months, and wrote their first songs, in direct inheritance of punk. In May of 1977 the band's name was changed to Warsaw (linked to Bowie's "Warszawa") and Terry
was replaced on drums by Tony Tabac. Just a month later, Tony left and Steve Brotherdale was hired as new drummer. It was at the same time that Paul Morley of the NME and DJ Rob Gretton
discovered the band and perceived its huge potential. Warsaw recorded a demo tape including five songs in the Pennine Sound Studios in July, but Steve quit the group a few days later.
Finally Stephen Morris joined the band. In October, they played at the Electric Circus, which was due to close down, along with The Fall and The Buzzcocks. Some songs were recorded by Virgin as a
testimony of the mancunian punk scene.

When routine bites hard,
And ambitions are low,
And resentment rides high,
But emotions won't grow,
And we're changing our ways,
Taking different roads.

Then love, love will tear us apart again...............
Love, love will tear us apart again..............................

lovewilltearus_apart@yahoo.co.uk