Joy Division formed in Salford nearly 50 years ago, but it has taken decades for some fans to realise what the band’s name actually means. It’s left some people floored
If you’re a music fan, you’ll probably have heard of rock band Joy Division, who formed in Salford back in 1976. The group comprised vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. After heading to a Sex Pistols gig, Sumner and Hook formed the band and, even though Joy Division’s early recordings were heavily influenced by early punk music, it wasn’t long before they found their own dark, sparse style that led to them being a pioneering group of the post-punk genre.
In 1978, their self-released debut EP, An Ideal for Living, captured the attention of Manchester television personality Tony Wilson. It wasn’t long before he signed them to his independent label, Factory Records, and their album Unknown Pleasures, hit the shelves in 1979.
It was known that Curtis struggled with personal issues, including depression and epilepsy. As the band became more popular, his health condition made it very hard for him to perform, as he sometimes experienced seizures on stage.
He died just before what would have been the band’s first North American tour in May 1980, at the age of 23. The band’s final album, Closer, was released two months later, and jumped to no. 6 in the UK Albums Chart.
Meanwhile, the non-album single “Love Will Tear Us Apart” flew to the top of the independent singles chart too. Later, in 1980, the remaining members of the band, together with keyboardist and guitarist Gillian Gilbert, regrouped and became known as New Order.
Even though fans may remember hits such as “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and “Transmission”, many don’t know where the band’s name actually comes from. The conversation recently came up on Reddit, when a user posted: “TIL (today I learned) that the band Joy Division’s name is a reference to the name of the Auschwitz camp brothels (Freudenabteilungen ‘Joy Divisions’).”
One person replied, saying: “I had read that lead singer Ian Curtis discovered in ‘House of Dolls’ the origins of joy divisions in WW2, and was really distraught by such evilness.”
Another wrote: “Took me forever to realise that Joy Division/New Order were the same band, less the lead singer. Totally different sounds.”
A third also replied: “A lot of New Wave acts took their names from Third Reich inspirations. I’m still not sure why. New Wave came out of punk so maybe it was to be edgy or something.”
What does Joy Division actually mean?
The story goes Joy Divison wasn’t actually the band’s first name. Before that, they were known was “Warsaw”, which was said to be inspired by a David Bowie song that featured on his album Low. Curtis was a really big Bowie fan, and the name seemed to fit at the time.
However, when the group were booking some concerts in late 1977, it was discovered that the name collided with the Warsaw Pakt – a Ladbroke Grove-based act that gained a lot of attention after releasing an album within 24 hours of its recording.
They then felt they needed to change it, as it wasn’t individual enough. They put their energy into finding a new moniker.
It was in 1978 that the band became known as “Joy Division” – and the name was inspired by the prostitution wings of the Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. According to Far Out, a holocaust survivor’s book called the House of Dolls is what led them to the idea.
When they decided on the name, the band faced quite a lot of criticism. This is because a lot of people thought they were right-wing supporters.
Despite this, they stuck with it, and spent two years producing iconic tracks that were enough to prove the conspirators wrong. After the tragic death of Curtis in 1980, the band had to decide what to do going forward.
They settled on starting afresh with a new name. It’s reported that, when the band first began, they promised each other they would never use the band’s name if any member left.
To honour this promise, they decided not to continue making music under the monkier as a sign of respect to Ian Curtis. This is how New Order began.