Unknown Pleasures

Joy Division changed the face of music. Godfathers of alternative rock, they reinvented music in the post-punk era, creating a new sound—dark, hypnotic, and intense—that would influence U2, Morrissey, R.E.M., Radiohead, and numerous others. The story is now legendary: in 1980, on the heels of their groundbreaking debut album and on the eve of their first U.S. tour, the band was rent asunder by the tragic death of their enigmatic lead singer, Ian Curtis. Yet in the mere three years they were together, they produced two landmark albums and a handful of singles—including the iconic anthem "Love Will Tear Us Apart"—that continue to have a powerful resonance. Now, for the first time, their story is told by one of their own. In Unknown Pleasures, founding member and bass player Peter Hook recounts how four young men from Manchester and Salford rose from the punk scene to create a haunting, atmospheric music that would define a generation. Peter talks with eye-opening candor about the suicide of Ian Curtis; the band's friendships and fallouts; and the larger-than-life characters who formed the Joy Division legend. Told with surprising humor and vivid detail, Unknown Pleasures is the book Joy Division fans have awaited for decades.