Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division

by Peter Hook

Overview

In Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division, Peter Hook, bassist for the legendary, groundbreaking band Joy Division, takes readers backstage with the group that helped define the sound of a generation and influenced artists such as U2, Radiohead, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Unlike other books about Joy Division, Factory Records, or lead singer Ian Curtis—who took his own life just before the band's first U.S. Tour—Unknown Pleasures tells Joy Division's story from the unique perspective of one of the three surviving band members.

Told with surprising humor and vivid detail, Unknown Pleasures is the book Joy Division fans have been waiting for.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062222572
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/03/2013
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	262,735
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Peter Hook was born in Salford, England, in 1956. He was a founding member of Joy Division and New Order, and now tours both bands’ music with his new group, Peter Hook and the Light. He also DJs, promoting Fac 51 and The Haçienda Classical concerts around the world. He lives in Cheshire, England, with his wife, Rebecca, and children, Heather, Jack, and Jessica, and their dogs, Wilma and Bo.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Prologue: January 1978 3

Part 1 "Insight"

"Oh, fuck, it's Steve Harley" 13

Timeline One: May 1948-April 1976 19

Part 2 "Disorder"

"Normal band, normal night, few people watching, clap-clap, very good" 31

"Is that a bass guitar?" 37

"He was just a kid with 'Hate' on his coat" 43

"He was one of us" 50

"I can't actually think of anything less 'us' than a wet-towel fight" 55

"The twats were flicking the V's up at us" 65

"Apart from the odd pint pot in the gob, it was a good gig" 75

"Even the shit ones were pretty good" 81

"I told him exactly where he could stick his vibrators" 89

Timeline Two: June 1976-December 1977 101

Part 3 "Transmission"

"It was like The X Factor for punks" 113

"We need to get rid of this Nazi artwork" 121

"The biggest rain of spit I've ever seen in my life" 144

Timeline Three: January 1978-December 1978 151

Part 4 "Love Will Tear us Apart"

"Peter's fell off his chair again" 165

"Fuck, Martin's got a boot full of stolen car radios" 170

"It sounds like a fucking helicopter" 179

"He was looking for that spark" 184

"Not that I'd change anything" 198

"Stop fucking moaning, Hooky" 207

"I just went for a piss" 211

"You shouldn't trust a word I say" 215

"Bring it on" 223

"Turned out to be horse meat" 231

"He's possessed by the devil, that twat" 238

Unknown Pleasures Track by Track 249

Timeline Four: January 1979-December 1979 259

Part 5 "Ceremony"

"A right mother hen" 291

"We carried on" 298

"He thought we were pricks-and how right he was" 303

"His mum got the blood out by washing it in a bath of saltwater" 317

"We were so excited about going to America" 329

"I never said good-bye 334

Epilogue 341

Closer Track by Track 345

Timeline Five: January 1980-October 1981 353

Acknowledgments 373

Index 379

What People are Saying About This

Simon Reynolds

“Vivid, funny, and unexpectedly touching, Peter Hook’s memoir strips away the shroud of myth surrounding Joy Division to offer a refreshingly gritty perspective on the story of four ordinary young men who together made extraordinary music.”

Ian Harrison

“A bittersweet, profanity-filled recollection of their brief existence . . . recalled with Hook’s winning Manc gallows humor . . . If you like Joy Division you really have to read it.”

Keith Cameron

The most colorful and intimate account of Joy Division ever written . . . Hook evokes the spirit of the age with a bluff authenticity that no outsider could hope to emulate…explaining the creation of his band’s remarkable music with all the passion and insight it deserves.

Editorial Reviews

An NPR Best Book of 2013 — NPR

A SPIN Best Music Book of 2013 — Spin

The most colorful and intimate account of Joy Division ever written . . . Hook evokes the spirit of the age with a bluff authenticity that no outsider could hope to emulate…explaining the creation of his band’s remarkable music with all the passion and insight it deserves. — Keith Cameron, MOJO

“A bittersweet, profanity-filled recollection of their brief existence . . . recalled with Hook’s winning Manc gallows humor . . . If you like Joy Division you really have to read it.” — Ian Harrison, Q Magazine

“An immense account of Joy Division’s rise, cataloguing the group’s struggle for recognition, their rapidly gained superiority on the Manchester scene and the epic numbness following Ian Curtis’ shock suicide. Having read Hook’s book, you’ll feel like you were he fifth member of the band.” — GQ (UK)

“It’s a window like no other into the reality of life in this most aloof of bands.” — Metro London

“Vivid, funny, and unexpectedly touching, Peter Hook’s memoir strips away the shroud of myth surrounding Joy Division to offer a refreshingly gritty perspective on the story of four ordinary young men who together made extraordinary music.” — Simon Reynolds, author of Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-84

“Unflinchingly honest . . . Hook peels away the romantic sheen colored by its dark history and gives unfettered insight into the band’s origins and inspirations . . . this is required reading for anyone who ever felt moved by Joy Division’s cold, dark music.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“A tiny gem written by a monster musician. It’s the best document yet to be produced on Joy Division. There’s nothing like hearing the story straight from Hooky’s foul mouth.” — Rock Cellar Magazine

“Honest, punchy, and rough-hewn . . . a portal into a vivid moment in rock history . . . the life and times of a working band . . . and, in the middle of it all, the transformative power of music.” — Los Angeles Times

. The passages where Hook details the recording of the Unknown Pleasures album are fantastic and insightful . . . . the book itself is gorgeous. . . — A.V. Club, The Onion

“A surprisingly funny-and gleefully profane-portrait.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Rich in detail.” — LA Weekly

“A comprehensive, illuminating portrait of the band that often takes the piss out of its doom-ridden legacy.” — Cincinnati City Beat

“Intimate.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“Like talking to a bawdy uncle after his fourth beer. Apparently being in the saddest post-punk art-goth band in history can occasionally be pretty fucking funny.” — MTV Hive

With Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division fans can finally hear the band’s story from someone who was there from the very beginning-iconic bassist Peter Hook.” — SF Weekly

You don’t have to be a hardcore fan of Joy Division or New Order to appreciate Hook’s wry evocation of Britain’s 1970s punk scene and his street-level remembrance of the tragedy and ecstasy . . . that went into building the foundation for the next few decades’ alternative rock scene. — Neda Ulaby, NPR Best Books of the Year

From the Publisher

Vivid, funny, and unexpectedly touching, Peter Hook’s memoir strips away the shroud of myth surrounding Joy Division to offer a refreshingly gritty perspective on the story of four ordinary young men who together made extraordinary music.

Simon Reynolds

Honest, punchy, and rough-hewn . . . a portal into a vivid moment in rock history . . . the life and times of a working band . . . and, in the middle of it all, the transformative power of music.

|Los Angeles Times

A tiny gem written by a monster musician. It’s the best document yet to be produced on Joy Division. There’s nothing like hearing the story straight from Hooky’s foul mouth.

Rock Cellar Magazine

The most colorful and intimate account of Joy Division ever written . . . Hook evokes the spirit of the age with a bluff authenticity that no outsider could hope to emulate…explaining the creation of his band’s remarkable music with all the passion and insight it deserves.

Keith Cameron

An NPR Best Book of 2013

NPR

An immense account of Joy Division’s rise, cataloguing the group’s struggle for recognition, their rapidly gained superiority on the Manchester scene and the epic numbness following Ian Curtis’ shock suicide. Having read Hook’s book, you’ll feel like you were he fifth member of the band.

GQ (UK)

It’s a window like no other into the reality of life in this most aloof of bands.

Metro London

A bittersweet, profanity-filled recollection of their brief existence . . . recalled with Hook’s winning Manc gallows humor . . . If you like Joy Division you really have to read it.

Ian Harrison

A SPIN Best Music Book of 2013

Spin

Honest, punchy, and rough-hewn . . . a portal into a vivid moment in rock history . . . the life and times of a working band . . . and, in the middle of it all, the transformative power of music.

Los Angeles Times

A comprehensive, illuminating portrait of the band that often takes the piss out of its doom-ridden legacy.

Cincinnati City Beat

A surprisingly funny-and gleefully profane-portrait.

Entertainment Weekly

Rich in detail.

LA Weekly

You don’t have to be a hardcore fan of Joy Division or New Order to appreciate Hook’s wry evocation of Britain’s 1970s punk scene and his street-level remembrance of the tragedy and ecstasy . . . that went into building the foundation for the next few decades’ alternative rock scene.

Neda Ulaby

. The passages where Hook details the recording of the Unknown Pleasures album are fantastic and insightful . . . . the book itself is gorgeous. . .

A.V. Club

Intimate.

San Francisco Chronicle

Like talking to a bawdy uncle after his fourth beer. Apparently being in the saddest post-punk art-goth band in history can occasionally be pretty fucking funny.

MTV Hive

With Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division fans can finally hear the band’s story from someone who was there from the very beginning-iconic bassist Peter Hook.

SF Weekly

Intimate.

San Francisco Chronicle

…in Unknown Pleasures Hook wrestles with Joy Division's failure to recognize the obvious: that the sick young man singing songs center stage about death was actually ready to die. It's compelling.

The Washington Post - Justin Moyer

One of the progenitors of what became alternative rock, Joy Division pioneered a sound that would reverberate for decades, inspiring a litany of bands in its wake. The recording career of the band was tragically cut short by the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis . Founding member and bassist Peter Hook recounts the history of Joy Division, offering insight, righting wrongs, and separating fact from fiction. Hook is humble and affable (he's the first to admit he's not the world's greatest bass player), and his tone is more like that of a lengthy discussion with a pal at the pub, rather than a studied, academic assessment of the band and its legacy. This warts-and-all approach results in a warm, occasionally melancholy reminiscence, as Hook discusses the band's process, as well as its members' willful ignorance of Curtis's declining mental state. While the book ends on a sad note, Hook's fond recollection of various moments in Joy Division's short life, such as meeting a young U2, wrestling with a temperamental van on early tours, and a track-by-track commentary on the band's albums (he recommends readers put on the album in question when reading about Closer and Unknown Pleasures) will likely give readers a deeper appreciation for the people behind the music. Hook has written one of the warmest, most honest musical memoirs in recent memory. Agent: Matthew Elblonk of DeFiore & Co. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

The propulsive bass guitarist for Joy Division puts his fingers on the beating pulse of one of the U.K.'s most influential bands. After the cinematic portrayals of the band's tragic central figure Ian Curtis in the films 24 Hour Party People and Control, it's easy to lose track of their central influences. In an unflinchingly honest memoir, Hook (The Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club, 2009) peels away the romantic sheen colored by its dark history and gives unfettered insight into the band's origins and inspirations, as well as its comedies and tragedies. From Hook's first vision of the Sex Pistols, the young musician-to-be was hooked. After recruiting mates Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris, they sought out the sensitive, artistic Curtis to lead them forward. Hook captures his lead singer well: "A poetic, sensitive, tortured soul, the Ian Curtis of the myth--he was definitely that. But he could also be one of the lads--he was one of the lads, as far as we were concerned." What the author does even better is to remember the whole outrageous scene, from the tabloid outcry over the band's murky name to the explosive shows dominated by bands like The Clash and Throbbing Gristle. Even the expected recollection of writing "Love Will Tear Us Apart" comes with decidedly unexpected truths. From the manifold perils of life on the road to his ongoing guilt over the band's treatment of Curtis, Hook never pulls a punch. Add in a comprehensive timeline and track-by-track notes on the band's two sole albums, and this is required reading for anyone who ever felt moved by Joy Division's cold, dark music. Electric transmissions from a bygone era, etched in blood by someone who was there in body and spirit.

Kirkus Reviews