Joy Division: Ian Curtis (vocals); Bernard Sumner (guitar, keyboards); Peter Hook (bass); Stephen Morris (drums).

Recorded at Strawberry Studios, Stockport, England.

Hailing from Manchester, England, Joy Division profoundly affected the alternative music scene. Arriving as punk music was waning, UNKNOWN Joy Division's music inhabits an eerie, twilight world. Decay and alienation envelop singer Ian Curtis, whose cavernous, but dispassionate, voice belied the intensity he brought to bear. Rolling drum patterns, thudding bass lines and uncluttered synthesizer combine to create a dank, brooding atmosphere, chillingly supporting the songs' bleak lyrics. Yet listening to Unknown Pleasures is not a depressing experience. The group generate a terse excitement, emphasizing individual strengths and avoiding unnecessary embellishment. Their sense of commitment is utterly convincing and few debut albums can boast such unremitting power.

What the critics say...

Rolling Stone (4/11/02, p.107) - Ranked #24 in Rolling Stone's "50 Coolest Records" - "...Punk on the edge of goth, with echoes of disco and the Doors..."
Spin - Included in Spin's list of the Top Ten College Cult Classics.
Spin (5/01, p.109) - Ranked #11 in Spin's "50 Most Essential Punk Records" - "...A rolling murk of wrist-slash guitars, meat-locker ambience, death-disco beats, and funereal siren-songing. Goth starts here."
Q (p.113) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[S]imply ferocious....'Shadowplay' ramps up the guitars to Hannett-defying levels and 'Transmission' could have an eye out."
Q (6/00, p.78) - Ranked #19 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums"
Q (9/93, p.97) - 5 Stars - Indispensible - "...UNKNOWN PLEASURES [is] so fully realized, it [doesn't] sound like the debut from four Manchester oiks [Joy Division]....Exhausting listening, but never inaccessible..."
Magnet (p.112) - "Joy Division - like the Velvet Underground before it - now boasts an ever-widening sphere of musical influence, far greater in depth than it ever had in its short lifespan."
The Wire (p.68) - "UNKNOWN PLEASURES derives much of its musical force from a classical configuration of tensions..."
Mojo (Publisher) (3/03, p.76) - Ranked #26 in Mojo's "Top 50 Punk Albums".
Mojo (Publisher) (9/01, p.86) - "...Retained the nervy, paranoid energy of punk but...ended up some place entirely 'other'..."
NME (Magazine) (8/12/00, p.28) - Ranked #10 in The NME "Top 30 Heartbreak Albums".
NME (Magazine) (9/11/93, p.18) - Ranked #4 in NME's list of The Greatest Albums Of The '70s - "...Ian Curtis made epilepsy momentarily hip with the funereal brooding of 'Atmosphere' and panicky congestion of 'She's Lost Control.' Let's party!..."
NME (Magazine) (7/3/93, p.36) - 10 - Classic - "...Thirteen years on and UNKNOWN PLEASURES is still not so much a record as a full-scale nuclear winter...."
NME (Magazine) (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #43 in NME's list of the 'Greatest Albums Of All Time.'
Blender (Magazine) (p.157) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "[I]ntense, somber....[The album] inverts punk's unified roar into distant alienation..."