The Story of Joy Division Trivia Quiz

Answer: Stephen Morris

Stephen Paul David Morris, born on October 28th, 1957, was drummer for Joy Division. He attended the same school as Ian Curtis did, but was kicked out for abusing cough syrup.

Stephen now has two daughters, Tilly and Grace, which he had with his wife, Gillian Gilbert. Since Joy Division, he has been in the bands New Order and The Other Two.

Answer: Ian Curtis

Ian wrote the lyrics to all of their songs. Since Ian greatly suffered from depression, all of the songs had very dark and sorrowful messages to them.

Later on, the rest of the band admitted that they had never paid much attention to the lyrics of the songs they had played.

Answer: passerby

Ian Curtis met a girl once, while he was working as a civil servant for the government. He found out shortly after that she had epilepsy, and that she had had a grand mal seizure and died. He then frantically wrote "She's Lost Control", about a girl who has lost control, as an epileptic does with their body during a seizure. Ironically, shortly after writing the song, Ian Curtis himself was diagnosed with epilepsy.

Answer: The Stiff Kittens

The manager of the Buzzcocks, Richard Boon, suggested that the band go by the name "The Stiff Kittens" for their first gig. Although the band was billed under that name for their first performance on May 29th, 1977, the band had already changed their name to Warsaw, referencing David Bowie's "Warszawa".

Warsaw renamed themselves in late 1977, because they did not want to be mistaken for the band Warsaw Pakt. Their first gig as Joy Division was played on January 25th, 1978, in Manchester.

Answer: Unknown Pleasures

Joy Division began recording "Unknown Pleasures" in April of 1979. Martin Hannett produced the record at Strawberry Studios, in England. While "Unknown Pleasures" sold poorly when it was first released, sales picked up after the "Love Will Tear Us Apart" single was released a year later, in 1980.

In the year 2000, "Unknown Pleasures" was put at number nineteen in Q Magazine's list of "100 Greatest British Albums Ever".

Answer: 1980

When the band first formed, the four members had an agreement; if any member left the band, the band would have to have a new name. So when Ian Curtis died in 1980, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, and Bernard Sumner had to re-name their band.

The name "New Order" came from an article in "The Guardian". The article was titled "The People's New Order of Kampuchea". The name "New Order" had already been used for Ron Asheton's band, but that didn't stop them from using it. They brought in Stephen Morris' girlfriend (and soon-to-be wife), Gillian Gilbert, to play keyboard, guitar, and to sing.

Answer: Suicide

Depression eventually took over Ian Curtis' life. He couldn't hold his own child for fear of a seizure, he thought everyone hated him, and he was desperate for his wife not to leave him, but at the same time, felt unable to leave the other woman he was seeing. He hung himself at his home on May 18th, 1980, one day before Joy Division was supposed to leave on an American tour. At only twenty-three, he was survived by his wife, Deborah Curtis, and one-year-old daughter, Natalie.

Peter Hook, who played bass and sang backing vocals for Joy Division, said in 1994 that "We [the remaining band members] didn't sit there crying. We didn't cry at his funeral. It came out as anger at the start. We were absolutely devastated: not only had we lost someone we considered our friend, we'd lost the group. Our life basically."

Answer: It was stolen

Ian Curtis' headstone was stolen from Macclesfield Cemetery, Cheshire, in early July, 2008. His headstone read "Ian Curtis. 1956 - 1980. Love Will Tear Us Apart". Authorities had no leads on who stole the headstone, and it was eventually replaced with another one.

Answer: The Wombats

The Liverpool-based band, The Wombats, wrote this song in tribute of one of their favorite bands. Two of the three band members, Dan Haggis and Tord Overland-Knudsen, have said "That song ['Let's Dance to Joy Division'] is like people dancing and having fun to songs they really find quite depressing. It's about people dancing to 'Love Will Tear Us Apart,' been havin' a hard week, then letting loose. The ridiculousness of life gets you down, but it's kind of like the music can get you out of it."

Peter Hook of Joy Division is a self-proclaimed fan of the song.

Answer: Control

Directed by Anton Corbijn, "Control" was filmed in black and white to enhance the depressing aspect of the film, and to also give it the raw appeal. It starred Ian Curtis look and sound alike, Sam Riley, as Ian, Joe Anderson as Peter Hook, James Anthony Pearson as Bernard Sumner, Harry Treadaway as Stephen Morris, and Alexandra Maria Lara as Annik Honoré.

Natalie Curtis, Ian Curtis' daughter, was an extra in the film.