Joy Division bassist Peter Hook looked back at Ian Curtis' death and how the tragic event led the band to rebrand.
The rock group members were left devastated and shocked on May 18, 1980, after they discovered Curtis died. He was only 23 at that time, and his death affected the flourishing career of the group as one of the four most influential British post-pink bands at that time.
Decades after Curtis passed away, Hook looked back at his bandmate's life and the meeting he had with the other members afterward.
Ian Curtis' Death Changed Joy Division
In his new interview on the "Vinyl Guide" podcast, Hook revealed that Curtis' death led to a tragic halt of Joy Division's plans - from the release of the sophomore album "Closer" and its first U.S. tour.
"We went to the inquest [a formal investigation by police into the death] on a Thursday and we all went out for dinner afterward, and nobody ate much," the bassist said. "Rob Gretton [band manager] simply said to us, 'Well, what do you want to do, you three? Are you gonna go back to work or are you gonna try and carry on?' And unanimously we said, 'We're gonna try to carry on.'"
Hook created "Dreams Never End" a few days later, and it soon became their first track when the Joy Division's members regrouped to become New Order.
The bassist, together with Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris, continued Curtis' legacy under a different banner.
Decades after the tragic loss, Hook expressed regret that he and his bandmates moved on quickly after their frontman's death and did not allow themselves to process grief.
His therapist reportedly told him that Hook never faced the loss at that time, and she told him that the heartbreak reoccurs and fires back because the band members never took a time off.
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Currently, he dedicates his time to his band, Peter Hook & the Light, and performs Joy Division and New Order songs with them.
"And probably my only regret of it all is that he didn't get to have that life," he went on. "Didn't get to see his child grow up. Missed out on all those wonderful, wonderful things that at that age we knew nothing about."
Curtis was found dead in his Cheshire kitchen, where he hung himself and died afterward.
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