This post is mostly for the benefit of Rob.
The members of Joy Division had agreed before Curtis’s death not to continue under the Joy Division name should any one member leave the band.
It’s a shame New Order never thought of this.
If New Order is Joy Division without Ian Curtis, what do you call New Order without Peter Hook? Bad Lieutenant? Electronic? Not The Other Two, Revenge, Monaco, FreeBass, The Light… not even Be Music.
Now, Gillian Gilbert joined New Order pretty quickly, and she’s certainly no Billy Preston, but the line we always heard from Factory, from Tony Wilson himself… Joy Division and New Order were the same band.
I’ve never seen New Order live, and I always wish I’d seen Joy Division live, but I’ve seen Peter Hook and The Light, and they’re good. Very good.
But they’re not Joy Division, and they’re not New Order… but they’re not saying they are.