New Order
When Joy Division's Ian Curtis committed suicide in May 1980 the three remaining members, Bernard Sumner (b. Bernard Dicken, 4 January 1956, Salford, Manchester, England; guitar/vocals), Peter Hook (b. 13 February 1956, Manchester, England; bass) and Stephen Morris (b. 28 October 1957, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England; drums) continued under the name New Order. Sumner took over vocal duties and the trio embarked upon a low-key tour of the USA, intent on continuing as an entity independent of the massive reputation Joy Division had achieved shortly before their demise. Later that same year they recruited Morris's girlfriend, Gillian Gilbert (b. 27 January 1961, Manchester, England; keyboards/guitar) and wrote and rehearsed their debut, MOVEMENT, which was released the following year. Their first single Ceremony, penned by Joy Division, was a UK Top 40 hit in the spring of 1981, and extended the legacy of their previous band. Hook's deep, resonant bassline and Morris's crisp, incessant drumming were both Joy Division trademarks. The vocals, however, were weak, Sumner clearly at this stage feeling uncomfortable as frontman. Much was made, in 1983, of the band's ‘rising from the ashes’ of Joy Division, in the music press, when POWER, CORRUPTION AND LIES was released. Their experimentation with electronic gadgetry was fully realised and the album contained many surprises and memorable songs. The catchy bass riff and quirky lyrics of Age Of Consent made it an instant classic, while the sign-off line, on the otherwise elegiac Your Silent Face, ‘You've caught me at a bad time. So why don't you piss off’, showed that Sumner no longer felt under any pressure to match the poetic, introspective lyricism of Ian Curtis. As well as redefining their sound they clearly now relished the role of ‘most miserable sods in pop’. 
Blue Monday, released at this time in 12-inch format only, went on to become the biggest selling 12-inch single of all-time in the UK. In 1983 ‘disco’ was a dirty word amongst the independent fraternity and Blue Monday, which combined an infectious dance beat with a calm, aloof vocal, was a brave step into uncharted territory. As well as influencing a legion of UK bands, it would be looked back upon as a crucial link between the disco of the '70s and the dance/house music wave at the end of the '80s. New Order had now clearly established themselves, and throughout the '80s and into the '90s they remained the top independent band in the UK, staying loyal to Manchester's Factory Records. Their subsequent collaboration with ‘hot’ New York hip-hop producer Arthur Baker spawned the anti-climactic Confusion (1983) and Thieves Like Us (1984). Both singles continued their preference for the 12-inch format, stretching in excess of six minutes, and stressing their lack of concern for the exposure gained by recording with mainstream radio in mind. LOW LIFE appeared in 1985 and is perhaps their most consistently appealing album to date. While the 12-inch version of LOW LIFE'S Perfect Kiss was a magnificent single, showing the band at their most inspired and innovative, the collaboration with producer John Robie on the single version of Subculture indicated that their tendency to experiment and ‘play around’ could also spell disaster. 
Their next album, BROTHERHOOD in 1986, although containing strong tracks such as Bizarre Love Triangle offered nothing unexpected. It wasn't until the UK Top 5 single True Faith in 1987, produced and co-written by Stephen Hague hot on the heels of his success with the Pet Shop Boys and accompanied by an award-winning Phillipe Decouffle video, that New Order found themselves satisfying long term fans and general public alike. The following year Quincy Jones’ remix of Blue Monday provided the group with another Top 5 hit. If the recycling of old songs and proposed ‘personal’ projects fuelled rumours of a split then 1989's TECHNIQUE promptly dispelled them. The album, recorded in Ibiza, contained upbeat bass-and-drums-dominated tracks that characterized the best of their early output. Its most striking feature, however, was their flirtation with the popular Balearic style as in the hit single Fine Time, which contained lines like ‘I've met a lot of cool chicks, But I've never met a girl with all her own teeth’, delivered in a voice that parodied Barry White's notoriously sexist, gravelly vocals of the '70s. Meanwhile the band had changed significantly as a live act. Their reputation for inconsistency and apathy, as well as their staunch refusal to play encores, was by now replaced with confident, crowd-pleasing hour-long sets. In the summer of 1990 they reached the UK number 1 position with World In Motion, accompanied by the England World Cup Squad, with a song that earned the questionable accolade of best football record of all time, and caused a band member to observe that ‘this is probably the last straw for Joy Division fans’. Rather than exploiting their recent successes with endless tours, the group unexpectedly branched out into various spin-off ventures. Hook formed the hard-rocking Revenge, Sumner joined former Smiths’ guitarist Johnny Marr in Electronic and Morris/Gilbert recorded an album under the self-effacing title, The Other Two. The extra-curricular work prompted persistent rumours that New Order had irrevocably split, but no official announcement or press admission was forthcoming. In the summer of 1991 the group announced that they had reconvened for a new album which was eventually released in 1993. The eerie and doom-laden REPUBLIC was another strong album and confirmed their status as one of the most important UK bands of the post-punk era.