Joy Division "Unknown Pleasures" 40th Anniversary

TICKETS GO ON SALE MAY 18TH

Unknown Pleasures, the debut studio album by English rock band Joy Division, was released on June 15th 1979. The album was recorded and mixed over three successive weekends at Stockport's Strawberry Studios in April 1979, and was produced by Martin Hannett, who incorporated a number of unconventional production techniques into the group's sound. The iconic cover artwork was designed by artist Peter Saville. It was the only Joy Division album released during lead singer Ian Curtis's lifetime.

Unknown Pleasures was initially printed in a run of only 10,000 copies, with 5,000 copies being sold within the first two weeks of release, and a further 10,000 copies being sold over the following six months. Initially, sales of Unknown Pleasures were slow until the release of the non-album single, "Transmission".

Unknown Pleasures failed to chart on the UK Albums Chart. However, following Curtis's suicide in May 1980 and the release of their second album, Closer, in July, it was reissued and reached No. 71 at the end of that August 1980. It fared better on the UK Indie Chart, placing at No. 2 on the first chart to be published in January 1980 and going on to top the chart following its reissue, spending 136 weeks on the chart in total.

Even though it started slow and didn't have the chart success of many contemporary works, Unknown Pleasures has since received sustained critical acclaim as one of the most influential post-punk albums, and has been named as one of the best albums of all time by publications such as NME, AllMusic, Rolling Stone, Select, and Spin.

"Music without a past or a future but with the muscularity of all great rock" and "one of the greatest first albums ever."

Stuart Maconie, Select

"All visceral, all emotional, all theatrical, all perfect—one of the best albums ever."

Ned Raggett, AllMusic

"Simply one of the best records ever made, and is still powerful enough to floor you 28 years on".

NME Magazine, 2007