Leicester-born composer and publisher Lawrence Wright founded Melody Maker in 1926. Its original audience was dance band and jazz musicians. Melody Maker was published weekly. It retained its focus on jazz music into the 1950s, and was slow to include rock and roll in its coverage. Melody Maker introduced a weekly singles chart in 1956 and an album chart in 1958. From 1964, it shifted its focus towards articles that treated music and musicians as serious subjects rather than simply entertainment, anticipating the rise of music criticism. Its core audience was older than the teen market of its rival the New Musical Express (NME). Its specialist approach to music was reflected in its advertising. Many groups advertised for musicians through the Melody Maker’s advert pages. As well as covering popular music, it continued to include folk and jazz in its pages. It also ran detailed reviews of musical instruments. By the early 1970s, Melody Maker was mostly associated with progressive rock, although it also covered pop music and glam rock. It was widely considered to be the music newspaper of choice for musos, or those interested in music as a serious subject. Its pages contained early articles about Roxy Music, New York Dolls and David Bowie, helping to propel them to stardom. Through journalist Caroline Coon, Melody Maker increased its coverage of women musicians. Coon also spearheaded the paper’s coverage of punk rock. In 1978, Melody Maker took a new direction, influenced by the writing of Paul Morley and Ian Penman at NME. Jon Savage, Chris Bohn and Mary Harron wrote serious articles about post-punk bands such as Gang of Four and Joy Division, increasing the papers coverage of new wave. The early 1980s saw a brief return to Melody Maker’s more traditional, prog rock content, prompting several journalists, including Chris Bohn and Jon Savage, to leave the paper. From 1983, the paper was pop-oriented, featuring bands such as Duran Duran and Eurythmics more regularly, and showcasing emerging bands like The Smiths. In the 1990s, it was known for its coverage of indie music and the Seattle grunge scene, but also covered house, hip hop and rave. It retained its reputation for intellectual writing. In 1999, Melody Maker relaunched as a glossy magazine, but closed the following year, merging into the NME.

Joy Division began in Salford in 1976. Guitarist Bernard Sumner (also known by the surnames Albrecht and Dicken) and bass player Peter Hook formed the band after attending one of the Sex Pistols gigs at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976. The day following the gig, Hook borrowed £35 from his mother and bought a bass guitar from Mazel Radio on London Road, Manchester. Sumner already had a guitar. The pair rehearsed in Sumner’s grandparents’ house in Salford, their instruments wired into a gramophone instead of an amplifier. Sumner and Hook formed their first band with schoolfriend Terry Mason on drums. They tried to persuade another schoolfriend, Martin Gresty, to join as vocalist. When he declined, the band placed an advert for a singer in the Manchester branch of Virgin Records. Ian Curtis responded to the advert and was hired without an audition. Sumner, Hook and Mason knew Curtis from attending gigs in Manchester and got on well with him. The band was billed as Stiff Kittens on flyers for their first gig at the Electric Circus in Collyhurst, Manchester. The band was supporting Buzzcocks, and guitarist Pete Shelley and Buzzcocks manager Richard Boon suggested the name. The band changed the name to Warsaw shortly before the gig on 29 May 1977. This was a reference to the David Bowie song ‘Warszawa’ on his album Low. Two days before the gig, Tony Tabac joined Warsaw as drummer, with Terry Mason taking on the role of band manager. A month later, Steve Brotherdale replaced Tabac as drummer. Brotherdale also played in the punk band The Panik. Warsaw recorded five demo tracks at Pennine Sound Studios in Oldham, Lancashire in July 1977. Soon after the sessions, the band fired Brotherdale as drummer. The following month, Warsaw placed an advert for a drummer in Jones’ music shop in Macclesfield. Stephen Morris responded and met up with Curtis at his home. Curtis played Morris the demo tracks and the pair talked about their musical interests and the punk scene in Manchester. Morris joined Warsaw at a rehearsal at the Abraham Moss community centre in Crumpsall, Manchester the following week. Warsaw recorded tracks for a debut EP, An Ideal for Living, at Pennine Sound Studios in December 1977. They played the Swinging Apple in Liverpool on New Year’s Eve 1977, their last gig as Warsaw. A London punk band already had the name Warsaw Pakt and so, to avoid confusion, Warsaw renamed themselves Joy Division. The name came from the novel House of Dolls. Their first gig under the Joy Division name was at Pip’s Disco, Manchester, on 25 January 1978. In March 1978, RCA Records approached Joy Division to record a new wave cover version of a Northern Soul classic, ‘Keep on Keepin’ On’, for a compilation album. In April 1978, Joy Division met TV news reporter and broadcaster Tony Wilson and band manager Rob Gretton at a band contest, the Stiff/Chiswick Challenge, held at Rafters nightclub, Manchester. Gretton was also the house DJ at the nightclub. He was impressed by the band’s performance and offered to be their manager. Wilson was also impressed and, after being challenged by Curtis about why he had not yet put Joy Division onto his music show ‘So It Goes’, promised that they would be the next band he would showcase. Joy Division did not record the cover version for RCA Records. Instead the band recorded an album for RCA at Arrow Studios, Manchester in May 1978. They were not happy with the final mix and asked to be released from the RCA contract. Their debut record was the self-released EP ‘An Ideal for Living’, in June 1978. Tony Wilson’s late night music programme ‘So It Goes’ was cancelled before Joy Division was able to perform on it. In September 1978, the band made its television debut performing ‘Shadowplay’ on ‘What’s On’, Wilson’s music segment in the evening news magazine programme Granada Reports. In October 1978, Joy Division recorded two tracks for the Factory Records double 7-inch EP ‘A Factory Sample’. The band recorded with producer Martin Hannett at Cargo Recording Studios, Rochdale, Lancashire. They contributed two tracks, ‘Digital’ and ‘Glass’, to the EP. Joy Division then joined Factory's roster, with Gretton becoming a partner in the label to represent Joy Division’s interests. On 27 December, during the drive home from a gig in London, Curtis suffered his first recognised severe epileptic seizure and was hospitalised. He recovered in time to record a session for BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel in January 1979. In April 1979, Joy Division recorded their debut album ‘Unknown Pleasures’ at Strawberry Studios, Stockport, with Hannett again on production. Factory Records released the album in June 1979. The band performed on ‘What’s On’ the following month and made their only national TV appearance on BBC 2’s ‘Something Else’ in September 1979. From October 1979, they joined Buzzcocks on their UK tour. This allowed the band members to quit their regular jobs and become full time musicians. Joy Division is known for not releasing album tracks as singles. The band’s debut single was the track ‘Transmission’, released in November 1979. In January 1980, Joy Division toured Europe. The gig at Kant Kino in Berlin inspired the track ‘Komakino’, which Factory later gave away as a 7-inch flexi-disk in June 1980. Before that, in March 1980 Joy Division recorded their second album, ‘Closer’, at Pink Floyd’s Britannia Row studio in London. Hannett was the record’s producer. The same month they released two tracks recorded as part of the ‘Closer’ sessions, ‘Atmosphere’ and ‘Dead Souls’, as an art package called ‘Licht und Blindheit’ through the independent French record label Sordide Sentimental. Curtis’s health deteriorated during the recording of ‘Closer’. Depressed about the restrictions his epilepsy placed on his ability to perform live, he made his first suicide attempt in April 1980. The band was due to tour the USA in May 1980, to promote ‘Closer’. Curtis’s death by suicide the evening before the band was due to fly over to the USA prevented the tour taking place. In June 1980, Factory Records released Joy Division’s final single, ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’. The following month, the label released ‘Closer’. Following Curtis’s death, the remaining members of Joy Division re-formed as New Order.

Ian Curtis was born in Stretford, Manchester in 1956. He was a singer and lyricist best known for being a member of the band Joy Division. He joined the band shortly after it was formed by Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook in 1976. Curtis recorded two albums, two EPs and five singles with Joy Division and toured extensively with the band between 1977 and 1980. During a 1978 tour with the band, Curtis began suffering seizures and was diagnosed with epilepsy in January 1979. The difficulty of managing the condition, in particular the effects of the prescription drugs used to control the seizures, impacted on Curtis’s ability to tour. His condition and its impact on his life is thought to have been a contributing factor to his death by suicide in 1980. Curtis was married with a daughter at the time of his death.