Joy Division were an English rock band that formed in 1976 in Salford, Greater Manchester. Originally named Warsaw, the band consisted of Ian Curtis (vocals and guitar), Bernard Sumner (guitar and keyboards),Peter Hook (bass guitar and vocals), and Stephen Morris (drums and percussion), who replaced three previous short-tenured drummers in late 1977.

Music critic Jon Savage said "Joy Division were not punk but were directly inspired by its energy."Joy Division gradually moved away from their early punk rock influences and developed a dark and gloomy sound that placed them as pioneers of the post-punk movement of the late 1970s. The band self-released their debut EP An Ideal for Living in June 1978, and soon caught the attention of Manchester television personality Tony Wilson. Joy Division's debut album Unknown Pleasures was released in 1979 on Wilson's independent record label Factory Records and drew critical acclaim from the British press. Despite the band's burgeoning success, Ian Curtis was troubled by his crumbling marriage and his diagnosis of epilepsy, which made it increasingly difficult for the singer to perform live. On the eve of Joy Division's first American tour in May 1980, Curtis committed suicide. The group's posthumous second album Closer (1980) and the single "Love Will Tear Us Apart" became their biggest commercial successes. After Curtis' death, the remaining members soon reformed as New Order and went on to achieve much critical and commercial success.

Formed in the wake of the punk explosion in England, Joy Division became the first band in the post-punk movement by later emphasizing not anger and energy but mood and expression, pointing ahead to the rise of melancholy alternative music in the '80s. Though the group's raw initial sides fit the bill for any punk band, Joy Division later incorporated synthesizers (taboo in the low-tech world of '70s punk) and more haunting melodies, emphasized by the isolated, tortured lyrics of its lead vocalist, Ian Curtis. While the British punk movement shocked the world during the late '70s, Joy Division's quiet storm of musical restraint and emotive power proved to be just as important to independent music in the 1980s.

History
Sumner and Hook attended a Sex Pistols show at the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall on 4 June 1976. While only 35 to 40 people were in attendance, the performance that night has been credited with igniting the Manchester music scene and inspiring a number of audience members to form their own groups. Sumner said the punk rock group "destroyed the myth of being a pop star, of a musician being some kind of god that you had to worship." Inspired by the performance, Sumner and Hook formed a band with their friend Terry Mason, who had also attended the show. Sumner bought a guitar, Hook a bass and Mason a drum kit. They placed an advertisement in the Virgin Records record store in Manchester looking for a singer. Curtis, who knew the others from previous gigs, responded to the ad and was hired without an audition. Sumner said, "I knew he was all right to get on with and that's what we based the whole group on. If we liked someone, they were in."

While Buzzcocks manager Richard Boon suggested the band call themselves the Stiff Kittens, the band instead chose the name Warsaw, in reference to the song "Warszawa" by David Bowie. Warsaw played their first gig on 29 May 1977 supporting the Buzzcocks and Penetration at the Electric Circus. Tony Tabac performed drums that night. Mason was soon made the band's manager and was replaced on drums by drummer Steve Brotherdale, who also played in the punk band Panik. During July 1977 the band recorded a set of demos at Oldham. The band fired Brotherdale soon after the demo sessions, unable to work with his aggressive personality. During his tenure in the group Brotherdale had also tried to get Curtis to leave Warsaw and join Panik, but Curtis declined. Driving home from the studio one night, they pulled over and asked Brotherdale to check on a flat tyre; when he got out of the car, they sped off. In August 1977 the band put out an advertisement in a music shop window for a replacement drummer; Stephen Morris, who had attended the same school Curtis had, was the sole respondent. Deborah Curtis, Ian's wife, stated that Morris "fitted perfectly" with the other men, and that with his addition Warsaw became a "complete 'family'".

In order to avoid confusion with the London punk band Warsaw Pakt, the band renamed themselves Joy Division in late 1977, borrowing their new name from the prostitution wing of a Nazi concentration camp in the 1965 novel by Karol Cetinsky's World War II novel The House of Dolls. The group played their first gig as Joy Division on 25 January 1978.