“Atrocity Exhibition” by Joy Division

"Atrocity Exhibition" kicks open Closer, the second Joy Division album and the last one they made, released in 1980. The title comes from J. G. Ballard's 1970 book of "condensed novels"; Martin Hannett produced it with the band at Britannia Row, Pink Floyd's studio in London. The song wasn't new by then: they'd cut it once before, on 4 June 1979, for a Piccadilly Radio session at Pennine Studios, and kept it in the live set afterwards.

Like most of their songs it grew out of jamming in the practice room, and this time Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner got bored enough to trade instruments, Sumner on bass and Hook on guitar, under Ian Curtis's lead vocal; all four, Stephen Morris included, share the writing credit. AllMusic's Ned Raggett reckoned hardly any album has opened with a less likely song.

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