“Disorder” by Joy Division

"Disorder" throws open Unknown Pleasures, Joy Division's 1979 debut, and it was the first thing they cut for it, at Strawberry Studios in Stockport in early April that year. The music grew out of the band's long jams in rehearsal, Ian Curtis singing his own words over Peter Hook's bass, Bernard Sumner's guitar and Stephen Morris's drums, and they'd already road-tested it on stage.

Then Martin Hannett got hold of it. The producer, also a partner in their label Factory Records, wanted something skeletal and ghostly, pulling every instrument apart into its own space, while the band wanted the heavy guitar charge of their live sets. They hated the result at first, feeling the drums and guitar had lost their punch. History sided with Hannett: the track is now counted a post-punk classic and, with "She's Lost Control", one of the high points of his career.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.