An NPR Best Book of 2013 — NPR

A SPIN Best Music Book of 2013 — Spin

The most colorful and intimate account of Joy Division ever written . . . Hook evokes the spirit of the age with a bluff authenticity that no outsider could hope to emulate…explaining the creation of his band’s remarkable music with all the passion and insight it deserves. — Keith Cameron, MOJO

“A bittersweet, profanity-filled recollection of their brief existence . . . recalled with Hook’s winning Manc gallows humor . . . If you like Joy Division you really have to read it.” — Ian Harrison, Q Magazine

“An immense account of Joy Division’s rise, cataloguing the group’s struggle for recognition, their rapidly gained superiority on the Manchester scene and the epic numbness following Ian Curtis’ shock suicide. Having read Hook’s book, you’ll feel like you were he fifth member of the band.” — GQ (UK)

“It’s a window like no other into the reality of life in this most aloof of bands.” — Metro London

“Vivid, funny, and unexpectedly touching, Peter Hook’s memoir strips away the shroud of myth surrounding Joy Division to offer a refreshingly gritty perspective on the story of four ordinary young men who together made extraordinary music.” — Simon Reynolds, author of Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-84

“Unflinchingly honest . . . Hook peels away the romantic sheen colored by its dark history and gives unfettered insight into the band’s origins and inspirations . . . this is required reading for anyone who ever felt moved by Joy Division’s cold, dark music.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“A tiny gem written by a monster musician. It’s the best document yet to be produced on Joy Division. There’s nothing like hearing the story straight from Hooky’s foul mouth.” — Rock Cellar Magazine

“Honest, punchy, and rough-hewn . . . a portal into a vivid moment in rock history . . . the life and times of a working band . . . and, in the middle of it all, the transformative power of music.” — Los Angeles Times

. The passages where Hook details the recording of the Unknown Pleasures album are fantastic and insightful . . . . the book itself is gorgeous. . . — A.V. Club, The Onion

“A surprisingly funny-and gleefully profane-portrait.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Rich in detail.” — LA Weekly

“A comprehensive, illuminating portrait of the band that often takes the piss out of its doom-ridden legacy.” — Cincinnati City Beat

“Intimate.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“Like talking to a bawdy uncle after his fourth beer. Apparently being in the saddest post-punk art-goth band in history can occasionally be pretty fucking funny.” — MTV Hive

With Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division fans can finally hear the band’s story from someone who was there from the very beginning-iconic bassist Peter Hook.” — SF Weekly

You don’t have to be a hardcore fan of Joy Division or New Order to appreciate Hook’s wry evocation of Britain’s 1970s punk scene and his street-level remembrance of the tragedy and ecstasy . . . that went into building the foundation for the next few decades’ alternative rock scene. — Neda Ulaby, NPR Best Books of the Year

Joy Division changed the face of music. Godfathers of alternative rock, they reinvented music in the post-punk era, creating a new sound—dark, hypnotic, and intense—that would influence U2, Morrissey, R.E.M., Radiohead, and numerous others. The story is now legendary: in 1980, on the heels of their groundbreaking debut, Unknown Pleasures, and on the eve of their first U.S. tour, the band was rent asunder by the tragic death of their enigmatic lead singer, Ian Curtis. Yet in the mere three years they were together, Joy Division produced two landmark albums and a handful of singles—including the iconic anthem "Love Will Tear Us Apart"—that continue to have a powerful resonance.

Now, for the first time, their story is told by one of their own. In Unknown Pleasures, founding member and bass player Peter Hook recounts how four young men from Manchester and Salisbury, with makeshift instruments and a broken-down van, rose from the punk scene to create a haunting, atmospheric music that would define a generation. Peter talks with eye-opening candor and reflection about the suicide of Ian Curtis; the band's friendships and fallouts; the evolution of their sound and image; and the larger-than-life characters who formed a vital part of the Joy Division legend, including Factory Records founder Tony Wilson and producer Martin Hannett. Told with surprising humor and vivid detail, Unknown Pleasures is the book Joy Division fans have awaited for decades.