Day After Day #46: Love Will Tear Us Apart

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Love Will Tear Us Apart (1980)

There are classic songs, and then there are monumental songs. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" falls into the latter category. It's what comes to mind when you think of that post-punk, goth sound. Joy Division, of course, was much more than that, but sadly, singer Ian Curtis had already taken his own life before the song was even released.

Formed in 1976, Joy Division released an EP in 1978 and their debut album, Unknown Pleasures, in 1979. Led by Curtis' deep baritone and the powerful but sparse musicianship of Bernard Sumner (guitar, keyboards), Peter Hook (bass) and Stephen Morris (drums), the band recorded its second album, Closer, in March 1980 and were preparing to leave for a U.S. tour when Curtis killed himself in May. 

Depressed over his failing marriage and his worsening epilepsy condition, Curtis died in his own home on the night before the potentially career-making tour. "Love Will Tear Us Apart," a non-album single recorded in March, was released in June, before the album came out the following month. 

The song was recorded in the same studio as "Love Will Keep Us Together," the Neil Sedaka song that became a huge hit for the Captain & Tennille; some interpreted it as an answer to that, but others saw it as a direct commentary on the crumbling of his marriage. It had been recorded twice earlier, once for a Peel session in 1979 and then in January 1980 before the final version was done in March.

"When routine bites hard and ambitions are low/And resentment rides high but emotions won't grow/And we're changing out ways, taking different roads/Then love, love will tear us apart again."

The song became Joy Division's first to make the UK charts, reaching #13 on the UK Singles Chart; it also hit #42 in the U.S. Billboard Disco Chart. 

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" was a bit of a departure from the sound of Joy Division's first album, with guitars overshadowed by synths and Curtis crooning like Frank Sinatra. The band's influences included the Doors, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, the Velvet Underground, Siouxie and the Banshees and Kraftwerk.

After Curtis died, the surviving members regrouped and formed New Order, which focused on more of an electronic synthpop sound and went on to a long and successful career. 

Meanwhile, Joy Division's legacy is immense. Their sound became the template for many artists who followed, including U2, the Cure, Tears for Fears and later, post-punk acts like Interpol, Bloc Party, Preoccupations and Editors. The band was featured in two major films, 24-Hour Party People and the Ian Curtis biopic Control. 

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" was the NME's #1 song of 1980 and later chosen as the best single of all time by the publication in 2002. And it's been included on any number of best-of lists over the last 40+ years. 

"Do you cry out in your sleep, all my failings exposed?/There's a taste in my mouth as desperation takes hold/Just that something so good, just can't function no more/But love, love will tear us apart again."