FLASHBACK: Peter Hook

You know you’re an amazing musician when you’ve been a part of two influential bands that no one can possibly ever forget. Dave Grohl will forever be remembered as being the drummer of NIRVANA and the full caboose of FOO FIGHTERS, NICK CAVE for the BAD SEEDS and GRINDERMAN, but of course today, it’s all about PETER HOOK.

HOOK was a member of one of the most seminal acts of the UK, JOY DIVISION in the 1970s. The band shook the planet until lead singer Ian Curtis passed away, then the boys gathered again to create NEW ORDER. PETER HOOK was with both bands through thick and thin and because he is now joining the HAPPY MONDAYS on their upcoming tour, we thought we should celebrate some of the music he's been involved with over the years.

JOY DIVISION 'LOVE WILL TEAR US APART'

The song that immortalized JOY DIVISION throughout the ages. Since its initial release in 1979, angsty teenagers have used ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ as their moody soundtrack which kind of degrades it considering it’s such a beautiful track. The mood may be dark and morbid, but that’s what makes it so wonderful.

HOOK stays mostly silent and hidden in this track but his backing vocals do lend a hand in some short bursts. JOY DIVISION always had a knack for poetic lyrics and this track is no different, the track relates mainly to Ian Curtis’ marriage and his rocky state of mind at the time. That was a hard year for JOY DIVISION, and the punk kids of the UK.

JOY DIVISION 'TRANSMISSION'

You hear that rapid bass line beating at the beginning of ‘Transmission’? Yeah, that’s PETER HOOK doing his thing and he most definitely does it well. PETER HOOK plays a large part in this track because it’s the bass that drives it along, everything else seems to just fall into place behind it. Even Ian’s vocals seem to follow the bass and usually it’s the other way around.

I felt the need to put this track in because it’s PETER HOOK’s first influential band and ‘Transmission’ is a track that shows his bass talents all too well. The fast-paced bass line continues without fault throughout the whole song, and his backing vocals are all together fitting, this is HOOK’s song, and I love it.

NEW ORDER 'AGE OF CONSENT'

Once Ian Curtis’ suicide became known, everybody mourned the loss. But after all that JOY DIVISION had achieved, what were the remaining members supposed to do? The answer: begin NEW ORDER. The boys became a unit in 1980 with PETER HOOK again on the bass.

‘Age Of Consent’ was released on the album Power, Corruption and Lies back in 1983, and it showed a dramatic change from the morbid tracks of JOY DIVISION. NEW ORDER were lighter, they still had a dark element to their sound, but there was also a beam of light and ‘Age Of Consent’ shows that perfectly with its many synths and danceable beat. This was the album that pushed NEW ORDER into the dance genre and from then on they couldn’t shake the new genre, but they seemed to enjoy it anyway.

NEW ORDER 'BLUE MONDAY'

Again, NEW ORDER are the dance kings. They didn’t throw away the new genre they instead embraced it, and the digital sounding ‘Blue Monday’ could not highlight the dance side of NEW ORDER better than it has. The upbeat beat is just infectious and is extremely nostalgic making you think of the 1980s in their entirety. Luckily this isn’t the cheesy 80s of fluro, scrunches, and getting physical so that’s okay.

PETER HOOK by this time had settled into NEW ORDER but that changed when the band disbanded in 1993 because of tension between band members, and so they began working on side projects before getting back together in 1998. PETER HOOK played bass in NEW ORDER until 2007 when the band disbanded for a second time, and then there was a long time where the world thought that NEW ORDER had finally done its duty, but they didn’t. NEW ORDER reformed in 2011 without HOOK, but now he has defined himself as his own musician and we shall see him on our shores soon!

WANNA WIN TICKETS TO THE HAPPY MONDAYS UPCOMING AUSTRALIAN TOUR FEATURING PETER HOOK (DJ SETS)? FIND OUT HOW HERE

Words by Lauren Payne

FLASHBACK ON THE CAREERS OF MORE INFLUENTIAL ARTISTS HERE