Season 2 of Transmissions: The Definitive Story of Joy Division & New Order, comes to streaming sites.

The series, featuring new and exclusive interviews with band members Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert and Peter Hook, picks up where Season 1 ended with the rise of New Order and the release of Blue Monday. 

Narrated by BBC Radio’s Elizabeth Alker, Season 2 finds the band members adjusting to the surprise global success of Blue Monday... Quincy Jones is knocking down their door with offers of a US record deal, John Hughes is hunting them down for soundtrack work, New York’s hippest producers are lining up to get in the studio and huge US success beckons.

But as New Order’s profile grows, so too do the demands and excesses and the band begin to realise just how far they’ve come, and to question how far the road might take them. This series documents arena tours, Ibizan insanity, a behind-the-scenes look at the chaotic peak of the Haçienda, the creation of three more classic albums Brotherhood (1986) Technique (1989) Republic (1993) and a certain timeless soccer World Cup anthem… World In Motion.

New Order announce Brotherhood ‘Definitive’
Picture Credit: Anton Corbijn

Changing Times

Speaking about New Order’s career to date, singer Bernard Sumner says:“If you do it the way everyone else does it, you might have more success. But it’ll be a short burn, whereas with the way New Order did it, it made us more interesting. But it wasn’t intentional though, we just did what we wanted to do and didn’t really listen to anyone.”

Talking about New Order’s 80s success in the US, drummer Stephen Morris, reveals: “America had never heard of Joy Division. In England and Europe at the time there was still this thing where you get people coming to see you, expecting you to play Love Will Tear Us Apart. Whereas in America, they would approach you with an open mind, and the fact that the audiences did get bigger justified our bloody mindedness with not being Joy Division…”

Guest Contributions

Transmissions: The Definitive Story of Joy Division & New Order includes special guest contributors from: Johnny Marr, Billy Corgan, Christine And The Queens, Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa, Keith Allen, Peter Saville, Andrew O’Hagan, Arthur Baker, Kevin Cummins, DJ Paulette, Megan Louise, The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands, Paul Morley, Jo Whiley, Kevin Saunderson, Tarquin Gotch, Will Sergeant, Virgil Abloh, Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, Mike Pickering, Neil Tennant, Daniel Avery, Charlie Gunn and Bez.

Billy Corgan, of the Smashing Pumpkins, recounts standing in a club and hearing Blue Monday for the first time: “I’m standing there and it’s a normal night. And for the first time, here comes the kick drum for Blue Monday. As the kick drum hit, everybody in the club started running to the dance floor. Running. So it instantly went from like 30 people to 300 in seconds. And I’m like, ‘What is happening?’ I’m getting chills even just thinking about the moment. And it was like, Oh my God, I’m hearing a song I will hear for the rest of my life. I saw my generation go, ‘This is the song’.

Tom Rowlands, The Chemical Brothers, says: “I think the key to them is the strength of the individual voices in the band. And each individual voice being so recognisable on the record. It’s insane, really, they get it all to fit into these songs, every single person in that band has a voice that would carry a whole other band.”

Episodes of Transmissions: The Definitive Story of Joy Division & New Order will be released weekly via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, Stitcher, and wherever you get your podcasts.

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