I'm listening now to "Unknown Pleasure" and I sense a Bowie influence there, especialy from "Heroes" and "Low"

I just read that David Byrne was SORT OF influenced by Joy Division when Talking Heads recorded "Remain in Light".

He had read a review of Joy Division and thought they sounded fascinating, so he wrote a song based on what he thought the band must sound like. After the band recorded the song, Byrne finally got to hear Joy Division, and he was disappointed that the band didn't sound like what he expected from the review, but the song (I think it was "The Overload"?) made it on the album anyway.

Joy Division was definitely influenced by Berlin-era Bowie. Before they settled on Joy Division, the band was called Warsaw, after the instrumental on Low.

Axchi696 said:

And when you consider how influential Joy Division was, it become even more apparent how important Bowie's "Low " and "Heroes" albums were to alternative music in general.

NorthernLad said:

All the pieces come together...literally!

They had their influences, but they definitely stumbled onto something that no one else had done before. They're an arcehtype.
[Edited 1/17/07 8:44am]

MikeMatronik said:

Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder, Bowie, The Sex Pistols (Joy Division formed after seeing the Pistols play The Free Trade Hall on The Anarchy Tour in 1976), The Clash, The Velvet Underground (covered Sister Ray), The Stooges and Iggy Pop (Mr Curtis topped himself after listening to The Idiot), the author JG Ballard (The Atrocity Exhibition was one of Curtis' favourite books) and the film director Werner Herzog.
[Edited 1/17/07 12:23pm]

Shapeshifter said:

Good list.

Ian was also really into the beat poets and William Burroughs. I believe The Doors were a heavy influence as well.

GangstaFam said:

Ah yeah, very good points. Burroughs was a huge influence, and he loved The Doors - you can hear the Morrison influence on his ethereal vocal style.

Thanks a lot for all of your input!

In case of Kraftwerk, I think it was especially "Trans Europe Expres" that drew their attention. If I recall the story correctly, Ian once play that album to the band, but none of them were that positive - at the beginning at least.

SenseOfDoubt said:

And then look what happened to them as New Order.

GangstaFam said:

...and the song Krafty...