Ara City Radio

In the late 1970s and 1980s Manchester became hugely significant in the evolution of post punk and then dance music. Factory records was an independent record label that was started in 1978 by a duo called Alan Erasmus and Tony Wilson. Early releases on the label included singles by A Certain Ratio, Cabaret Voltaire, The Durutti Column Orchestral Manoeuvres in The Dark. The first full album released on the label a certain LP called ‘Unknown Pleasures ’ by a new band on the scene called Joy Division. Joy Division was formed of singer Ian Curtis, Guitarist and Keyboard player Bernard Summer, Bassist Peter Hook and Drummer Stephen Morris. They developed a sparse and melancholy style of playing - driven by angular guitar riffs and direct drums that made them one of the pioneering bands of the post-punk movement. Joy Division have gone on to become a cult band of legendary status but in 1980 only 2 years after the release of Unknown Pleasures, on the eve of the band’s first tour of America and 2 months befo