New Order/Joy Division Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nomination
The list of 2023 nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is out.
It will surprise absolutely no one that I’m delighted to see Joy Division/New Order on the ballot. There’s nothing I’d like to see more than them on stage playing as part of the awards ceremony. If that comes to pass, it’ll probably be Love Will Tear us Apart (gotta play the hits!), but I hope they’re still just subversive enough to play something like the remixed 5-8-6 or anything from Movement.
It’s been nice for the Hall to broaden its horizons in recent years and finally include other punk acts. The Ramones have a home there, as do pioneers like The Clash & The Stooges.
But post-punk/new wave/alternative music has a much smaller share of wall space in the hall. Electronic & synth-pop even less so. The Cure & Depeche Mode are in there, but it’s a pretty small list after that.
Again, my bias is well-known, but it’s hard to argue against Joy Division’s outsized influence on the post-punk world. Almost 43 years after lead singer Ian Curtis’ death, the band still closes shows with “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” It brings the house down every time.
And the band that grew out of the ashes of Curtis’ death? It’s hard to overestimate the influence New Order has had on the synthpop world. For a group that just decided to get on with it, they’ve blazed plenty of trails and still have one of (if not the) best-selling 12” of all time in “Blue Monday.”
So here’s hoping we see them on stage in Cleveland in a few months. Will it bring former bassist/founding member Peter Hook back into the fold? I hope so, if only for the night. He deserves to be up there as much as anyone. And the band is long overdue for Hall of Fame recognition.
The group that launched a million Unknown Pleasures T-Shirts deserves at least that.
What do you think of the list? Who should be a lock to get in?