Joy Division finished the 1970s on a high. Our debut album, 'Unknown Pleasures,' was doing well; we'd just finished a hugely enjoyable and successful tour. The band's profile was higher than it had ever been, and it seemed to be growing by the day.
I'm terrible with decisions. And I can't make myself do something I don't like. I can't knuckle under.
As human beings, we all mature physically from childhood to adolescence and then into adulthood, but our emotions lag behind.
If you're a lead singer, then you can't afford to be sensitive. On stage, everyone looks at the lead singer, even if you don't want them to - in America, they have those massive follow spots on you all the time; it does your head in. So, if you are a lead singer and you don't toughen up, you're in the wrong job, and you have to get out.
We played at a festival in Mexico City, at the same time as another famous artist, and I reckon we had 55,000 people watching New Order; the other had 7,000. I think from that I've discovered the secret of success in the music industry: don't do any promotion.
I get writer's block all the time. The only way I can write what I consider to be good lyrics is to put myself through the mill.
I was interested in Prozac from a personal point of view because I can be a bit moody - things do get on top of me sometimes - so I was quite keen to find out what it would do to my personality.
In New Order, I played about 95% of the synths. It's not much fun for the other guys in the band when I'm playing my synth parts.
If you hear a New Order track that's mostly electronic, it's generally come about through one person sitting at a computer and programming it.
I think New Order have got their own sound. But what we like to do is experiment, using dance music and other things.
New Order has always been a hybrid band. We always mixed guitar, bass, drums with electronic.
The story of New Order is all about learning from our mistakes.
I always felt like there were always egos involved when I was trying to get music finished in New Order. Sometimes it would feel like I was running through water.
There were certain things I couldn't do with New Order without upsetting the rest of the band, so I started to write some solo stuff.
I'm sure every time I bring something out that isn't New Order, people say it sounds like New Order.
I like a challenge. I like learning new skills because I didn't learn much at school.
If you go out and just play the old stuff and never write new stuff, you're not really a complete musician, you're a performer.
It's disrespectful to the older generation to have long hair. They fought in two world wars; they didn't fight for us to grow our hair and look like girls.
I saw the Sex Pistols, and they were terrible.
I entered music at a poppy level.
