Photo: Lorne Thomson/Redferns

Good news first: After being one of the most egregious snubs to orbit around the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in recent years, Joy Division and New Order will be getting inducted in 2026 as part of a British-leaning, all-star class. Peter Hook, who is estranged from the rest of his bandmates, will be in attendance at the ceremony. Stephen Morris won’t be, and it’s actually because of a bizarre logic triangle. The drummer told Rolling Stone in a new interview that when his two bands were first nominated for the Rock Hall back in 2023 — it has always been grouped as a unified Joy Division/New Order — he let himself get excited at the prospect of an induction. “I must admit at the beginning, I was suckered as we all were three years ago,” Morris explained. “Oh, it’s great when it first came up. It’s the fans who were voting for this, and that’s great. And I was there voting for myself trying. And then we didn’t get in. And then I realized that I was being duped. It wasn’t entirely the fans. That’s what I could understand. The people who came last got in, and the people who came top just were like, ‘Oh, see you later, alligator.’ Which I felt was a bit unfair to the people who went to the trouble of voting.”

Morris is referring to the Rock Hall’s Fan Vote, which gives the power to regular fans and listeners to vote for their favorite artists. The organization has been trying to do a better job at explaining that, no, winning or placing high on the Fan Vote doesn’t guarantee an induction; it represents just one ballot out of over 1,200. (“It has very little to do with who gets inducted,” the chairman previously told us, “but it rather draws attention.”) Still, it’s an endearing image: the guy who set the atmosphere on “Blue Monday” going through a daily captcha on his MacBook Pro to vote for himself.

In June, Morris and his wife, keyboardist Gillian Gilbert, revealed that they would be taking an indefinite break from New Order to tend to personal health issues. Morris, at 68 years old, has never taken a hiatus from either band. “I’ve got a bit of a health problem at the minute, which precludes leaving the country for any length of time,” he said, squashing any hope of attending the Rock Hall’s November ceremony. “I really don’t want to dwell on what this illness is, but it’s pretty serious. It’s not something that someone’s going to come up with a cure for.” He also has some residual agitation for how the Rock Hall chose to induct him. “I know it’s a bit of a cheat. We only get in as a doubleheader. We got Joy Division/New Order. It’s kind of like, Are we a bargain-basement thing?” he asked. “I’m not furious. I mean, it’s great. It’s really good that people acknowledge that you might have done something good. I just personally cannot see the point of an award ceremony or receiving in any way, shape, or form. I’m sorry. I’m not ungrateful. I just don’t get it.” Don’t worry about it, not everyone does.

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