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On That Note<\/a><\/p>\n \n Welcome to \u201cOn That Note,\u201d a rock-and-roll-centered column that will dive into the big stories, trends, and crazy ideas coming out of the music industry.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI will go to my deathbed saying they are not New Order and should not be masquerading as New Order. So it\u2019s still very bitter.\u201d This year\u2019s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction class is one of the most inspired<\/a> in recent memory, and to stress the obvious, an opportunity for some truly insane reunion performances. Sade haven\u2019t been together since they last toured all the way back in 2011, for instance, and we might as well be deciphering every Gallagher-brother tweet for clues as to whether they\u2019ll actually show up when the big day arrives. Joy Division and New Order\u2019s combined induction, though, is another story entirely, and a lot of it is redacted owing to lawsuits. Peter Hook, Ian Curtis, Stephen Morris, Bernard Sumner, and Gillian Gilbert (one of six women out of the 49 total inductees, a lousy percentage) make up their nomination; Hook has been in a separate faction from New Order since 2007 because of bitter legal battles<\/a> about name trademarks and royalties. It\u2019s a bizarre hate rhombus, if you will<\/a>. \u201cThe only thing I\u2019ve not enjoyed is people asking me about the others,\u201d Hook, a co-founder of both bands, tells me. \u201cI\u2019m trying to forget them, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n Hook, who will be touring America this fall with his band the Light \u2014 their setlist consists of the JD\/NO catalogue \u2014 plans to enthusiastically attend the ceremony in November. He hasn\u2019t been in contact with the three surviving members, who continue to actively tour under the New Order name. \u201cIt\u2019s my 50th year as a musician this year,\u201d he notes. \u201cI\u2019ve watched younger and younger people come to our gigs. For them, our music still has appeal.\u201d While we all should probably bet against something grand occurring on that Rock Hall stage, Hook won\u2019t deny the possibility of a potential \u2026 well, anything with the estranged trio.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you think Donald Trump could make peace with New Order? He seems to be handing out peace all across the world. He may as well put us on his list,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cIt\u2019s such a rough world at the moment,\u201d Hook continues. \u201cWe need the Hall of Fame just so we can all take our minds off it. Relax and watch something a little frivolous. What\u2019s happened to frivolity? That\u2019s what we need more of.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been waiting a long time to say this: Congratulations on being inducted, an award that\u2019s 20 years too late. How has this past week been for you? I guess I understand the logic of melding Joy Division and New Order into one unified project. But to your point, is there a part of you that would\u2019ve enjoyed getting inducted two times, like your fellow classmate Phil Collins? Trust me, I love a good feud, but I don\u2019t delight in this particular one. Joy Division has been eligible since 2004. In those subsequent years before you earned a nomination, were you at all thinking, What the hell is going on in this organization? Ultimately it\u2019s a great accolade and it\u2019s been amazing how many of my friends have been moved by it. But you\u2019ve still got to pick up after the dog, don\u2019t you? And you\u2019ve still got to sweep the leaves off your patio, and you still have to argue with your next-door neighbor. It\u2019s wonderful. But life still goes on around it. It\u2019s tricky because of the others, the antagonism, and the legal challenge, which ended up being much less satisfactory than I\u2019d hoped. It still hangs over you like a cloud. There\u2019s a lot of bad feelings. I will go to my deathbed saying they are not New Order and should not be masquerading as New Order. So it\u2019s still very bitter. I don\u2019t know if they\u2019ve come to terms with it. I have no idea about them whatsoever.<\/p>\n You posited<\/a> last year that the reason it took so long to get an induction was because of the weird relationship between the two halves and the fact that they had no interest in campaigning for the honor. For all I know, that could be true. But electronic and dance music has historically been ignored by the Rock Hall. Do you feel there was ever a genre bias at play? New Order ended up putting out an appreciative statement that read, in part<\/a>, \u201cNot bad for a couple of bands that were never entirely sure what they were doing.\u201d Did you like what they wrote?
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It\u2019s obviously better late than never. It\u2019s been absolutely fine. I\u2019ve been quite humbled by how it\u2019s like a landslide. I\u2019ve been like, Wow, because it was our third time nominated. Strangely, there was an aspect of getting used to it and expecting to be disappointed. The problem I have is that one of my very close friends had an exhibit at Cleveland\u2019s Rock Hall museum, and this exhibit had been there for 20-odd years. It was always his dream for us to be in. I went and did a talk there once, which was nice. I suppose, over the years, you\u2019ve had a lot to contend with, but ironically, now that we\u2019re apart, it does sort of take on a different meaning and different feel. If we were together as New Order, it would\u2019ve probably been quite easy to ignore it because you\u2019re just getting on and doing what you\u2019re doing. But because we\u2019re apart, and also the two aspects with being Joy Division and New Order, it does make it special but complicated. There\u2019s been no conversation between me and the others about it.<\/p>\n
God knows what\u2019s going to happen when we bloody get there. From my point of view, it\u2019s the fans that have done this. It\u2019s a great accolade, and I\u2019m so happy that they\u2019ve had the heart and soul to do it for us, despite us. And I must admit: The interesting thing about Joy Division is that if you look at the three members of Joy Division that are left \u2014 me, Barney, and Steve \u2014 then the songwriting force behind Joy Division was very much in evidence in New Order all the way through New Order\u2019s career. That never changed. In a funny way, the music changed, but we\u2019re still the same guys that wrote the Joy Division stuff with Ian. There\u2019s a big thread that\u2019s going through it. I know there are problems between the members and you all delight in things like that, don\u2019t you know?<\/p>\n
In a funny way, it\u2019s our problem. Your problem was getting us in. It\u2019s our problem how we act. When I was asked if I was going to go, I said, \u201cOf course. Like, I\u2019m not going to give up a few days here and go to Los Angeles?\u201d No chance, mate. Have you seen the weather here in England? Barney did once say to me, \u201cYou would go to the opening of a bloody envelope.\u201d So that hasn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n
I never really lost hope. The thing is, when we\u2019re talking about something as individual as musical taste, how many people are in the world? And how many of them agree with you? Not a lot, is it, when you\u2019re looking at that size? So while you may wonder and can be cynical, shall we say, about other musicians\u2019 achievements, we do realize that everybody has different tastes. What you try and do in the world is get through and let everybody have their enjoyment.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s an interesting point. Maybe it might be they just didn\u2019t get in because they didn\u2019t have the following. Looking at Oasis and Phil Collins: These are very, very popular musicians that have spoken to a lot of people. If you\u2019re going to look at Oasis fans, I suppose you\u2019d have to say that Oasis are much bigger than New Order and Joy Division. Not from a musical point of view, but certainly from a popular point of view. It\u2019s a leveler in some ways. But to your question, I\u2019ve not noticed any bias. As a member, I hate to think of them having any bias. It\u2019s a nice thing to fling about, being in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In a funny way, cerebrally, we were all there. God, you look at Iggy Pop. Who could be more rock and roll than Iggy Pop?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the usual bollocks they put out. The more interesting thing is that it said it was from New Order, without me. It wasn\u2019t \u201cfrom New Order.\u201d This is the contradiction. I own 25 percent of the New Order name, and they put a statement out in my name without including me in it. They also put that statement on the Joy Division page, and yet they didn\u2019t put my statement up on the Joy Division page. It\u2019s the same bollocks every time.<\/p>\n