Substance: Inside New Order

In this final installment of his internationally bestselling three-part memoir—including The Hacienda and Unknown Pleasures—British rocker Peter Hook focuses on the 1980s New Wave and Dance Punk scene and the rise of one of the most influential bands of the Second British Invasion: New Order.

1980. Resurrected from the ashes of Joy Division after the suicide of its lead singer, Ian Curtis, New Order would become one most critically acclaimed and important bands of the decade and beyond. With their hits "Bizarre Love Triangle", "Perfect Kiss", and "Blue Monday"—the biggest-selling 12-inch single of all time—Peter Hook and company quickly rose to the top of the alternative music scene. Widely regarded as the godfathers of electronic dance music, their sound would influence Moby, The Chemical Brothers, The Postal Service, The Killers, and other acts that followed in their wake.

Hook tells the complete, unvarnished story of New Order’s founding and evolution; the band’s experiences in the New York City club scene and rapid rise to international fame, its impact on house music, techno, and rave; and its eventual rancorous dissolution. Full of Hook’s "gleefully profane" (Entertainment Weekly) humor and vivid, witty storytelling, Substance is the most important and certainly the most controversial part of his story, emanating with drugs, booze, and sex.

Complete with timelines, discographies, gigographies and track-by-track analysis, and exclusive photographs and archival images from Hook’s personal collection, it is the definitive, comprehensive history of New Order and a compelling snapshot of the '80s cultural scene in all its neon-hued glory.

“If Joy Division defined my life, New Order shaped it”: a fascinating story of sex, drugs, and (indie) rock ’n’ roll; of art, money, and crass stupidity; of blind faith and amazing good luck—backed by a soundtrack of truly great songs written by wonderful musicians

In May 1980 with two acclaimed albums Joy Division had the world at their feet. Then on the eve of their ?rst American tour everything changed. The band’s troubled lead singer, Ian Curtis, committed suicide. As Peter Hook has written, “One day we were Joy Division, then our lead singer died, and the next time we got together, we were a new band.”

That new band was New Order—their label Factory Records, their club The Haçienda—all based in Manchester, England. Their distinctive sound, a fusion of post-punk and groundbreaking electronica, paved the way for the Indie/dance music explosion that followed. This innovation would earn them the reputation as one of the most influential groups of their generation, changing the course of popular music on both sides of the Atlantic. Despite their success, New Order were always a collision of the visionary and the volatile, forged in the maverick atmosphere of their hometown, an atmosphere of creativity, epic drug use, and boundary-pushing music. More often than not, relationships in the band were fraught with tension, and New Order broke up and reformed with a frequency that kept fans, and the music press, watching their every move.

The third book in his trilogy, which started with the highly regarded The Haçienda: How Not to Run a Club and the bestselling Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division, Substance: Inside New Order is a no-holds-barred account of New Order’s entire twenty-seven-year history. Containing outrageous anecdotes, tales of mad excess and astonishing creative perseverance, this book is packed with rich detail, complete discographies, and fascinating technical information about how the music was made. It is also a rollicking read, sure to impress with Hook’s talent for recalling the most minute and intimate detail and spinning epic yarns.

“As raw, undiluted, and fitfully funny as its predecessors… It’s an unapologetic rock memoir, concerned less with legacy and more with what really went down: ‘the idea being to bring you the most complete and truthful record of life inside New Order as is humanly possible.’ By that standard, the book is a marvelous success. A well-written and brutally honest remembrance of the glory days of rave culture.” - Kirkus Reviews

“As raw, undiluted, and fitfully funny as its predecessors… It’s an unapologetic rock memoir, concerned less with legacy and more with what really went down...the book is a marvelous success. A well-written and brutally honest remembrance of the glory days of rave culture.” - Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Unknown Pleasures: “You don’t have to be a hardcore fan of Joy Division or New Order to appreciate Hook’s wry evocation of Britain’s 1970s punk scene and his street-level remembrance of the tragedy and ecstasy . . . that went into building the foundation for the next few decades’ alternative rock scene.” - Neda Ulaby, NPR Best Books of the Year

“There is perhaps no better demonstration of the complexities of life and art than the fact that a history of Joy Division is often laugh-out-loud funny. [Unknown Pleasures] gives back this mythologized band its humanity [and] shows hindsight truly can be great. It is also heart-rending, ruthless and redemptive.” - Michael Azerrad, Wall Street Journal

“Honest, punchy, and rough-hewn . . . a portal into a vivid moment in rock history . . . the life and times of a working band . . . and, in the middle of it all, the transformative power of music.” - Los Angeles Times