. In the late '70s,
to carve portraits of profound despair. Although the late
's sinister, throbbing bass. While badly tuned guitars were the rage during the punk era in late-'70s England,
's bass playing instilled the importance of rhythm in punk rock, helping to inspire a generation of dance-oriented new wave bands.
After
Ian Curtis hanged himself on May 18, 1980,
Hook joined the other surviving members of
Joy Division in
New Order. He performed the lead vocals on
New Order's first album, Movement ("Dreams Never End" and "Doubts Even Here"), and his bass-playing style became increasingly melodic as the band developed their use of sequenced, synthesized sounds. He also played some keyboards and electronic drums. Between the release of 1983's Power, Corruption & Lies and 1985's Low-life,
Hook took part in the short-lived Ad Infinitum, an act featuring Lindsay Reade (then-wife of Factory boss Tony Wilson) and members of Stockholm Monsters; they released a cover of Joe Meek's "Telstar." In 1990, after
New Order released Technique,
Hook formed a side project dubbed
Revenge and released
One True Passion. Collaborating with
Dave Hicks (guitar, keyboards) and
Chris Jones (keyboards),
Hook combined elements of techno and hard rock;
Hook also sang. A second
Revenge album, 1992's
Gun World Porn, was released before
New Order resumed with the 1993 album
Republic.
While
New Order went on an extended hiatus,
Hook teamed up with vocalist
David Potts (who had joined
Revenge after that band's debut) and released
Music for Pleasure as
Monaco in 1997. Instead of shifting away from
New Order's distinctive sound,
Hook Xeroxed it;
Potts even sounded oddly similar to
New Order's
Bernard Sumner. However, the album startled fans and critics with its well-crafted pop; the track "What Do You Want from Me?" even became a hit in clubs and on alternative radio stations.
Monaco split up after label indifference temporarily shelved their self-titled second album;
Monaco was finally released in 2000.
Hook remained restlessly active throughout the 2000s. He recorded two more albums with
New Order (Get Ready and Waiting for the Sirens' Call) prior to leaving the band in 2007. He contributed basslines to recordings by a handful of acts, including Perry Farrell, Hybrid, and the Crystal Method. Freebass, a band he formed with fellow bassists Andy Rourke (the Smiths) and Mani (the Stone Roses) as initial members, issued a handful of EPs, along with a 2010 album (It's a Beautiful Life). Peter Hook and the Light was formed for the sake of performing
Joy Division's two landmark studio albums, Unknown Pleasures and Closer, in their entirety, and was launched at The Factory,
Hook's Manchester night club. In 2011, the band released an EP, 1102/2011, which featured a version of
Joy Division's "Atmosphere" with Rowetta on lead vocals. Unknown Pleasures: Live in Australia was released around the same time. Throughout this phase of his career,
Hook also DJ'd, compiled The Hacienda Classics and The Hacienda: Acid House Classics, and even wrote a book,
How Not to Run a Club.
–
Michael Sutton & Andy Kellman, Rovi