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Alternative cover
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" is a song by English
band . It was written in August 1979, and debuted when the band supported
on their UK tour in September and October 1979. It is one of the few songs in which singer
played guitar (albeit somewhat minimally.) The lyrics ostensibly reflect the problems in Ian Curtis's marriage to Deborah Curtis, as well as his general frame of mind in the time leading up to his suicide in May 1980. The title is an ironic reference to "". Deborah Curtis had the phrase "Love Will Tear Us Apart" inscribed on .
The song was first released as a single in June 1980 and became the band's first chart hit, reaching number 13 in the . That October, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" peaked at number 42 on the American disco/dance chart. It also reached number 1 in New Zealand in June 1981. The band postponed their US tour after Ian Curtis's death, performed a few short sets as The No-Names, then finally renamed the group as . "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was re-released in 1983 and reached number 19 on the UK charts and re-appeared at number 3 in New Zealand during March 1984. In 1985 the 7" single was released in Poland by Tonpress in different sleeve under license from Factory and sold over 20,000 copies. In November 1988, it made one more Top 40 appearance in New Zealand, peaking at number 39. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" appears on the
compilation album. It was first recorded for a
session in November 1979, then re-recorded in January 1980 and March 1980. It is the latter version that appears on Substance. The January 1980 version originally appeared as one of the single's B-sides.
In 1995, to publicise the release of , the track was reissued, complete with a new remix by
and a new radio edit, also known as the "Permanent Mix". On 24 September 2007, the single was again reissued, in its original configuration. This time, it was to publicise the Collector's Edition re-issues of the band's three albums. Although the single was now issued on the , it retained the classic Factory packaging, including the FAC 23 catalogue number.
The song was originally recorded at Pennine Studios, Oldham on 8 January 1980 along with the B side, "These Days". This version, similar to the version the band played live. Ian Curtis and Martin Hannett, however, disliked the version and, as a consequence, the band reconvened at Strawberry Studios, Stockport in March to re-record it. Whilst Curtis played guitar on the song live – the band taught him D Major specially – the guitar on the recording was a 12-string
guitar played by Sumner. Sumner recalls:
Ian didn't really want to play guitar, but for some reason we wanted him to play it. I can't remember the reason now... I think Ian used to play only on "Love Will Tear Us Apart"... no I'm wrong, there was another track too. Maybe "Heart and Soul"? I do remember Ian used to play just one chord, which was D. We showed him how to play D and we wrote a song. I wonder if that's why we wrote "Love Will Tear Us Apart", you could drone a D through it. I think he played it live because I was playing keyboards. On the record I played guitar, a twelve string Eko guitar, an Italian guitar that actually sounded pretty good.
Stephen Morris disliked the re-recorded version:
The version that everyone knows, I actually hate... Martin Hannett played one of his mind games when we were recording it – it sounds like he was a tyrant, but he wasn't, he was nice. We had this one battle where it was nearly midnight and I said, "Is it all right if I go home, Martin – it's been a long day?" And he said [whispers], "OK... you go home". So I went back to the flat. Just got to sleep and the phone rings. "Martin wants you to come back and do the snare drum". At four in the morning! I said, "What's wrong with the snare drum!?" So every time I hear "Love Will Tear Us Apart", I grit my teeth and remember myself shouting down the phone, "YOU BASTARD!" [smashes up imaginary phone]. I can feel the anger in it even now. It's a great song and it's a great production, but I do get anguished every time I hear it.
While Joy Division were recording "Love Will Tear Us Apart",
were in the studio to see Martin Hannett about producing their first album, . Lead singer
said of the encounter:
Talking to Ian Curtis is... or was a strange experience because he's very warm... he talked, there were like two people inside of him. He talked very light, and he talked very well mannered, and very polite, but when he got behind the microphone he really surged forth, there was another energy, it seemed like he was just two people and you know, "Love Will Tear Us Apart", it was like [when] that record was released... it was like as if there were the personalities separate, there they were, torn apart.
Bono has since often sung snippets of the song during live performances, often during extended versions of "".
The video was shot by the band themselves on 28 April 1980 as they rehearsed the song at T.J. Davidson's studio, where the band had previously rehearsed during the early days of their career. At the start of the video, the door that opens and shuts is carved with Ian Curtis' reportedly this was the beginning of an abusive message (the rest later erased) carved into the door by a spurned ex-girlfriend of Curtis' during the band's earlier work at the studio.
Due to poor production, the video's colour is 'browned out' at some points. Also, as the track recorded during the recording of the video was poor, it was replaced with the single-edit recording of the song by the band's record company in Australia, leading to problems with the synchronization of music and video. This edited version of the music video would later become the official version due to the improvement of sound quality.
This was the only promotional video the band ever produced as Ian Curtis committed suicide less than three weeks after the video was recorded.
Ian Curtis's grave marker, laid in 2008 to replace a similarly inscribed one stolen that year
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" has remained popular and was listed by
as the best single of all time in 2002. In 2004, the song was listed by
magazine at number 179 in its . In 2011, it was listed at number 181. In May 2007, NME placed it at number 19 in its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever, one place ahead of another Joy Division song, "Transmission". The song reached number 1 in the inaugural
music poll of
and again in . When being interviewed for ,
stated that "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was his favourite pop song of all time. At Christmas 2011, listeners of Dublin's Phantom FM voted "Love Will Tear Us Apart" as their favourite song of all time. Furthermore, in 2012, in celebration of the NME? 's 60th anniversary, a list of the 100 Greatest Songs of NME? 's Lifetime was compiled, and the list was topped by none other than "Love Will Tear Us Apart".
rock musician, journalist and writer
wrote about "Love Will Tear Us Apart" as one of the forty-six songs that changed history of
in his 2007 book .
The song has also been used in numerous television programs and in films, such as the 2001 film , in a pivotal scene before Donnie has to leave his girlfriend in order to save her. The 2001 film
features a music video for the song which characters explain as being part of a school project. Their homemade music video is in the style of a cheaply made '80s video with actors dressed in stereotypical goth fashion. The song is included in a 2002 film about the Manchester music scene, , during several scenes about the band and Curtis's suicide. It was also included in the 2006 indie film , which takes place in an afterlife for people who have committed suicide.
have adapted the song and their fans sing the song about . An edited version of the chorus is also sung by
fans about winger
("Burke, Burke will tear you apart again").
also adapted the song for former star striker . A similar version is sung by the ,
official supporters group when spinner
is bowling.
In June 2013, Mighty Box Games released Will Love Tear Us Apart?, a browser-based video game that adapts every verse of the song into a .
"Love Will Tear Us Apart"  
"These Days"  
"Love Will Tear Us Apart"  
"Love Will Tear Us Apart (Radio Version)"  
"Love Will Tear Us Apart (Original Version)"  
"Love Will Tear Us Apart (Original Version)"  
"Love Will Tear Us Apart (Radio Version)"  
"Love Will Tear Us Apart (Arthur Baker Remix)"  
"Atmosphere (Original Hannett 12")"  
"Love Will Tear Us Apart (Radio Version)"  
"Love Will Tear Us Apart (Original Version)"  
"These Days"  
"Transmission (live)"  
"Love Will Tear Us Apart (Original Version)"  
"Love Will Tear Us Apart '95 (Radio Version)"  
"Atmosphere"  
Track 1 recorded at Strawberry Studios, , early March 1980
Tracks 2 and 3 recorded at Pennine Sound Studios, , 8 January 1980
In her biography , Deborah Curtis explains that the reason for the two versions of the song, one on each side, was a result of Curtis's slightly different one vocal take was allegedly done when other band members told Curtis to sing "like ".
Like other Joy Division releases, including Transmission and An Ideal For Living, the 7" and 12" versions share the same tracks, but have different sleeves.
Chart (1980–81)
Australia ()
New Zealand ()
UK Singles ()
US Billboard
Ireland ()
New Zealand ()
UK Singles ()
Chart (1988)
New Zealand ()
Chart (1995)
UK Singles ()
Chart (2007)
UK Singles ()
Preceded by
21 June 1981 (1 week)
Succeeded by
"Love Will Tear Us Apart" was first covered and recorded by Austrian new wave band Chuzpe in 1980–81 (GIG Records 111 103) and has since been covered by many artists, including , , , , , , ,
with , Absinthe, Elektrik People, and The Mulhollands. In 1996, the Serbian
released the cover version on
with lyrics Ljubav ne gleda na sat (Love Don't Sees On Clock) on their second studio album "Ga?e". The song "" by UK act
was inspired by "Love Will Tear Us Apart", and includes "let love tear us apart" similarly, Kasper Bj?rke's song "Alcatrez" references "Love Will Tear Us Apart": "Do you think it's true that our love will tear us apart?"; post-hardcore band
released a song entitled "Ian Curtis" on their 1999 debut Waiting, the chorus of which features a repeated refrain of "Isolation/ love has torn us apart"; the song "Tiny Skeleyons" by
also references "Love Will Tear Us Apart" in the lyric "Ian Curtis said it would tear us apart".
covered Love Will Tear Us Apart on his acoustic album Skeleton Strings 2.
covered the song as a bonus track on their album , having previously covered the song .
In 2005, the
issued a version on their album Re-Covers.
On 11 November 2009, the song was also performed in the opening scene of
television series , by the musician character Dante (actual song sung by ).
The chorus of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" features heavily on the last third of 's epic song "Christmas Unicorn" from volume 10 of his Songs For Christmas box set.
Australian singer-songwriter
covered it for his album "Unlearned" (June 2013).
also covered "Love Will Tear Us Apart" on their EP 'No Fun Intended,' released on 16 July 2013.
Chart (1981)
Austria ()
Chart (1984)
Belgium ( Flanders)
Germany ()
Netherlands ()
Netherlands ()
Chart (2005)
UK Singles ()
Love Will Tear Us Apart is an EP by the
band , its ninth release. It features a cover version of the Joy Division song. It was originally released in two different versions with Jarboe (black sleeve) and Gira (red sleeve) providing vocals, along with two semi-acoustic versions of songs from their 1987 LP . On some versions, a fourth song was appended: A solo acoustic version of "New Mind".
"Love Will Tear Us Apart"  
"Trust Me"  
"Our Love Lies"  
– guitar, vocals
– keyboards, vocals, piano
– bass guitar
Chart (1988)
(1995). . : . p. 138.  .
. Joydiv.org 2013.
Friskics-Warren, Bill (2005). . . p. 98.  . the cascading melody of Joy Division's sublimely gloomy post-punk anthem, 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'
Floman, Scott.
2013. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is simply a lovely synth pop song with affecting lyrics that linger in listener's memories long after the last note.
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(2012). . : .  .
(archived 20 August 2006). . Retrieved 31 January 2013.
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Farokhmanesh, Megan (3 June 2013). . . .
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. . Hung Medien 2014.
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" (in Dutch). . Retrieved 16 July 2013.
Loftus, Johnny. . AllMusic. All Media Network 2013.
Street, Andrew P. (18 September 2013). .
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Louis (4 August 2007).
(in French). Albumrock 2013.
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(list of releases). Retrieved 8 August 2013.
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(archived 6 June 2011). . Retrieved 5 September 2014.
(list of releases)
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