When Joy Division collapsed after the death of enigmatic frontman Ian Curtis, it could have been the end of the road. Instead, the surviving members (Bernard Sumner, guitar/keys/vocals; Peter Hook, bass; Stephen Morris, drums) soldiered on, adding keyboardist Gillian Gilbert and reemerging as New Order. In 1986, with their fourth album, Brotherhood, their post-punk electronic fusion sound broke through in the U.S.
Already firmly established hit-makers in their native England, the band cracked America on the dance chart. With the single “Bizarre Love Triangle,” they had their highest-charting dance entry to date, hitting #4. It was also their first song to break into the U.S. Hot 100 (at #98). That temporary peak opened the door for a string of Dance Top Tens (including five #1s) and later Top 40 entries “True Faith” and “Regret.”
As an artistic concept, each side of the Brotherhood album represents one of the band’s two primary facets: the “rock” side and the “dance” side (but their rockier numbers can’t help but be danceable). Their propulsive, hook-driven work carried them from teetering on the edge after Joy Division to huge success to induction in the 2026 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
This article is featured in the September/October 2026 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.
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