10 Great Singles That Weren't Originally Released On A Studio Album

10. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division

Though it's often believed that Love Will Tear Us Apart was featured on Joy Division's debut record Unknown Pleasures, the iconic tune was actually released as a non-album single. Let loose on the British public just one month after Ian Curtis' suicide, it teased an interesting new direction that the band were, unfortunately, unable to take.

Love Will Tear Us Apart is one of the defining tunes of the post-punk era, and provided the band with their first UK hit single. It's catchy chorus shouldn't work as well as it does with Curtis' baritone pipes, but the frontman's voice adds a layer of sadness to a melody that seems too upbeat for the song's sombre themes.

Between choruses, the 1980 song is short in length but heavy in substance. exploring Curtis' struggles with daily life and his battle with psychological woes, the heavy topics explored make dancing to the tune decidedly impossible, despite what The Wombats would have you believe.

Though Love Will Tear Us Apart was surely poised to appear on the band's second album, Closer it was, curiously, absent from the track listing. It mattered little, as it has continued to build its legacy as one of Britain's best songs.