10 Darkest Rock Music Masterpieces

It may seem like something of a cheap shot including a track by UK post-punk outfit, Joy Division, given the much-publicised suicide of lead singer, Ian Curtis, on the eve of the band's first US tour in 1980, but the fact is Joy Division recorded some of the most brilliant, artfully made, yet darkly emotional music to come from that period or, in fact, any other.

Alongside Curtis, Bernard Sumner handled guitar, Peter Hook bass, and Stephen Morris drums. Following Curtis' death, Sumner, Hook and Morris went on to form another legendary post-punk band: New Order. New Dawn Fades, which received renewed attention in the mid-90s thanks to a creditable Moby cover, is taken from Joy Division's debut album, Unknown Pleasures, released in 1979.

Joy Division were masters of doing a lot with a little, and their spectral, skeletal sound influenced a host of great bands to come. Starting with a drawling, backwards sample, New Dawn Fades evolves from a rattling, skittering drum-beat and twin-layered guitar riffs which seem to summon up the entirety of human pathos and drama.