Peter Hook's 10 greatest basslines

13 February 2025, 16:00

Radio X celebrated the distinctive bass tone of Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order... and more.

Born in Salford on 13th February 1956, Peter Hook's life was changed when he attended a Sex Pistols gig in Manchester in the turbulent summer of 1976. He was so inspired by the punk band's confrontational attitude that he went out and bought a bass guitar the following day.

The rest is history: Hook and his friend Bernard Sumner met up with some like-minded individuals Ian Curtis and Stephen Morris to form the band that would become Joy Division. The bassist's distinctive tone became part of JD's signature sound, but their meteoric rise was stopped in its tracks by the suicide of singer Curtis in May 1980.

The surviving members regrouped as New Order and as they began to embrace electronic sounds and dance-floor beats, Hook's bass gave the music an essential link back to humanity.

Hook and the rest of New Order split acrimoniously for good in 2008, but the musician continues to perform music as Peter Hook and The Light.

1. Joy Division - Digital

   • From the Factory Sample EP
   • Release date: 2nd February 1979

   Joy Division's first work with the idiosyncratic producer Martin Hannett was two tracks for Factory's very first vinyl release, A Factory Sample. Named after the brand new delay unit Hannett had just bought, it's one of the band's most manic songs, propelled by Hook's pulsing bassline.

   

   Digital (2010 Remaster)

2. Joy Division - Disorder

   • From the album Unknown Pleasures
   • Release date: 15th June 1979

   The tougher side of Joy Division's sound, which led off their peerless debut album Unknown Pleasures. Hook's signature sound was achieved by firstly playing higher up the fretboard on the bass (initially so he could hear himself over the racket made by Bernard Sumner's guitar) and subtle use of the Electro-Harmonix Clone Theory pedal.

   

   Disorder (2007 Remaster)

3. Joy Division - Transmission

   • Single, release date: 16th November 1979

   Hooky recalled that this track was the first Joy Division song that literally stopped the audience in its tracks and became the band's debut single proper in the autumn of 1979. This astonishing live version was recorded for BBC-2's Something Else programme in September of that year.

   

   Joy Division - Transmission [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]

4. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

   • Single, release date: 27th June 1980

   By the time Love Will Tear Us Apart made the UK charts at the end of June 1980, singer Ian Curtis had been dead over a month. When Peter Hook heard the news that his band had made the Top 20, he had no reaction at all, still numb from the shock of the bereavement. Love Will Tear Us Apart is the ultimate epitaph for a great British band, its backbone the memorable riff doubled on bass and eerie synthesiser.

   

   Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]

5. New Order - Ceremony

   • Single, released March 1981

   First played at the very last Joy Division show in May 1980, Ceremony became the first single from New Order, initially recorded by the trio of Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris. In typical Factory Records style, nobody could decide on the definitive take, so the song was re-recorded later, with new recruit Gillian Gilbert on guitar. This version emphasises Hook's chiming bass intro perfectly.

   

   New Order (Substance; 1987) - Ceremony

6. New Order - Dreams Never End

   • From the album Movement
   • Release date: 13th November 1981

   Peter Hook was the lead contender in the "New Order Singer Auditions" after inital favourite Stephen Morris was counted out when they realised a singing drummer didn't have enough "presence". Taking the place of such an iconic frontman as Ian Curtis was no easy task, but Hooky gave it a good shot - as demonstrated by his vocal on the striking opening track from New Order's debut album Movement - but ultimately Bernard Sumner got the gig full time.

   

   New Order - Dreams Never End (Official Audio)

7. New Order - Age Of Consent

   • From the album Power Corruption & Lies
   • Release date: 2nd May 1983

   New Orde's ground-breaking second album opens with one of Hooky's most memorable basslines; it forms part of the traditional rock sound that sits comfortably alongside the more electrionic tracks that populate the record.

   

   New Order - Age of Consent (2020 Remaster) [Official Music Video]

8. New Order - Elegia

   • From the album Low-Life
   • Release date: 13th May 1985

   Opening the second side of New Order's third album, this elegant instrumental waltz exists in sharp contrast to the electro-dance hits that make up the rest of the track listing (The Perfect Kiss, Sub-Culture). Peter Hook's bass carries the exquisite melody - and if you're keen to hear more, the full version lasts over seventeen and a half minutes.

   

   Elegia (2015 Remaster)

9. New Order - Regret

   • Single, release date: 5th April 1983
   • From the album Republic, release date 3rd May 1993

   With the demise of Factory Records in 1992, it seemed like a fresh start for New Order, but the making of the album Republic was fraught and it would be the band's only release of the 90s. Nevertheless, the album includes some gems, including the sparkling lead single, which revels in the interplay between Hook's bass and Sumner's guitar.

   

   New Order - Regret (Official Music Video)

10. Monaco - What Do You Want From Me?

    • Single, release date: 24th February 1997
    • From the album Music For Pleasure, release date 9th June 1997

    Revenge was Hooky's first solo outing, recording an album, One True Passion, between the New Order albums Technique and Republic. During the band's hiatus in the mid-90s, Hook collaborated with the singer and musician David Potts to form Monaco, who had a respectable Top 20 hit with this Britpop-era favourite. As ever, the characteristic Hooky bass sound is front and centre. Monaco issued a self-titled follow-up album in 2000 and that was the last we heard from them.

    

    Monaco - What Do You Want From Me (Official Video)