“If Mick Jagger held a gun to my head, telling me to play Satisfaction I'd have said, ‘Just shoot me’”: Joy Division hero Peter Hook looks back on his genre-defining legacy

Peter Hook is known for some of the most haunting upper-register basslines ever recorded – Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart and New Order’s Regret being just two obvious examples.

Looking back on the impact of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures it almost feels inevitable that it would become such a landmark release in rock music. At the time, however, it was more as if they were making it up as they went along.

“We were teenagers,” said Hook in the September 2019 issue of Bass Player. “Confused, anxious, and rebellious.”

Although Joy Division may have been playing a more intelligent form of punk rock, it was punk rock nonetheless.

“There’s this theory that when any punk band tries to learn the rules, they can't do it any more. There's evidence for that, they can get too conscious. Still, some of our songs are hard to play even now. Songs like Transmission can make your hand feel like it's about to drop off.”

Peter Hook & The Light - ‘Transmission’ live in Mexico City - 2/11/14. - YouTube

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Hook regards Joy Division's debut as more of a jam record. ”People would ask why the first verse was 16 bars and the second only eight, but there's no cataclysmic reason behind it. We just counted wrong, but it sounded good!”

Whenever producer Martin Hannett felt the bass chords needed more clarity, they would record notes separately and simply add them together. There was also the fact they didn't have the time or money to fix any mistakes.

On Joy Division's defining moment – the 1980 non-album single, Love Will Tear Us Apart – it was Hook's contrasting open strings against notes high up the neck of a Hondo II Rickenbacker copy that inspired its sullen, era-defining vocal melody. This came from his refusal to stay in the background.

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

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"They tried asking if I could just follow the root. I said, ‘No, how about you follow me?’, probably out of ignorance, because I didn't know what a root note even was. I've never liked to be hidden, and I don't like to be patronized. I don't buy into the idea that the bass player is the quiet one who drives the van.”

In January 2021 Yamaha announced the extremely limited-edition Peter Hook Signature BB bass. Hook has played BB basses for decades, starting with the 600 model and graduating to the 1200S. The signature bass combines elements of the latter model.

“It’s such a compliment to be recognised for what you’ve done. To have it come full circle and culminate with my own signature bass, made to my specs and to satisfy my playing, is such an honour, and I’m very happy with it. I’m very proud to have worked with Yamaha to develop the BBPH, and I think it’s one of the best guitars in the world, if I do say so myself!”

Holding his signature Yamaha bass, and looking every bit the punk legend he is, Hook regales us with a few lesser-known facts about his genre-shaping career.

“I've been offered so many gigs – Echobelly, Elastica, Primal Scream, and Killing Joke – but I couldn't do them. I'd be all over the place. I found out I was fifth in line for the Rolling Stones when Bill Wyman left. Luckily number four got it!”

“If Mick Jagger held a gun to my head, telling me to play Satisfaction I'd have said, ‘Just shoot me. There's no way I can play that shit!’ I've never been good at playing other people's music, which is a strange thing to admit, but I've been lucky with what I do.”