Let’s go back in time, to the early summer of 1979, to the Strawberry studio in Stockport near Manchester, where Joy Division are recording the single ‘Transmission’ with Martin Hannett.

In his memoir Record Play Pause: Confessions Of A Post-Punk Percussionist, Stephen Morris recalled: “We agreed it was the most commercial and radio-friendly of all our songs, in that it even mentioned the wireless in the lyrics,” Morris explained. “I’m still not sure exactly what ‘commercial’ means here. It had a chorus and was catchy. Everything you need for a hit single, I suppose. It also had that rare effect of eliciting goose bumps when it hit the chorus – maybe that was it.”

As stated in the splendid eight vinyl box set “Factory Communications 1978-92”: “Recorded three months after Unknown Pleasures, the thunderous sound achieved by Hannett on ‘Tranmission’ was extraordinary, although it would remain unheard in it’s full glory until the single was given a 12-inch release the following year. Stephen Morris: I think the feeling was that ‘Transmission’ was always going to be a single, and would therefore be separate from the album. The only problem then was what to put on the b-side. ‘Novelty’ was Rob’s idea, I think, which we thought was a bit old by that time! The original 7-inch appeared midway through a month-long UK tour supporting Buzzcocks, and Factory hoped to score a bona fide hit, predicting that BBC deejays might warm to the lyrical refrain of ‘dance, dance, dance to the radio. Wilson even liaised with DinDisc on hiring a radio plugger, though Hannett vetoed the plan, and initial sales – a few thousand – were disappointing.”

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