“I will never play with them again. I’d rather die than play with them.” Don’t hold your breath for a New Order reunion performance at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony

On November 14, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, Iron Maiden, Oasis, Billy Idol, Phil Collins, Wu-Tang Clan, Joy Division/New Order, Sade and more will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.

Iron Maiden definitely won’t be in attendance on what the organisers like to believe is the most prestigious night in the rock ‘n’ roll calendar, as they’ll be be in Australia as part of their on-going Run For Your Lives world tour. And no-one knows whether or not Oasis will show up, given the extreme sarcasm that Liam Gallagher employs every time he’s asked about the honour (“Ever since I was a little kid and singing in the shower I’d dream about 1 day being in the RnR hall of fame”).

But one British group who are planning to show up is Joy Division/New Order, who seem genuine in their appreciation of the recognition, with Peter Hook posting a video last month to say how “wonderfully pleased” he is.

“Is it deserved?” the groups’ founding bassist tells Mojo magazine. “Without a shadow of a doubt! The fact both bands are there is perfect, otherwise you’d only get half the story. Joy Division has been the bedrock of everything we’ve ever done, and to rise Phoenix-like from the ashes to what we achieved as New Order… those 10 years from 1980 to 1990 were absolutely golden. It’s a hell of a discography, and I still have a great belief in the music.”

Here too there are difficulties, however. Peter Hook left New Order in 2007, and took his former bandmates Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert to court in 2015 after the trio reunited without him. That case was settled out of court in 2017, but nine years on, the scars remain, and Hook insists that that there is not a chance in Hell that the quartet will reunite to perform together in Los Angeles.

“I will never play with them again,” Hook insists to Mojo. “I’d rather die than play with them three… what they did to me and my family when they took the name, it was terrible… you have to have morals in this world, and if I let my morals slip, I don’t think people will think better of me. The nicest thing about getting out of New Order was that I could tell the fucking truth, because I lived 
a lie for so long to maintain the status quo… it saps your soul.”

Whether David Hasselhoff could potentially mediate to resolve the longstanding acrimony between the band members has not been discussed.

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