Peter Hook Slams Bernard Sumner’s Autobiography

Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner have been on the outs since Hook attempted to break up New Order in 2007—only to watch as the band continued playing without him. Now, Sumner has written an autobiography that discusses his time in Joy Division and New Order. In response, Hook has written a review for Billboard in which he analyzes Sumner’s version of history. Unsurprisingly, he finds plenty to disagree with.

While the section about Joy Division seems “fondly written,” Hook says it didn’t reveal much—which is nothing new:

In the band, we very rarely spoke about anything in depth to do with Joy Division, musically or otherwise. Even after Ian [Curtis]’s sad demise, we never planned or talked about how we felt after Ian’s suicide. I remain none the wiser.

Hook questions Sumner’s recollection of an argument Hook supposedly had with New Order collaborator Peter Saville, and says neither he nor Saville recall the argument taking place. He says Sumner’s “vitriol” has “clouded out a lot of the things he’s achieved in New Order”:

To me, the problem with his recollections is that they are solely aimed at justifying the taking of the New Order brand name and good will in 2011 — an action I view as illegal and am still fighting. It’s like a vehicle to convince himself, the fans or even me that he was right to do so.

Hook theorizes that Sumner hated arguing, and sought absolute control in New Order. He says the whole book suffers from the interpretation that Hook was but a “problem bassist” in the band’s history:

It is a shame, not just for us and the fans, but maybe also for the book stores who won’t know whether to file this novel under fantasy or tragedy. Doing my New Order book as I am now, I have come to realise that in the early days we did achieve a hell of a lot together, we started New Order from nothing and made it successful against all the odds. We had a really good time doing it, loads of daft adventures. It’s a real pity that it’s ended like this. Realising how good we were, when the two of us argued, for the sake of mankind, maybe we should carry on arguing.

Read the whole thing here. Recently, a Joy Division Twitter account was launched without Hook’s knowledge– something he wasn’t very happy about.

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