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I dunno man, all I know is that joy division is easily in the top 10 bands of all time. They had quite a large output beyond just the 2 albums, and many of their singles are better than their album tracks... To me, they made 2 PERFECT albums with unknown pleasures and new order. Yet even those 2 albums sound pretty different from each other. They might have eventually transmorphed into something underwhelming, because what's interesting about Joy Division is that none of them, conventionally, knew how to "play" their instruments at first, which is probably why they sound so off-kilter in their delivery, and their nontraditional songwriting techniques in reference to space and interplay (the bass is usually the main melodic instrument; the production of every song is quite different -- the producer is the 5th member, in a way, he really brought out a cool sound with the band)... It's hard to say what they would have turned into, perhaps they wouldn't done nothing but LOVE WILL TEAR US APARTs? Either way, I think the 40 ish songs they recorded are some of the best of all time, and they remain -- by circumstance or otherwise -- one of the most perfect bands ever.
I guess to answr your question more directly though, I think JD's influence far outweighs New Order.... I hate New Order actually, aside from maybe the first album and a single here or there. New Order just felt like a retread, even of itself, after a while. Joy Division just kept innovating, from their early "punk" ish sound to their "goth" stuf, or whatever (obviously the words in quotes are there for a lack of a better word to explain what I mean).
BASICALLY, JOY DIVISION WERE A LOT BETTER AND THUS INFLUENCED MORE MUSICIANS BY BEING GREAT AND CONSTANTLY INNOVATING WHILE NEW ORDER -- CERTAINLY INFLUENTIAL TO A FEW -- HARDLY HAS THE SAME IMPACT. I think even if New Order never existed, JD would still be remembered as being one of the best bands ever. Actually, even if Joy Division began releasing nothing but New Order-type shit, they'd still be remembered as one of the best bands ever, on the strength of those first 2 albums and early singles. Hell, even WIRE is often considered one of the best bands ever, even if only for their first 3 albums -- if you actually look at the Wire discography, about 10 of the albums are shit.
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