Did You Know That Joy Division “Invented” This Now-Famous Drum Sound in 1979?

Any post-punk fan has likely listened to Joy Division’s legendary 1979 album, Unknown Pleasures, about a million times at this point. It was the band’s first album. And yet, it left such a strong impact on music and new wave as a whole. The band’s record label, Factory Records, didn’t release any singles from the album. Despite this, tracks like “She’s Lost Control” and “Disorder” have become massive fan favorites. And those two tracks have something in common. That would be the “hissing” snare drum element that was previously not really a thing in rock or early iterations of new wave.

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It’s not super surprising that something as experimental as Unknown Pleasures would “invent” a sound or musical element. Each member of Joy Division was innovative in their own right, outside of the leading brilliance of Ian Curtis. Stephen Morris, specifically, did something particularly fascinating with his drum tracks for many of Unknown Pleasures’ songs.

That fascinating thing was the hissing snare drum sound heard on several songs, most prominently on “She’s Lost Control”. Give the song a thorough listen, and you’ll instantly know what I’m talking about. It’s been sampled by quite a few musicians in the decades since.

So, how did Stephen Morris (and producer Martin Hannett) achieve that hissing snare drum sound? It was actually quite simple.

The Method Behind Joy Division’s Hissing Snare Drum

This unique snare drum sound heard in “She’s Lost Control” was achieved by recording the sound of a Syn Drum. Gen X music nerds might know it well as one of the first non-analog drum pads that made it to market in the 1970s. In tandem with the drum pad, a sound clip of a spray can being fired was layered on top of it. 

Keep in mind, this was all done in an era where digital DAWs weren’t even close to being a thing yet. They recorded the sound of the spray can live in a studio in time with when the snare would be hit at various points in “She’s Lost Control”.

We can thank Hannett’s obsessive interest in isolating recordings for this unique recording trick. It’s alleged that Morris had to record his drum tracks in an isolated recording booth where he wouldn’t huff any of the aerosol. Isolating multiple instrumental tracks led to one of the best uses of layering sound in new wave music. And it also ensured that there wouldn’t be any bleed between tracks on any one song. Recording each drum in Morris’ separately resulted in an extremely clean sound. And that’s just one element of Unknown Pleasures as a whole that makes the record phenomenal.

Photo by Rob Verhorst/Redferns