“Ceremony” is technically a song by the band Joy Division, an English post-punk band formed in 1976. It was one of the last songs the band ever composed, when Ian Curtis was still a member. Curtis committed suicide only 16 days after the band wrote the song, and the remaining members of the band renamed and rebranded the band as New Order, and released “Ceremony” as an official single.
Bernard Sumner, one of the members of Joy Division/New Order said about “Ceremony”:
“We actually wrote “Ceremony” in Joy Division. It was a horrible time because Ian [Curtis] had just tried to commit suicide and failed. He was in a hospital and came out of the hospital. And we had a riot at a gig because Ian couldn’t handle it. So Ian kept going back to hospitals so we wrote two songs—“Ceremony” and “In a Lonely Place” to try to cheer him up. But I don’t think the songs cheered anyone up. But we just thought we’d write a brilliant track and get his mind off it, to get his mind on music. Unfortunately it didn’t work.”
The song acts as a literal bridge between the two bands, according to the website, the A.V. Club.
“The recording history of “Ceremony”—from the sketchy studio rehearsals, to the live takes, to fledgling experiments after Curtis’ death, to the multiple official singles—positions New Order as a band building on Joy Division’s legacy, but with a separate and alternately influential style all its own.” — Kevin McFarland, The A.V. Club
The song’s history gives it an especially haunting beauty, even in its sadness. As the music blog, Don’t Forget the Songs 365 writes, “It’s more than a song. It’s an emotionally honest tribute…” Paul Morley, an English music journalist, even called it “the best song of all time.”