Maybe Olivia Rodrigo didn't think clearly about her knee-jerk reaction to a statement made by podcast host Anthony Fantano of The Needle Drop. Fantano is normally excellent, and Rodrigo normally makes elite musical decisions, but their opinions on Joy Division and New Order are off base.
On a recent episode of the podcast with Rodrigo as a guest, the singer mentioned that New Order's "Age of Consent" was her top-streamed song on Spotify in 2025. Fantano said he loved the song as well, and then looks at the camera and says, "By the way, New Order is better than Joy Division." To which Rodrigo immediately responds, "I agree."
As fans of New Order and Joy Division know, one of the "two" bands cannot truly be better than the other because, ultimately, the bands are the same. The only difference in the formation of New Order was that singer Ian Curtis was not part of the group after committing suicide.
Olivia Rodrigo's view about Joy Division and New Order might divide fans
The members of Joy Division decided that if any of the members left, the band might keep going, but under a different name. Had that not been the case, Joy Division might have been the case even without Curtis. Instead, the remaining members of the band, Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, and Peter Hook, changed the name of the band to New Order.
Are there stylistic differences between Joy Division and New Order? Sure, but most bands evolve from how they sounded at the beginning. U2, for instance, has all of the same four founding members, but the band's sound now doesn't sound like their debut record, 1980's Boy.
In fact, even the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame chose not to differentiate Joy Division from New Order in voting for potential induction. The "bands" will go into the Hall in 2026, but as Joy Division + New Order.
Simply choosing one over the other simply lacks artistic integrity and is unfair to both iterations of the group. Both are great and worthy of being heard forever. Both can both be admired for the music made from different albums. One does not need to cause false drama by saying one iteration is better than the other, and the band members certainly wouldn't make an argument either way.
Moreover, to separate the two is disrespectful to the memory of Ian Curtis. His death forced a name change, but it didn't cause the band to no longer exist. It simply existed as New Order.
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