“lan spotted that the relationship between high bass and low guitar was really interesting and unusual. My style of playing came from that”: Peter Hook’s ‘lead bass’ approach spawned a catalog of hits with Joy Division and New Order

Peter Hook and his group The Light perform in concert at Theater Quirinetta on april 07, 2017 in Rome, Italy.

There are watershed moments in rock 'n' roll – like Woodstock or the Beatles' Ed Sullivan Show appearance – that affect musicians so profoundly that they, in turn, go on to change the face of pop music. For punk and indie rock, one crucial event was the Sex Pistols’ June 4, 1976 show at Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England.

In the opening slot, punk-pop's pioneering Buzzcocks played its first gig. In the audience – which numbered only a few dozen – future members of Joy Division, New Order, the Smiths, and Simply Red stood shell-shocked as the Sex Pistols took the stage and unleashed their fury. Peter Hook, then a 21-year-old dockworker, was among them.