At long last, New Order are heading into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. After two previous nominations and many years of eligibility, Hall Of Fame voters finally decided to induct New Order and Joy Division, considering them together as one unit, as part of this year's class. It's just not clear how many band members will be there.
Earlier this year, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert, the married drummer and keyboardist who made up half of New Order's original lineup, announced that they would no longer tour with New Order, citing "personal health reasons." That leaves frontman Bernard Sumner as the sole true New Order member in the band's current lineup. Now, Morris says that he won't be there for the Hall Of Fame induction, either. He doesn't seem too bothered about it.
Morris recently spoke to Rolling Stone, mostly about the upcoming release of Eternal, Joy Division's upcoming 14-disc live box set. When asked if he's attending the Hall Of Fame induction, Morris mentioned an unspecified "bit of a health problem" that "precludes leaving the country for any length of time":
We did try. We went to an exhibition, the Ian Curtis lyrics exhibition in New York a few months ago and thought, “We’ll see how this goes. If this goes all right, it might be worth thinking…” And that was only two days, and it just ended in disaster. So maybe not, maybe, but I can’t really say things will get better, because they won’t...
I really don’t want to dwell on what this illness is, but it’s pretty serious. It’s not something that someone’s going to come up with a cure for.
Morris only talked about his health issues after talking about how the concept of a Hall Of Fame induction doesn't actually mean much to him:
I’ve got to hold my hands up and say… I don’t get awards. I do get awards, and in a way that’s the problem. I don’t understand the point of them. I’ve tried. I have really, really, believe me, tried. Unsuccessfully. I’ve tried giving awards. I’ve tried receiving awards. I’ve just gone and watched other people getting awards, and I’ve just come away feeling a bit like Peggy Lee. “Is that all there is? What is it about?”
I don’t get it. I don’t get it… And the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in particular, I mean, I must admit at the beginning, I was suckered as we all were three years ago. Oh, it’s great when it first came up. It’s the fans who were voting for this, and that’s great. And I was there voting for myself trying… And then we didn’t get in.
And then I realized that I was being duped. It wasn’t entirely the fans. That’s what I could understand. The people who came last got in, and the people who came top just were like, “Oh, see you later, alligator.” Which I felt was a bit unfair to the people who went to the trouble of voting.
Later in the interview, Morris said that he's "not ungrateful" and that induction is "fantastic," but he also noted that it was "a bit of a cheat" to get two bands in with one induction: "We only get in as a doubleheader. We got Joy Division/New Order. It’s kind of like, are we a bargain-basement thing?... I just personally cannot see the point of an award ceremony or receiving in any way, shape, or form. I’m sorry. I’m not ungrateful. I just don’t get it."
Earlier this year, former New Order/Joy Division bassist Peter Hook, who has been publicly beefing with frontman Bernard Sumner for years, said that he wouldn't join the band at the podium but that he might perform with them if Sumner apologizes for "that eight-year legal battle." Seems unlikely! On the subject of Hook, Morris says, "He didn’t seem happy in New Order. He doesn’t seem happy playing New Order songs. And [he says] we’re awful, awful people that we’ve been to him. And, yeah, that’s a bit upsetting, really. Will there ever be reconciliation? I don’t know. I don’t know. They do say life’s too short."
Read the full interview here.
