| "Dead Souls" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Joy Division | ||||
| A-side | "Atmosphere" | |||
| B-side | "Dead Souls" | |||
| Released | 18 March 1980 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:53 | |||
| Label | Sordide Sentimental | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Martin Hannett | |||
| Joy Division singles chronology | ||||
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"Dead Souls" is a U.S. 1980 B-side by the English post-punk band Joy Division. It was never released on a single in their native UK. Co-written by band members Ian Curtis (vocals and lyrics), Peter Hook (bass guitar), Bernard Sumner (lead guitar) and Stephen Morris (drums). Centred on a circular bassline by Hook that had a significant influence on 1980s Gothic rock, the song was named by Curtis after Nikolai Gogol's 1842 novel Dead Souls. The song contains a lengthy intro designed as the opening for live gigs. The track was recorded in late 1979 during the same sessions as "Atmosphere".
"Dead Souls" and "Atmosphere" were released in March 1980 by the Sordide Sentimental label as the "Licht und Blindheit" (German for "Light and Blindness") package, a France-only limited edition single with "Atmosphere" as the A-side.
After lead singer Ian Curtis's suicide and Joy Division's disbandment, "Dead Souls" appeared on compilations such as 1981's Still. It has become one of the band's most critically-acclaimed songs, with many music writers ranking it among the band's greatest work. Industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails famously covered the song for the 1994 film The Crow and have since performed the song intermittently live.