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When school friends Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook decided to form a band after seeing a Sex Pistols concert in 1976, neither could have imagined the impact that their decision would have on music during the following 25 years. The group they started, Joy Division, and its reincarnation, New Order, are widely acknowledged as the major inspiration for bands as diverse as U2, Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins. The latter's front man, Billy Corgan, even appeared as a guest guitarist at a series of New Order performances earlier this year and also features on their first album in eight years.

This long delay before the release of their latest album "Get Ready" was caused by a five-year communication break between the band members after their headlining appearance at the 1993 Reading Festival. Although such a major rift could easily have spelled the end of many groups, this certainly wasn't the first, or most significant, obstacle in the Manchester quartet's history.

Within a few weeks of that Sex Pistols concert, guitarist Sumner and bassist Hook had recruited vocalist Ian Curtis and drummer Stephen Morris to form Joy Division. The band quickly achieved critical and popular acclaim but shortly before the release of their second album in 1980, the epileptic Curtis committed suicide.

"We were devastated . . . but, to be honest, we were angry too. We were like, `What are we supposed to do now, Ian?'" recalled Sumner. The remaining members decided to continue. "It was all we knew. We'd given up our jobs. What else were we supposed to do?" Sumner took over vocal duties and the trio renamed themselves New Order _ a moniker apparently taken from a newspaper article on The People's New Order of Kampuchea.

The new band quickly recruited Morris's girlfriend Gillian Gilbert on keyboards and soon began seeking a new musical direction. Driven by Morris and Sumner's obsession with technology and the vocalist's interest in the American electronic music scene, New Order began experimenting with sequencers and synthesisers. After a few innovative singles, the band released "Blue Monday" in 1983. It became the best-selling 12-inch record of all time but, although the single went on to sell more than three million copies, the band lost money every time one was bought. This ironic situation was caused by an expensive sleeve, designed to look like a floppy disc, that needed to have a special hole cut out in it.

Despite this financial blunder, New Order released a series of increasingly successful albums during the 80s with each new release blurring the lines between the dance and rock music genres ever further _ a tendency that reached its pinnacle on 1989's "Technique". Partly recorded on the then little-known resort of Ibiza, the experimental album was the first to introduce mainstream listeners to the Balearic style that is now synonymous with the island.

Although "Technique" was the band's first release to reach number one, relations within New Order were beginning to fray. Substance abuse and hectic touring schedules were taking their toll and the members decided they needed a break from increasing tensions and animosities.

Initially the break didn't last long and the band reconvened briefly to record "World in Motion" with the 1990 England World Cup soccer squad, but during the following two years the members of the former Joy Division worked apart on other projects. Sumner teamed up with ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr in Electronic, Hook formed a hard-rock group, Revenge, and Morris and Gilbert worked together as The Other Two producing dance music and television themes.

By 1992 the quartet had regrouped to record a new album but were faced with a slight problem _ relations had worsened even further and they could no longer stand the sight of each other. Adding to the difficult working situation were weekly crisis meetings, held in an attempt to save both the troubled Factory Records label and Hacienda _ a legendary, yet financially unsuccessful Manchester nightclub established by New Order in 1982. The club, partly owned by the label, was bringing in money but its debts were so large that it was allegedly costing each band member £10 000 a month to keep the venue afloat.

Despite these growing financial and interpersonal strains, as well as the eventual collapse of Factory, the group was still able to release the unsurprisingly low-key "Republic" in 1993. The prerequisite tour followed, but after that performance at the Reading Festival, the members of New Order went their separate ways. Sumner returned to Electronic, Hook had some success with new project Monaco while The Other Two got married, had a daughter and released another album.

As the years passed, break-up rumours became more prevalent and in a recent interview Sumner confessed: "At one point I did think that we'd never make another record. The group never split up, but we didn't make any plans at all."

In the same interview he explained the reasons for the near demise of the band. "It was just silly little petty animosities that split us up. Thousands of stupid daft things. Like when you see a stone staircase and it's all worn away where everyone's trodden. You can't see it happening, but you can see the results. The results are real.

"We spent so much time together that we were just sick of the sight of each other and each other's problems and weird hang ups and we were focusing on that too much and just wanted to get away from each other."

By the beginning of 1998 these feelings had seemingly dissipated and the band members held their first meeting in five years _ a move initiated by their long-time manager Rob Gretton. Any remaining animosities were smoothed over within minutes _ Hook jokingly reckoned that Sumner owed him £10 _ and by June New Order were appearing at festivals again.

Based on the enthusiastic public reaction to these shows and the regained pleasure of performing together, the rejuvenated group entered the studio the following year to begin working on new material. However, in typical New Order fashion, the band was soon faced with another crisis. Gretton, the man who had been their manager since the early days of Joy Division, was diagnosed with cancer and passed away at the age of 46.

Although recording was halted for a few weeks, the quartet decided to continue work on what would eventually become "Get Ready" _ an album released 25 years after that Sex Pistols concert where it all began.