If you want to get morose, then you might ask whether “Love Will Tear Us Apart” would still be a goth and post-punk anthem had Ian Curtis not taken his life a month before its release. But then you listen to the song, and it’s immediately obvious that its status was cemented as soon as the band finished committing it to tape.

Inspired by Curtis’ guilt over his crumbling marriage, as well as his worsening epilepsy, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is a haunting account of regret and resignation. “You cry out in your sleep, all my failings exposed/There’s a taste in my mouth as desperation takes hold/Just that something so good, just can’t function no more,” Curtis sings with disaffected anguish. Meanwhile, his bandmates’ performance — including Bernard Sumner’s iconic synth melody — and Martin Hannett’s production transform the stark emotions into something nigh-transcendent.

Since its release in 1980, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” has consistently appeared on “greatest songs of all time” lists, and in 2002, NME called it the greatest single of all time. Joy Division’s swansong has also inspired countless artists and has been covered by the likes of Broken Social Scene, José González, New Order, Swans, and U2. Finally, no less an authority than Keanu Reeves has said it’s the one song that he’d be willing to listen to for the rest of his life.