Love Will Tear Us Apart

Love Will Tear Us Apart came out in June 1980 as a non-album single. The band first recorded it at Pennine Studios in Oldham on 8 January 1980 with These Days as the B-side. Curtis and Hannett disliked the result, so in March the band re-recorded it at Strawberry Studios, Stockport, with each instrument recorded separately. The guitar on the record was a 12-string Eko. Hannett remixed the track as many as 15 times. Morris remembered that Sinatra's Greatest Hits and Sparks's Number One Song in Heaven were in rotation during the sessions.

It reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart, topped the UK Indie Chart the following month and reached number 1 in New Zealand in 1981. A 1983 re-release reached number 19 in the UK. The only promotional video was shot by the band on 25 April 1980 as they rehearsed the song in Manchester. NME named it its single of the year for 1980 and the best single of all time in 2002. Rolling Stone placed it at number 41 in 2021. In a 2007 documentary Peter Saville recalled hearing the song for the first time at a London University show and thinking at once that the band now had a single.