Songfacts®:

• In 2000, "Atmosphere" was voted the greatest song of the millennium by listeners of John Peel's BBC Radio 1 program. John Peel chose this song as the one to play on the air after announcing the death of Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis.
• This was not a hit when it was first released, following the death of lead singer Ian Curtis. It only entered the UK charts when it was re-released eight years later.
• This was played near the end of the 2007 Ian Curtis biopic Control.
• The song was played at the funeral of Factory Records founder Tony Wilson, who worked with Joy Division.
• The song was written in two halves, with Peter Hook penning the bass written alone, then Bernard Sumner coming up with the keyboards afterwards.
  
  Hook commented to TeamRock: "The brainwave of putting them together was absolutely amazing. It is very moving and very melancholic, which Ian capitalized on with the vocal line and the lyrics."
• This was used on Stranger Things in the season 1 episode "The Body." It plays at the beginning of the episode as the characters grieve the loss of a loved one.