The Emergence of New Order
Following the disbandment of Joy Division due to Ian Curtis’s tragic passing as the lead singer, New Order emerged as a band in the early 1980s, initially grappling with identity issues. With the addition of Gillian Gilbert to the lineup alongside Peter Hook, Bernard Sumner, and Stephen Morris, they decided to forge their unique path, resulting in a groundbreaking transformation. In 1983, they unveiled Blue Monday from their album Power, Corruption & Lies, which permanently introduced the world of rock enthusiasts to dance music. The genesis of this song was a response to the audience’s disappointment due to the band’s failure to play encores. However, the band soon recognized the challenges of harmonizing all the elements correctly. They improvised upon the concept to achieve a breakthrough until it evolved into its final form. Since then, Blue Monday has become a staple encore in most of their live performances and has come to symbolize a pivotal moment in the annals of music history.
Beyond their influences from predecessors in the music world, the band’s musical acumen and embrace of technological advancements enabled them to intricately interlace fragments from various compositions, resulting in a groundbreaking mosaic. Ultimately, the end product bore no discernible remnants of the individual components it was assembled from. Instead, it presented an innovative auditory experience that seamlessly blended elements of disco, house, and dance music from the 1980s. The band’s manager, Rob Gretton, received accolades for encouraging them to draw inspiration from the vibrant New York club scene.
Undoubtedly, Blue Monday is a timeless alternative dance track, signifying a pivotal moment for New Order as a British band bridging the gap between the post-punk and post-disco eras. Initially met with a lukewarm reception from radio stations, the song found its champions among club DJs, propelling it to the upper echelons of the UK charts and solidifying its status as the best-selling single ever. Blue Monday has since attained a legendary reputation, marked by many remixes and cover versions, and it continues to exert a substantial impact on future generations of artists in the realms of dance and rock music.
According to critics, the song was a transformative force in the world of music, despite New Order not initially creating it with a specific intent but rather as a homage to their favorite records while experimenting with innovative technologies such as drum machines and sequencers. As a result, Blue Monday serves as a testament to the power of technology and a serendipitous success. This brilliant composition continues to dominate dance floors and captivate audiences today.
New Order’s Encounter with Dance Music in New York
In 1976, Joy Division emerged as a post-punk group formed by Sumner, Hook, and Morris. Their lead singer, Curtis, was a troubled individual with epilepsy and depression. Tragically, in 1980, he took his own life. Following his passing, the surviving members of Joy Division decided to continue, with Sumner taking on the role of lead vocalist and introducing keyboardist Gilbert to the lineup. Subsequently, they released their debut album, Movement, in 1981 and began incorporating electronic elements into their music.
During New Order’s early tour in the United States, they found themselves in New York City, where they were exposed to cutting-edge dance music. The Manhattan club scene was undergoing a transition towards hip-hop, electro, and post-disco genres, which left a significant imprint on their songwriting. Additionally, the band gained access to new musical equipment, including the Oberheim DMX drum machine and the Powertran 1024 Composer sequencer. These acquisitions played a pivotal role in creating Blue Monday. Sumner crafted his sequencer, albeit one that required programming in binary code.
New Order’s producer, Martin Hannett, introduced the band to a scientist named Martin Usher, who designed a specialized circuit enabling the machines to synchronize. Blue Monday also featured other technologically advanced noise-making tools, notably the E-mu Emulator 1 sampler. New Order employed this sampler to manipulate and sample choir-like vocal elements from Kraftwerk’s 1975 track Uranium. Interestingly, Morris and Sumner honed their proficiency with the Emulator by dedicating hours to recording unconventional sound sources, including flatulence sounds.
New Order’s Evolution
Indeed, New Order transformed their earlier somber post-punk sound to a more sophisticated yet synthetic style. They harnessed technology, mainly through synthesizers, which propelled them into the initial phases of dance and electronic music. Simultaneously, Morris played a pivotal role in this evolution as he delved into comprehending the intricacies of music and its composition. Furthermore, New Order encountered challenges while crafting the sound for their track Blue Monday, as this process was somewhat improvised due to their reliance on a sequencer.
Usher introduced the band to the Oberheim DMX, a device with outputs that could be distributed to other instruments, ensuring synchronization. This innovation allowed the band to organize their distinctive sounds and amalgamate them into a cohesive arrangement, creating a distinctive kick drum pattern, crisp claps, and variations in the central riff. The DMX facilitated New Order in completing Blue Monday before their second album, Power, Corruption & Lies, presenting it as a standalone 12-inch single.
With the increasing popularity of synthpop, Blue Monday became the top-selling 12-inch single ever, a remarkable achievement that still garners recognition today. Thanks to the organizational capabilities provided by the DMX, it granted New Order the creative freedom for their subsequent endeavors.
Blue Monday Leaves a Lasting Impact
After Blue Monday emerged as a groundbreaking record that left a lasting impact on rock and dance music, the band’s bass drum sound took inspiration from Giorgio Moroder’s pulsating rhythms in Donna Summer’s Our Love, and its rhythmic track bore similarities to Dirty Talk. The brilliance lay in their ability to adapt and freshen up techniques and gritty elements they had absorbed through exposure to other music. Blue Monday drew from the electro movement and responded to the scene it had borrowed from, ultimately becoming a fundamental element of the Detroit Techno sound pioneered by Kevin Saunderson, Derrick May, and Juan Atkins.
Even today, Saunderson incorporates Blue Monday into his DJ sets, highlighting its enduring relevance. However, the pivotal role of Blue Monday in the techno scene might have been a fortuitous combination of circumstances and timing. Nonetheless, it marked a significant turning point. In essence, the 12-inch single format broke the boundaries of imagination in the pop music world. Extended mixes of 7-inch singles often included an additional minute of drum fills in the middle, repeated intros, or interludes with spoken words. New Order recognized the creative possibilities within this format, challenging the prevailing norm of self-imposed musical limitations. They were skilled in crafting monumental songs tailored to fit this format, songs that demanded the space provided by oversized vinyl records.
Unintentionally, New Order never set out to become so influential. However, they established the standard for their musical descendants in Manchester to embrace sequential rhythms, adding an extra layer of allure to their music. As their innovative style continued to spread, artists like The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy reaped the benefits of Blue Monday‘s roots, as its influence extended far and wide across the pop music landscape.
Morricone’s Impact on Blue Monday
In another instance of influence, Ennio Morricone, a recipient of the Oscar for his outstanding work as a composer, enjoyed a remarkable career, composing music for more than 500 films. He partnered with celebrated directors like Sergio Leone in the creation of pioneering spaghetti western films, among which his memorable soundtrack for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly stands out, revered as one of the greatest of all time and a significant wellspring of inspiration for the Arctic Monkeys. The band, in turn, incorporated Morricone’s iconic music into their 2007 song 505, which served as the closing track on their second album titled Favorite Worst Nightmare.
Peter Hook, a member of New Order, disclosed that Morricone played a role in shaping the bassline for the song Blue Monday. Hook explained that as they worked on the song’s sequence, marked by breaks in the drum pattern, interludes featuring keyboards, and arrangements with strings, it began to take on the qualities of a composition. Morricone’s distinct six-string bass guitar sound added the finishing touch to the music. Following Morricone’s passing, Hook expressed his appreciation for the exceptional composer through social media. He mentioned how he had been captivated by Morricone’s music in numerous films and how Morricone had served as an inspiration for the bassline in Blue Monday. Hook extended his gratitude to Morricone and celebrated his enduring influence across various musical genres.
Visual Identity
The beginning of Blue Monday introduces Hi-NRG club music, featuring a semiquaver kick drum, and it incorporates a sequential keyboard melody created by Gilbert, resulting in an intriguing arrangement. In the verse section, a throbbing synth bassline is played on the Moog Source, which blends with Hook’s distinctive bass guitar line. The song stands out due to its unconventional structure, departing from the typical verse-chorus format. Sumner’s straightforward vocal delivery complements the mechanical sonic landscape, offering a glimpse into the musical future.
The 12-inch single is widely recognized for its cover artwork, designed by Peter Saville, one of the founders of Factory Records, the label associated with New Order. Saville’s digital art, notably the iconic cover of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, became a signature element in the visual identity of both Joy Division and New Order. For Blue Monday, Saville crafted a large-format floppy disk cover, a cutting-edge technological concept. It featured subtly printed color codes on the left side of the sleeve, revealing details when deciphered. The title itself was inspired by a book Morris was reading, Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions, which included the phrase Goodbye Blue Monday, alluding to a washing machine invention that improved the lives of housewives.
Saville was responsible for designing the cover and personally met with New Order in their Manchester studio to share a postcard depicting Henri Fantin-Latour’s floral painting, which they intended to use for an upcoming album cover. Intuitively, he grasped their artistic intentions and employed coded color columns to convey enigmatic information. The sleeve featured three punched holes, revealing the inner metal casing.
Bibliography
- Cross, A. (2014). A Documentary Devoted to New Order’s “Blue Monday”. A Journal of Musical Things.
- Cross, A. (2023). New Order’s “Blue Monday,” the biggest-selling 12-inch single of all time, was released 40 years ago today. A Journal of Musical Things.
- Fearon, F. (2019). How New Order’s discography birthed my obsession with post-punk music. British GQ.
- Partridge, K. (2022). Unraveling the Many Mysteries of New Order’s “Blue Monday”. Mental Floss.
- Pearis, B. (2020). Beyond “Blue Monday”: New Order’s Best Deep Cuts. Brooklyn Vegan.
