5-8-6 : WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

To mark my passing of the lucrative 586 posts mark, I thought I'd posed the question maybe other New Order fans before me have done on many occasions.

So, just what DOES the title "5-8-6" signify?

I haven't the foggiest. Do any other - more knowledgeable types - know this riddle?

I think I knew that, a very long time ago. Only wish I could remember it...

Well, Shug, it reminds me of something... Could be that, indeed...

i recall something about those numbers representing the actual structure of the song...

Around the time Video 586 was released, there was a review in the NME I think which speculated around different explanations for 586. One explanation had something to do with the structure of some NO song (on PC&L presumably). Each number referred to the amount of bars in each part or something.

If you represent 5-8-6 as meaning the letters in the alphabet you get E-H-F which stands for "Everyone Has Fainted". It was named this way because Hooky farted during the recording of this track and rendered the entire studio unconcious (hence the strange ending to the track).

I think it was something to do with the number of bars, and the joke title was "5 ate 6".

...i remember an interview with Stephen Morris where he said that the title "5-8-6" was only a joke...

"Five ate six" you know...

:D

Peter Hook was quoted at the time as saying that the significance of 586 as a title could be found in "Ecstacy". I wrote to him at the time to see if he could expand a bit, and back came the enigmatic reply "The answer is not New, it is in the Order".

Originally posted by The Keeper Of The Major Key If you represent 5-8-6 as meaning the letters in the alphabet you get E-H-F which stands for "Everyone Has Fainted". It was named this way because Hooky farted during the recording of this track and rendered the entire studio unconcious (hence the strange ending to the track).

WAAAAAA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAHAHHAHA HAAAAAAAAA.....!!!!!!! Nice one Keeper!!

Actually, I recalled an interview with Hooky in one of those now long-forgotten 80's music mags where the low-slung bass god revealed that the significance of the title 586 could be found in another New Order track - that track just HAD to be Ecstasy. To which the writer said "cagey bastard!" Anyone remember this interview, and which mag it came from and the author?

Still explains fuck all, mind.....

STOP POST: right at this moment : 22.45 hrs at the Internet Cafe where I am posting this, NEW ORDER's "CRYSTAL" (LP version) is currently playing!! Good eh? :)

5-8-6? You got me. (also, anyone who has a clue what "3-1-G!" means please share your info. I've always wanted to know what that means, if anything)

Originally posted by brian geoghagan i recall something about those numbers representing the actual structure of the song...

From what I remember, but don't quote me on this by any means, the numbers represented sequences of beats or half-beats. This sounds really technical, but then with New Order, anything could be possible really. The way I see it is that 5 represents the first part of the song: the slow intro, then 8 represents the main section after 2 minutes when the whole song proper kicks in, and then 6 probably signifies the end portion as it slows down again. That seems the closest comparison, but then I could be totally off on this.