Blue Monday - what's the problem?

Why has everyone (especially Mike) got a downer on BM - it aint that bad!

Second Neworder song I heard. Used to really like it. Heard it a gazillion times now and, well, you know, don't get too excited by it anymore.

I don't hate it though and funnily enough, I quite like it at gigs - where the band obviously feel kinda obliged to do it as its "the best selling 12" single of all time" etc

Just because it is quite overplayed at gigs and shows up on every "best of" collection. I still can't see the problem with it

Basically overexposure and the fact that any non neworder fan when the band is mentioned to them say "oh didnt they do blue monday"

wait 5 seconds..

"and that england football song"

Aaaarghhh!!!!!!!!!! :jump2:

Pardon my seemingly big-headed answer, but that's a cultural problem rather than musical, innit? I mean, there's nothing wrong with Blue Monday, the song, per se - very much on the contrary, to this day it still sounds daring, fresh and modern - but it's been played far too much. Plus, it's usually linked to a particular sort of imagery that looks terribly dated nowadays. (Surely a lover of the visual arts - which don't in particular appeal to me - would think along the same lines: there's nothing wrong with the imagery, it's our perception of it nowadays, blah, blah, blah.) This is, I find, an annoying problem in pop music: the image gets too much in the way of the music. Of course, one of the things I have always loved the most about NO is that they, for many years, fought this, trying to let the music stand out for itself. Anyway, I've always had the impression that many people would be put off by a particular song/band much more because of the image they'd project or the imagery they'd be likened to than the actual music at stake. Likewise, it's not uncommon to see a band hyped up out of proportions solely because of their image, because musically they're mediocre at best (Oasis, anyone?). Anyway, I guess the inevitable fate of any very popular act or song is a little bit of ostracism afterwards, because, well, people just get tired of its ubiquity.

Why don't Radiohead do Creep very often ?

Ask yourself that and then some more. New Order will always be Blue Monday, no matter how hard they try. Not that they do, playing it at every gig since 1989 despite "fucking hating that song" doesn't exactly go far in the way on convincing people ! Maybe if they did stop playing it......

Surely the complaints they would get if they didnt play it would outweigh the complaints they would get for playing it?? Especially for the festival crowd i'd imagine ??

Indeed at the moment the original concept of the cover is more important to me than the contents.I should have cost FACTORY a lot more than the 5p they lost on buying only one.I wish i had bought dozens!I have played it too much and sometimes the hazy days of my second or third youth stage has dimmed.Maybe i will get a teleprompter and tell you about THE GOOD OLD DAYS.:DHow does it feel?Great sometimes,bad a lot of times but better than most of the dross at that time.Still i do miss FLOCK OF SEAGULLS since i got banned from going to BLACKPOOL!

Originally posted by Rocket Mick Indeed at the moment the original concept of the cover is more important to me than the contents.I should have cost FACTORY a lot more than the 5p they lost on buying only one.I wish i had bought dozens!I have played it too much and sometimes the hazy days of my second or third youth stage has dimmed.Maybe i will get a teleprompter and tell you about THE GOOD OLD DAYS.:DHow does it feel?Great sometimes,bad a lot of times but better than most of the dross at that time.Still i do miss FLOCK OF SEAGULLS since i got banned from going to BLACKPOOL!

If this isn't the single funniest post I have ever read on here, I am Professor Griff !

It's tired ,been played to death

for the longest time i would skip past it. now it's going through a bit of a renaissance.

Originally posted by Rocket Mick Still i do miss FLOCK OF SEAGULLS since i got banned from going to BLACKPOOL!

The more you live, the more you love is a great song

Oddly I have played the 12" version of BM88 lately (the one off the CDV and although very 80s-ish it has a certain charm. it's certainly better than tripe like Times Change!

If BM had stayed as a 12" only & been released the first time round then we`d all be saying how good it still is. Unforunately its been out 3 times since then and turns up on every 80s collection going.

Reasons why it sucks:

1. Ages terribly, like cheese on a hot sticky summer day
2. It is VERY tired
3. They play it WAY too much - which surprises me since they dont like it
4. I makes me picture people in really lame 1980's clothes at TOTPs
5. Was never really that amazing even when it was new
6. Blue Monday 1988 was a better version

Funny... but I usually think the same thing about BLT

top & bottom of it, it needs a "proper" remix of bm,the ones we have heard are shite,one day someone will do a "good" remix of bm !

I like it though the original version seems a bit slow now. I had a nice more modern version programmed into my workstation before i sold the vintage synth module :) :)

as for leaving it out didnt you see the dvd with da fans proudly boasting that after going on at them for ages they started playing ceremony again?

drop the tapes, bring back gillian and play random stuff from the back catalogue is the only way ill be seeing them live again. oh and if they are playing jd, they play them at the right speed.

Originally posted by Chuck D Why don't Radiohead do Creep very often ?Ask yourself that and then some more. New Order will always be Blue Monday, no matter how hard they try. Not that they do, playing it at every gig since 1989 despite "fucking hating that song" doesn't exactly go far in the way on convincing people ! Maybe if they did stop playing it......

exactamundo dude! creep is one of the best singles i ever heard! dont know what else radiohead ever did but i know creep is probably the best single they will ever do! regards

But *WHY* do people think BM has aged when, say, TPK hasn't? I don't get this 'it's been overplayed' thing either.

Not that I agree with this - to me BM still hits as hard as it did when I first heard it back in 83, spanning Moroder, K/werk, the Chic Organization and early electro yet still wearing a big grey Manc overcoat. A revolutionary piece of music.

So what is it about BM that makes it seem dated in comparison with other tracks?

Wedding dj's

Put a request in at most receptions in M/CR and weddin dj fella will crank up BM Now picture what can be politely described as a ' broad demographic ' bouncin about to said tune Kylie was godsend

So what?

Originally posted by Garymac Wedding dj'sPut a request in at most receptions in M/CR and weddin dj fella will crank up BMNow picture what can be politely described as a ' broad demographic ' bouncin about to said tuneKylie was godsend

Don't !

DJ I hired for my wedding assured me he'd got plenty of New Order, and refused the compilation CD I made of all our fave tracks. Cunt had only got Blue Monday (off a compilation album at that), and hadn't got the bottle to admit this until we retired for the evening.

Originally posted by DC But *WHY* do people think BM has aged when, say, TPK hasn't? I don't get this 'it's been overplayed' thing either. Not that I agree with this - to me BM still hits as hard as it did when I first heard it back in 83, spanning Moroder, K/werk, the Chic Organization and early electro yet still wearing a big grey Manc overcoat. A revolutionary piece of music.So what is it about BM that makes it seem dated in comparison with other tracks?

It has been played to death. Everyone knows it, everyone's got it or knows someone who's got it. Mention New Order and that is the first one people will tell you. That and True Faith.

It hasn't aged at all to me though, it still sounds exactly the same as it did back then. More familiar, but still as original as anything coming out of the UK at the time.

Now TPK has aged. Maybe why they don't do it, at the end of the day.

so its not just Manchester dj's, that said our local pub dj is sussed ... plays a great set, if he aint got it that week its guaranteed he'll have it the next And , a big plus this , he does not talk over a tune, he does'nt do the dj intro either.

He said shabba once

we think he was goin for irony

he did'nt do it again

Originally posted by Chuck D > Originally posted by Garymac> Wedding dj's> > Put a request in at most receptions in M/CR and weddin dj fella will crank up BM> Now picture what can be politely described as a ' broad demographic ' bouncin about to said tune> Kylie was godsend

Don't !

DJ I hired for my wedding assured me he'd got plenty of New Order, and refused the compilation CD I made of all our fave tracks. Cunt had only got Blue Monday (off a compilation album at that), and hadn't got the bottle to admit this until we retired for the evening.

DJ of my brother wedding last november had a plenty of 80's CD's. From New Order I saw only Age of Consent and Love Vigilante - played with no asking.

A very few DJs deserves a little respect

tend to agree with jarvo..a timeless track that was so early. however i cant remember a startling live version on my travels. slight diversion to thread, has anyone got any fond memories of bm live?? i cant be arsed to trawl through set lists but i dont think it was always treated as an encore song..i might be wrong