What made Blue Monday so special?

I've heard all about how it pushed the boundaries of music at the time and was very influential. Most of you lot must be fed up with the song, but as a young fan I would like to know just what made it so groundbreaking. If there has already been a thread about it, point me to it please.

It bridged the gap between disco and new wave.

The first electronic song with a human face...

...So unique that it set the standard...

That drum machine intro that became techno's goose step boom boom boom boom boom boom boom

Hooky's base line, the koolest bass line EVER

The fact that they introduced it live, in Australia before Europe.

Nothing in the world even came close. I remember the firsat time I heard it, I knew that NO was going to be my fave band.

I think that we get annoyed with it becase NO averages about 40 to 60 minutes live. With so many good songs rarely played, the 7+ minutes repeating BM could have been better served by 2 different songs. ALSO, BM is the one NO song, the only NO song that you will likely hear played by those that are not NO addicted.

The fact it came out in 1983 has something to do with it,could well be counted as one of the first house records.

Originally posted by SP1 The fact it came out in 1983 has something to do with it,could well be counted as one of the first house records.

It was a good while after I Feel Love, it borrowed heavily from some earlier records but it also added a significant amount to what had gone before and aimed it towards a different market.

Have a look what was in the charts in 1983, it was al Culture Club, The Police, Duran Duran, Human League etc. Disco and dance music were hated at the time, then all of the sudden this song comes along with a real dance beat but also featured real instruments.

Even to this day nothing can test my speakers responce time like Blue Monday can. Even the lyrics are some how so fitting, I have so many (recent, I am only 21) of being drunk in a club and screaming out the words "I see a ship in a habour, I shall seek and obay, if it wasn't for my big p*nus, I will be a heavenly person to do"

Barnie famously said at the reading festival after they did Blue Monday "that song went on for f*ckin' ever din' it".

What annoys me about Blue Monday is that Argos and McDonalds insist on playing over their tannoys and it sounds bloody awful. You neeed good equipment to make Blue Monday sound good in my opinion.

Originally posted by Ian MadManc Have a look what was in the charts in 1983, it was al Culture Club, The Police, Duran Duran, Human League etc. Disco and dance music were hated at the time, then all of the sudden this song comes along with a real dance beat but also featured real instruments.

The likes of early Human League, Heaven 17 and Omd had dipped their toes in experimental synthesizer based music married to drums guitars and bass. It didn't emerge from a black hole.

Yeah but they didn't do it in same way New Order did. Take Don't You Want Me for example, its a great early synthesised song, but these songs just don't seem to have the same cult about them that Blue Monday has. If they play Blue Monday in a club everybody dances to it, if Human League are played their will be protests. I guess I avoidf cheesey venues though.

New Order just mixed the dfisco era with indie and it worked very well.

I guess the biggest influence would probably be Kraftwerk.

Originally posted by Ian MadManc Yeah but they didn't do it in same way New Order did. Take Don't You Want Me for example, its a great early synthesised song, but these songs just don't seem to have the same cult about them that Blue Monday has. If they play Blue Monday in a club everybody dances to it, if Human League are played their will be protests. I guess I avoidf cheesey venues though.New Order just mixed the dfisco era with indie and it worked very well. I guess the biggest influence would probably be Kraftwerk.

I wasn't meaning that era of Human League, they had been going a while, making much darker records before the incarnation with the two girls.

Originally posted by Hank Wiseass© > Originally posted by Ian MadManc> Yeah but they didn't do it in same way New Order did. Take Don't You Want Me for example, its a great early synthesised song, but these songs just don't seem to have the same cult about them that Blue Monday has. If they play Blue Monday in a club everybody dances to it, if Human League are played their will be protests. I guess I avoidf cheesey venues though.> > New Order just mixed the dfisco era with indie and it worked very well. > > I guess the biggest influence would probably be Kraftwerk.

I wasn't meaning that era of Human League, they had been going a while, making much darker records before the incarnation with the two girls.

"Reproduction" is brilliant.

its just a really cool song that sounded very different but succeeded despite all things going against it ....

...small indie label, no normal promotion, no video, seven minutes long with no radio edit, not really a pop song in any classic sense whatsoever, no stereotypical pop frontman face to get the song or band an image, foreseen how the club culture would no longer need a traditional band/ image and how rhythm and beats will dominate over traditional pop "hooks"

inspired alot by German electronic stuff from the late 70s... nothing really ever just comes out of nowhere... really pretty dated by house standards, some of Barneys production work with other artists at the time was much more house-y... but Blue Monday is definitely an unique track

It was the song which made me A New Order Fan, and it's still my favourite... the most wonderful things are the keyboards, a lot of disco and electro were simplistic, but the simphony made of those keyboards is so powerful and emotional, that's what make it so special... you can find that magic in some other songs, like Perfect Kiss, with the final bass, or the keyboards in True Faith... it's electronic music which is both powerful and emotional...

because sometimes you have to laugh....

Those opening few bars. As a 12 year old, it sounded like nothing I'd ever heard before.

When it first came out. I played it every single day for six months, sometimes both sides. It was totally new to me, I'd seen them do it live by then, but as with the other new songs they were playing, you don't always get that much to take away from the gig apart from maybe a hookline (in this case Hooky's bass and the opening drum machine) - live tapes weren't really forthcoming for me from this era until 1984. It was just so different to the sort of stuff I was listening to, and I couldn't quite reconcile the sounds I was hearing to the stuff they'd produced as recently as Movement. It was exciting, that's the word for it I think.

Originally posted by Leigh maude Those opening few bars. As a 12 year old, it sounded like nothing I'd ever heard before.

In a nutshell. 'cept I was 13. Didn't get it 'til the December that year and the one with the wrong labelling on. Still like to hear it live though for nostalgia reasons.

I am just looking for the definition of SPECIAL in my dictionary. I always assumed it meant GOOD, UNIQUE or DISTINTIVE

Originally posted by Digital Mike Binoche I am just looking for the definition of SPECIAL in my dictionary. I always assumed it meant GOOD, UNIQUE or DISTINTIVE

SPECIAL : "water down the drain" (B.Sumner 1993)

Come on Mike, it was a defining moment way back then in 1983. I will be the first to agree that it's been overplayed since, both live and on subsequent releases/mixes, and it really wouldn't bother me if I never heard it again, but it was a classic of its time.

Well it was good and all but playing it every time sucks. It needs retooling. Faster for a start. With what's happened to some of the other songs I can't believe they havn't reworked it.

Originally posted by Mr Ben Well it was good and all but playing it every time sucks. It needs retooling. Faster for a start. With what's happened to some of the other songs I can't believe they havn't reworked it.

Playing the 4 minute something version from early '83 would work (eg Top of the Pops). Use the other 3-4 minutes for a new song or an older classic *cough* Procession *cough*

Blue Monday was special because it was probably the first 'techno' track to breakthrough. We'd had Cabaret Voltaire before New Order but Blue Monday brought US dance influences to the UK and probably changed the course of British music for the remainder of the decade. So many dance acts have cited New Order as a huge influence, 808 State, Underworld, The Beloved, EMF, Enigma... countless others. To me, if they hadn't released that single (and the brilliant PC & L album) this sort of music would have gone largely unnoticed and there wouldn't have been the late 80s acid house boom. Hats off to them I say!

to me in a way although the track is a classic in its own right(ground breaking sound /style innovation etc.) its totally un New Order.Because it`s so cold and robotic that is so not New Order.New Order to me are all about very human emotions and feelings i.e Your Silent Face,Thieves Like Us,Age Of Consent,Regret,Leave Me Alone- very HUMAN songs about frailty and emotion etc. So a cold robotic song like Blue Monday is just not the type of song i would play to someone if i was trying to get them into New Order.

dum dum dum dum dum dum d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d dum dum dum dum dum dum d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d dum dum dum dum dum dum d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d

tis tis tis tis tis tis tis tis

dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis

na noo na noo na noo naa noo naa... na na na na na na na na naaa noo naaa na noo na noo na noo naa noo naa... na na na na na na na na naaa noo naaa

ch-ch-ch-ch cha ch ch-ch-ch-ch cha ch-cha-ch-ch cha ch-cha-ch-ch cha cha tiss

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

etc

Originally posted by Major Tarantino dum dum dum dum dum dum d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d dum dum dum dum dum dum d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d dum dum dum dum dum dum d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d tis tis tis tistis tis tis tisdum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tis dum tis cha tisna noo na noo na noo naa noo naa... na na na na na na na na naaa noo naaa na noo na noo na noo naa noo naa... na na na na na na na na naaa noo naaa ch-ch-ch-ch cha ch ch-ch-ch-ch cha ch-cha-ch-ch cha ch-cha-ch-ch cha cha tissaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhyou`ve had a few tonight then?.or just pissed off.etc

it's just really cool