How were you introducted to New Order or Joy Division?

Peel's fault. Played Insight from the first Peel session, and something tipped me over the edge. Feb 1979.

Roundabout way for me. Read an article in 2003 about great football songs, one of those mentioned being World in Motion. I listened to it, liked it, and looked for other New Order stuff. Gradually I became enlightened to the legend of Joy Division and New Order and now own almost the entire back catalogue.

1. JOY DIVISION: Some hot summerday of 1993 I saw a woman selling vinyl records on the corner. I came up and she exposed "Closer" and said a member of The Doors played there. That's why I bought it and was hugely dissappointed at home when listened to it. In the late fall that year I decided to get rid of it and gave it a last try to please me. And it did! I found fascinating the beat of 'Heart And Soul' and the atmospheric vocals. The following year I bought "Unknown Pleasures" (LP) and CDs of "Substance" and "Still" and so on.

2. NEW ORDER Long after I became a Joy Division fan, I found an article saying that Joy Division turned into New Order of whom I had never heard. After that I started to watch MTV more carefully trying to see anything about New Order. And there they go: "True Faith", "Confusion", "Bizarre Love Triangle". Those were the videos that made me puzzled: I couldn't realize how those guys COULD HAVE been Joy Division. At first their music sounded like Pet Shop Boys to me. Not impressive. BUT I kinda tried to force myself to like them. Isn't it funny? With no reason... By the late summer of 1994 I was enough captured by the "True Faith" and "Confusion" videos that I had recorded on VCR so I went and recorded "Technique" and "Republic". I was disappointed not to find "True Faith" and "Confusion"... So then I bought "Substance". That's what cemented me to be a real New Order fan. I really fell in love with "Blue Monday"

Had heard and bought Blue Monday in 1983 but it wasn`t till one now legendary Saturday in October of that year that i became obsessed.My bro came home from town with this album with flowers on the sleeve and i asked what it was.He put it on and Age Of Consent was just the most fantastic ,coolest song ever and there was no going back from there!!!.

Knew Blue Monday from hearing it on the Sunday morning 80's radio show. Then a friend of mine had Substance and Republic, which I borrowed around the same time that I was getting into DM and the Cure. I liked Substance a lot, even though BM was the only song I'd heard off it, but I thought Republic was utter crap (little did I know...). Introduced to Joy Division the same way after hearing LWTUA, but had no idea for months that they were basically the same band. This was my first year in college and a friend from down the hall sent me a song called Warsaw, and I mentioned that only that day had I seen that Joy Division used to be called Warsaw. After putting the pieces together, we started getting all the JD we could.

Originally posted by Spotnick > Originally posted by Wasimple> Roundabout way for me. Read an article in 2003 about great football songs, one of those mentioned being World in Motion. I listened to it, liked it, and looked for other New Order stuff. Gradually I became enlightened to the legend of Joy Division and New Order and now own almost the entire back catalogue.

Gee, considering many think World In Motion is the worst song they did, you must be happy witht he rest

Don't listen to the Jocks - it's more to do with sour grapes than anything about New Order. If the song hadn't been for the England football team they would love it.

Originally posted by Spotnick > Originally posted by Wasimple> Roundabout way for me. Read an article in 2003 about great football songs, one of those mentioned being World in Motion. I listened to it, liked it, and looked for other New Order stuff. Gradually I became enlightened to the legend of Joy Division and New Order and now own almost the entire back catalogue.

Gee, considering many think World In Motion is the worst song they did, you must be happy witht he rest Definately! Actually after World in Motion I listened to Blue Monday. At first I didn't like it and didn't listen to NO for about 2 months. Then, in a record store, I see the best of and give it a listen, and i'm hooked. That's the way it goes. NO is a massive part of my life now - I just wish I was around in the 78-90 era. I'm only 16 and no one around here knows who NO are - my brother's favorite band is Blink182 and when I was watching 316 he said they were crap!

Good thread this!!

I can clearly remember how I got in to New Order. I loved the early electronic stuff and bought their first album when it came out. Read in some magazine somewhere that the band was a Smiths/New Order side project and decided to listen to some of their stuff too. I bought Technique and absolutely loved it and just worked back from there.I already thought True Faith was a great song (Newcastle United Fanzine was named after this song so I was already won over!!!) but hadn't realised that it was by New Order until I made a conscious effort to find out more about their music.

I do enjoy listening to the Smiths too but nothings stuck in quite the same way. I like Joy Division but don't think I really would have gotten in to their stuff directly back when I was in school. I suppose I found out about Joy Divisions music by exploring more about New Orders background. Must admit I still don't know too much about JD.

So I suppose it all started with Electronic for me!!

Kind of knew TF from years ago, rediscovered it when I was a teenager, didn't get into them but was aware of them, fell in love with the Chems' Out Of Control (with Barney singing), checked out NO after that and the rest is history!

First job I had after school hours was at the Daily Mirror newspaper , Withy Grove Manchester , a few of the lads who worked in the copyroom had a band called The Notsensibles , they also ran a fanzine of sorts ; not dissimilar to Mark Perry's ' Sniffin Glue 'they did an interview with Warsaw ; who were gettin hassle off a London band called Warsaw Pact , I think , anyway someone played a tape of what was to become Joy Division and I was curious , bout 12 months later Dave out of another Manc band called The Worst told me to go to the BOTW or the Mayflower , probably the Mayflower ,either way I was under 18 at the time, sounds like a bit of a cliche now but it was hard to avoid watching Ian Curtis , though the dance he had was by no means unique to him at the time , the intensity was . Couple of the younger lads and lasses I've worked with over the years have said it must've been great to see JD live , well yes and no, I know what they're refering too, but I'm not sure I appreciated it in the way they seem to think .... I mean I always wished I'd seen Jim Morrison and the Doors , so I think there's always gonna be a bit of a yearning for the bands /singers you know you've missed , still it was memorable enough to forge a love of the band , one that's never gone away.

http://www.neworderonline.com/MessageList.aspx?ThreadID=15180

I first started going away with Leeds when i was about 16 (84) and some of the bigger lads were heavily into NO and the rest is history....

a group of girls did a dance to blue monday at our school's end of the year talent show in junior high in the spring of 1986. i loved the song but didn't know who it was, then when true faith came out in '87 i got substance and realized that not only was blue monday on the album, but shellshock from 'pretty in pink,' as well. score! i was hooked from that point on.

as for JD, i read an article in 'rolling stone' about NO and it mentioned JD. i bought JD 'substance' when i was in vancouver during the summer of '89.

it was when ian died. i bought lwtua to see what they were like

Friend of mine in the latter part of 79 had bought the Transmission 7" import, mostly because of the cover. He was blown away by it, taped it for me, and we both became big JD fans. As I've said before, the mail order branch of Rough Trade US saved my sanity by letting me get ahold of a lot of those records back then.

Another Blue Monday convert. Loaned me boom box (we called them ghetto blasters back then) summer of 83 I believe. When it was returned there was a tape in it. They recorded the University's radio station which happed to play The Beach and Bob Dorr (Bobby's Blue Bland fame) was kind enough to name the track and the artist. Fell in,ove immediately. A trip to Iowa City found me at the record store and I purchased Temptation 12", Murder, FACTUS 8, Movement and Thieves Like US.

The previous year I remember being in a study carol at the University of Iowa library and read the lyrics to LWTUA on the wall.

I started college in the fall of 84 and somehow made the connection between NO and JD. I recorded a friend's copy of Still, Closer and Unknow Pleasures before buying the vinyl.

Big Brother bought UP on it's release and I got hooked on Disorder just through overhearing him play it. Then bought Transmission 7" for myself and was eagerly awaiting the release of their upcoming album & new single when Ian's death was announced. Scoured the music press and listened to Peel for news on the band and bought Ceremony 7" when it was released - great relief that the magic was still there although still feel they had squandered all the magic away by 1984.

My big brother, who is 10 years older than me, bought "Blue Monday" when it came out. And then "Confusion. And then "Thieves Like Us". He kept on playing them all the time on the family stereo. And I mean ALL THE TIME. He then bought "Low-Life" along with the Perfect Kiss 12". I was not such a big fan of the singles cos I guess they were a bit way too experimental for me at this time fo my life. Hey, I was around 9 years old! But the album just amazed me. I fell in love with Loves Vigilantes. Must have been because of the melodica... I dont think I even realized at first they were the same people who made BM. And my bro, AGAIN, bought me the JD Substance for my 15th bday (I guess). And once again, listening to the best of, I could not believe they were the same people until I heard LWTUA.

I hear True faith on the jukebox in the 6th form common room & asked a mate who it was. There was a girl in my form class who was a neworder nut, so she did me a tape with TF, BM, Transmission & LWTUA (that I can remember) & I was completely blown away.

I bought Substance immediately and then set about buying the whole NO & JD catalogue.

I can remember buying Technique & telling a mate the next day I was a bit disappointed - "only 6/10" I said after a few more listens (circa 987586758) it is the finest album I own and probably always will be.

Oh those heady days of joyous discovery ;)

That song,BM.Didn't know what to make of it at first but a friend lent me Movement which I actually liked.Bought PC&l the week it was released and that was it, still had to wait two years to see them live though.JD while waiting for Richard Skinner to broadcast the Rosehill hotel Kilkenny gig.He played a couple of tracks and a brief interview with curtis and Morris,the "barney and Hooky havent even heard the Doors" one.the first JD song was Dead Souls and it remains the only time i have been blown away by the first song I have ever heard by a band.

Heard "Blue monday" over and over on the radio and at clubs circa 1988, used to think they were Noel, the guy who sang "Silent morning" and "Like a child". Was into a lot of PSB and Kraftwerk at the time, plus I was 12.

Joy Division came some 2 years later, through the music press. I got 'Substance', I remember "Transmission" and "She's lost control" leaving me feeling a bit iffy. But then I instantly recognised "Love will tear us apart", and by then, anyway, I'd become a NO fan, got pretty much all their albums up to then - "Technique" was about to come out - so getting into the whole thing was sort of... Logical.

I first heard JD when I was small boy growing up in Malaysia ( Ex-British colony ) and the local radio station had a weekly 30 mins program on UK music. Being a NUMANOID myself at that age, that program was my only source of electronic music ( in those days, ABBA, BeeGees & Kenny Rogers ruled the airwaves ) and it played LWTUA....my only memory was that I liked the swirling electronic sound throughout the song but honestly I never paid any attention to Hooky bass then. That radio program played EGG as well but I didn't know NO is related to JD then ( such music info is rarely available unless its about David Cassidy or Donny Osmond ) I remember thinking that that synthesisers sound on EGG was a bit harsh & raw comparing to Gary Numan or John Foxx ( my fave at that time too )......then BM came along after I arrived in Australia but I didnt paid much attention as I was heavily in those Basildon boys DM and Ure's version of ULTRAVOX........NO finally caught my real attention when I was out on a record buying trip with a bunch of my friends and we walked into this local record shop in Newcastle, Australia and LO AND BEHOLD!!...more than a dozen of LOWLIFE vinyls displayed in the middle of the store with the classy tracing paper jacket.... All of us were architecture/design students at that time, so that display definitely caught all of our attention and I got the short straw, ended up the vinyl ( in our student days, we often took turns and picked one person amongst us to buy and share the vinyl around for home taping )....well the rest is history. LOWLIFE definitely sounded very different to most music around in 1985 and I've considered it as one of the record that changed my life. I have also intentionally picked LOWLIFE CD as my first ever CD in my now nearly 3,000 CD collection. Actually 2 weeks ago I did a rough count of all my NO/JD related items and it stands approx 210 vinyls, 270 CDs ( I collect first issues & re-issues as well ) and 6 books....and the search is still on.:)

...and I must add that my interest in NO kinda waned after REPUBLIC but after discovering this site ( thanks, Nico & Seb ) and reading some of the threads on the forum here, you guys really inspired me ( ppl like Murv, Rocket Mick and TLV and others- your collection is mind-boggling and definitely worth archiving as treasure to pop culture history )and convinced me that it is OK to be totally mad about NO.;)

Al Wise stopped by to see if I needed some smoke and he asked if I ever heard of NO. The negative reply promted him to put Technique into my stereo. The rest was history.

Heard BM loads of times in local youth club disco circa 1984. I thought it was Hazel Dean, but always remember how it sounded different and better than any other record they played. I eventually asked what it was and spent the next several weeks trying to find it in it's oh so obvious sleeve. Bought TPK, the Temptation, and then spent my every penny for the next 5 years.