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.

I heard TPK on the local college radio...the very first time I heard it I was totally blown away...nothing else I had ever heard sounded like it. I had heard BM before but didn't realize who it was...just heard it in the clubs etc.

True story...I went and bought the 12" straight away and took it home to play it...it was the very first vinyl I'd ever bought...still have it actually.

I am 48 years old, have lived in Manchester all my life (so far) and had never heard of New Order until True Faith was released. Bought Substance 18 months later and 12 months after that was amazed to discover I had been in the same class at school as Barney and Hooky for 5 years.

I regret having spent 10 years of my life with my head stuck firmly up my arse.

had heard blue monday, a kid i was mates with was into jd & new order before that, but never really listened to them til i got to poly & borroewd substance from a class mate.

shortly after i got true faith, then substance, then technique came out, saw them at the nec & that was it.

remember a certain member of NOOL being introduced to phil c & telling him "you're just a fan onstage".....

Originally posted by Steve Campbell 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.

Haha! When I first heard the Hazel Dean record (late 83>84) without the vocals I thought it was New Order (handclaps, synths, drum patterns sounded very New Orderish) I think it was called 'whatever I do wherever I go' or some fluff like that....

Back on topic,the first NO record I bought was 12" BM in 83. Typical introduction, heard on radio & in local club and went what the fook was that? rapidly collected all the back catalogue and bought just about every new release on the date of release till about 1990, when i thought they had sort of gone a bit bland. Remember Joy Division in my early teens but wasn't sufficiently into music to appreciate them.

Originally posted by Facthunt remember a certain member of NOOL being introduced to phil c & telling him "you're just a fan onstage".....

A comment which nearly caused Stash's sideburns to fall off, he was already that stressed about us all being backstage ! Not that Bass Fiend Reilly knows any of this though, as he was quite literally in the cold. Best bit of this was ignoring Doves in the pub afterwards, they thought we were going over to chat to them, and all Karen wanted was the spare seat !

First time I was struck my them was the Perfect Kiss video, I then forgot about them for a while, but was bowled over by BLT - which is still my fave and haven't looked back since then. It particularly appealed to me that Gillian wasn't sold as a sex symbol - and Bernard was quite beautiful!

Also at age 16 NO was a cool thing to talk to lads about as I was crap at pulling - and there was a lot of NO lads in Leeds

Heavy disco sound, rock guitar, russian voice chords, dark voice, jetplane noise, machine gun.....Blue Monday! It was at a teenage party in 83, I was 15, and at this time I was sure it was the better band in the world. This synthetic disco was a bit like (the sound not the song) Ronni Grifith "desire" who knows about this song I have not heard since this area? In fact I'm going to download it to see if I was right.

First time I heard of New Order was when they did World In Motion. Which meant I was obliged to hate them, being Irish. Of course, Our Italia 90 song was faaaaaar better :D :D (U2 did it, totally forgotten now)

Oldest brother very into 80's music so I heard Blue Monday a lot and assumed it was by the Pet Shop Boys, as he played them an awful lot.

When my parents first got satellite and hence MTV in 1992, True Faith was still being shown a lot, and then when Republic came out Regret and World were added to it. So I knew who they were. However, I assumed (correctly) that they'd broken up.

It was only in 2002 when my other, not so older brother came back from the Lansdowne gig here that I knew they were still around. He leant me Get Ready, and fairly shortly after that I got my own copy... and its gone on from there.

I remember seeing the "An Ideal For Living" EP advertised in the Melody Maker & NME, but the first time I heard Joy Division was the first John Peel session, which was followed by my first purchase: FAC2 A Factory Sample.

I bought Unknown Pleasures in the autumn of '79, and I think that was closely followed by the 7" Transmission. Also around that time the EP "Earcom 2" was released featuring Autosuggestion & From Safety To Where, by JD. I also managed to get hold of a copy of the 12" version of An Ideal For Living.

So with such a glut of monumentally wonderful records appearing in such a short space of time, I was hooked for life. It was set in stone that they would become my favourite band for life when I saw them supporting the Buzzcocks at Leicester in '79.

I suppose the first I ever heard of New Order would have been when the NME announced what the remaining members of JD were planning, a while after Ian's death. The first time I ever heard them was, as ever, their first Peel session track - Dreams Never End.

So Goatboy, since you were around from almost the begining of JD's success, what were your intial thoughts when you first heard Dreams Never End? The diference in vocals must have been a shock.

Originally posted by twist So Goatboy, since you were around from almost the begining of JD's success, what were your intial thoughts when you first heard Dreams Never End? The diference in vocals must have been a shock.

I thought it was magnificent! The difference in vocals was not a shock, because I knew it would be "different" so in fact was expecting it to be "more different" than it actually was!

The early New Order stuff left me delighted and relieved that they had not lost their touch. I have often wondered over the ensuing years though, how would they have developed if Ian had stayed around...?

By my oldest brother (11 years older than me), who used to ask my parents to bring him NO and JD records from Europe during summer vacations, as here in Brazil was very hard to found their records to buy 15 year ago.

The vinil records still with me, and my brother and I still listening to JD/NO too much, of course !!

A mate at school had the Ideal for Living EP which made a good impression, then we saw JD at Leeds Futurama - wow! Following that I saw them around 10 times in Leeds, Sheffield, London, Manchester, Leeds again. Best live band ever.

I heard "Blue Monday" on Anne Nightingale's Sunday evening show on Radio 1 in 1983 and was so impressed that I set off into town the next weekend with my couple of quid pocket money (I was only 12!).

Having searched every record shop I knew existed at that time for a 7" copy (I was 12 - I didn't know!) I decided I couldn't go home without the record so splashed out on the 12".

Next thing I knew, my cousin (Old Blue) came to stay in the school holidays and he was really impressed to find out I'd independently discovered New Order and he immediately took me down to my local Woolworths to buy "P, C & L".

Then he bombarded me with Joy Division until it finally clicked...!!!

Chris :)

was in a record store, saw the cover ( movement )thought that looks a bit nice, took a punt, just goes to show you can't judge a record by it's cover - but you can tell how much it costs

Originally posted by a very small boy I am 48 years old, have lived in Manchester all my life (so far) and had never heard of New Order until True Faith was released. Bought Substance 18 months later and 12 months after that was amazed to discover I had been in the same class at school as Barney and Hooky for 5 years.I regret having spent 10 years of my life with my head stuck firmly up my arse.

That's an astonishing experience to live in Manchester and not to have heard of New Order :) I like it.

Originally posted by Goatboy I remember seeing the "An Ideal For Living" EP advertised......The first time I ever heard them was, as ever, their first Peel session track - Dreams Never End.

I'm always impressed by what some people can say about time they survived. Like Goatboy.

I killed them all, no mercy shown :)

That's about such people :) Marvelous

Really it was in like 1999 or 2000. My favorite band before that all during high school was Jane's Addiction. I remember hearing that Joy Division (especially Peter Hook's bass)was a big influence on the band (Or at least on Eric Avery & Dave Navarro).

Didn;t like them a whole lot a first, first album I bought was Permanent ans the only things that stuck out were She's Lost Control and Atmosphere.

Anyway, eventually over the next year they became my favorite band and still are today.

Got into New Order after Joy Division.

well my story is different, way different from everyone, when i was younger my mom liked duran duran, she still does, she made me download music by them, i accidenlty downloaded Bizzare Love Triangle, and my mom yelled at me for it not being Duran Duran, SO i downloaded more new order, and on and on, and i came unto Ceremony, which stil remains my favorite, soon after Joy division came along with in a lonely place, and the rest is history....

Originally posted by Spike well my story is different, way different from everyone, when i was younger my mom liked duran duran, she still does, she made me download music by them, i accidenlty downloaded Bizzare Love Triangle, and my mom yelled at me for it not being Duran Duran, SO i downloaded more new order, and on and on, and i came unto Ceremony, which stil remains my favorite, soon after Joy division came along with in a lonely place, and the rest is history....

Don't be silly. IALP isn't a Joy Division song! And neither is Ceremony!

I mentioned it before. There was this girl who I liked, who liked them etc....

My first encounter of both JD & NO was, quite surprisingly, via the same pop music show, Countdown, on ABC TV in 1980 & 1983. Songs featured were the vid of LWTUA(1980) & a shortened(mimed) version of BM from some other pop TV program(1983). I was a little naive about the JD/NO link due to "Molly"(Countdown's host) stating that LWTUA was JD's last gasp &the band was "splitting up", so I thought no more about it and took this as being gospel at the time, being the spotty-faced 13y.o. I was then(Maybe "Molly" had been instructed not to mention Ian topping himself to "protect" the impressionable youth of Oz). I went out and promptly both BM & PCL(2 B continued).

I was to do work experience later that year & one interest I had was to work as an on-air DJ or station library assistant. This particular interest was satisfied for 1 week of my work experience time at 2XX, a public-access radio station based at the Australian National University. During this time, I came across the Ceremony 12" single with the green "Veritas" cover and noticed the song credits were for JD. I played it & IALP & liked what I heard, so I asked around some of the older heads at XX to find out what else they knew about JD & was informed they were one & the same , that Ian hung himself and Gillian was bought in to help out on keys & guitar to help Bernie concentrate on lead vox. Of course, I was then keen to hear more about JD & Ian and the rest is history.

I was watching MTV with the sound off because the speaker was blown and they aired the video of TBTHOG. I says to meself, "That's the metal hair band f the future." So purchased every thing I could ge tme mitts on the next day. Was I ever suprised! Having spent so much money I forced meself to learn to enjoy the music.

transmission played on our student radio station along with the best of british music back in 1982. Radio BFM.