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For New Orders most famous song, and the biggest selling 12" ever, Blue Monday gets a hard time on this messageboard, so heres a thread where everyone can say good things about Blue Monday. I'll start.
erm....
Well, its a good time to go for a piss during a gig.
and... erm... the outro on the original isnt bad.
I do think the Rock Around the Clock 1984 version is my favourite, with the different drum sound, TPK sounding (?), if you get what mean.
"Still find it so hard, to stay in tune with you, But i'm quite sure you'll tell me, what the fuck i should do"
BM always had nice improv lyrics
yep. A good 23 years ago.
Home VCR was revolutionary then. And looks how many of them are still used!
Although I confess that I don't listen to it very often anymore, I will always be fond of blue monday on some level. It was the track that first got me into NO, and it was, when I first heard it, stunning (interestingly, my three year old daughter loves it--she calls it the "dancy song.")
I wonder if anyone will ever say that they became rabid NO fans after their first hearing of "Dracula's Castle?" Doubt it.
Matt
The cover art was unique. It sounds "ahead of their time", in terms of sound, considering that it was made in 1983.
Uncle Liam wrote: For New Orders most famous song, and the biggest selling 12" ever, Blue Monday gets a hard time on this messageboard, so heres a thread where everyone can say good things about Blue Monday. I'll start.
erm....
Well, its a good time to go for a piss during a gig.
and... erm... the outro on the original isnt bad.
The outro often brings tears to me eyes and a lump to my throat.
Much like cancer, only nicer.
god....lay off of this song why donchya
it may not stand out as THE NO track if you are a NO true fan and know all their catalog yadda yadda.
BUT, the original 12" GREATLY GREATLY influenced, if not started, an entire genre of pop music, namely the electronic dance track that did not feature a black diva vocal. it sounds like Im trying to be funny, but I'm not. The sound was SO freakin remarkable that absolutely everybody that made white dance music in the eighties used it as a benchmark for production.
or something like that.
it doesnt matter that you like elegia or krafty or love vigilantes or whatever moreso. as NO fans you should ALL value it's place in pop history. You should CheRISH that.
BUT, the original 12" GREATLY GREATLY influenced, if not started, an entire genre of pop music, namely the electronic dance track that did not feature a black diva vocal. it sounds like Im trying to be funny, but I'm not. The sound was SO freakin remarkable that absolutely everybody that made white dance music in the eighties used it as a benchmark for production
...mmmm yes, absolutely no-one had done anything like this by 1983!
Well maybe Soft Cell, The Human League, Ultravox, Visage, Sparks, Depeche Mode, Heaven 17, Kraftwerk, Gary Numan etc etc
I suppose if everyone agrees that BM was the first perhaps we can rewrite history and believe it.
I acknowledge it's place in the bands history, but I have to say the 12" version really bores me now.
Still a great song. Just wish they didn't feel they have to do it every single gig. Same goes for Temptation, True Faith and BLT.
johnny james wrote:
BUT, the original 12" GREATLY GREATLY influenced, if not started, an entire genre of pop music, namely the electronic dance track that did not feature a black diva vocal. it sounds like Im trying to be funny, but I'm not. The sound was SO freakin remarkable that absolutely everybody that made white dance music in the eighties used it as a benchmark for production
...mmmm yes, absolutely no-one had done anything like this by 1983!
Well maybe Soft Cell, The Human League, Ultravox, Visage, Sparks, Depeche Mode, Heaven 17, Kraftwerk, Gary Numan etc etc
I suppose if everyone agrees that BM was the first perhaps we can rewrite history and believe it.
Apart from Kraftwerk [can't see why Sparks, much as I love 'em, even get a mention here] these were all just Brit synth-pop. Good quality synth-pop, maybe, and danceable. Disco stuff from Moroder (with Donna Summer) and Sylvester were classic electronic dance music but quite different from BM's fresh, British-white-guys take on the genre.
Apart from Kraftwerk [can't see why Sparks, much as I love 'em, even get a mention here] these were all just Brit synth-pop. Good quality synth-pop, maybe, and danceable. Disco stuff from Moroder (with Donna Summer) and Sylvester were classic electronic dance music but quite different from BM's fresh, British-white-guys take on the genre.
...splitting hairs I think. What makes BM so very different? Exactly what did it 'invent'?
All these 'synth pop' artists released extended 12" dance mixes and were much played in clubs. Why is it when New Order do it 2-3 years later they are credited with inventing electronic dance music (or whatever it is that BM is supposed to have been the start of)?
johnny james wrote:
Apart from Kraftwerk [can't see why Sparks, much as I love 'em, even get a mention here] these were all just Brit synth-pop. Good quality synth-pop, maybe, and danceable. Disco stuff from Moroder (with Donna Summer) and Sylvester were classic electronic dance music but quite different from BM's fresh, British-white-guys take on the genre.
...splitting hairs I think. What makes BM so very different? Exactly what did it 'invent'?
All these 'synth pop' artists released extended 12" dance mixes and were much played in clubs. Why is it when New Order do it 2-3 years later they are credited with inventing electronic dance music (or whatever it is that BM is supposed to have been the start of)?
Everybody had 12" extended dance versions. "The Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats had an "extended club mix". Even Britt Ekland (sic) had a 6:38 12" dance mix of "Do It To Me (Once More With Feeling)"!
A 12" dance mix doesn't mean the original was a dance record. Even if recordings made by the aforementioned synth-pop artists qualified as dance music they were still pop.
BM was clearly a dance record from the first bar. The fact that it was a 12"-only release (and its length) made it clear it WAS the original, not a special mix. And it had Hooky's distinctive bass lines plus some drum sounds that actually sounded like drums.
A band with indie/rock cred and techno skills produced an atmospheric, haunting and unique dance record. Others followed, attempting to create something equally distinctive in their own style.
Good tune. The perfect version of it would be the intro to the beach (but with just about all of Kraftwerk's uranium playing beforehand instead of about 5 seconds) then effectively flicking back to the Substance disc one version for the song itself.
The only thing which annoys me about it is the same thing which annoys me about LWTUA and Fools' Gold as a Roses fan: It's the only NO song most people know so if you request NO in a club 9 times out of ten you'll get Blue Monday.
Whilst we're on the topic does anyone who did the "we can make sandwiches" remix?
BM has plenty of good things including:
Best-selling 12" of all time The 7 1/2 minutes are worth it The technology and the production of the song is ground-breaking. It's difficult to cover (eat that, Orgy!) The floppy-disk vinyl cover
Oh, and final note...
It inspired my bf's first nickname on NOOL 
Still my favorite New Order track. Ever.
I still remember hearing it at Hamburger Mary's (a San Francisco hamburger joint with a DJ) all those years ago, back when it was new.
It was ace then, and it's still ace. 
[magenta]shedmonite61[/magenta] wrote:
me me me me me me me me me why isn't this thread about me yet me me me i need to make this thread about ME
I know...
It inspired my bf's first nickname on NOOL
ycfc wrote:
Whilst we're on the topic does anyone who did the "we can make sandwiches" remix?
If yer asking "who did the "we can make sandwiches" remix", it was Detroit Grand Pubahs.
As much as I love BM, I don't agree about it revolutionaising white electronic dance music as much as some say it did. Hell, even Depeche Mode did New Life 2 years earlier, and how long had Kraftwerk been around by this time? BM borrowed heavily from the New York club scene at that time, but the genius of the track is that it took many influences from many places, and coalesced them all into a dance floor monster that 'sounded' fresh and revolutionary. What NO did was to change the way dance music sounded. It had an audacious bass drum intro, cryptic deadpan lyrics, no chorus, a shoe gazing mentality, a bass guitar riff to die for, was performed by four anonimous white Mancs, a progessive structure that led to a crescendo finale, a weird iconic sleeve, and, best of all, it was called 'Blue Monday', and the band were called 'New Order', providing it with some kind of arthouse angle to which the student brigade could subscribe. NO were a largely mysterious band back then, tinted with tragedy, emerging with a dance track you weren't embarrassed to be see walking out of Woolworths with. A Blue Monday 12" became a fashion item.
Well..... it was the first NO single I didn't have to pay import store prices for, nor have to drive an hour to find in the first place, the US Factory version was stocked for a long time at the local Fred Meyer.
Dam That River wrote:
[magenta]shedmonite61[/magenta] wrote:
me me me me me me me me me why isn't this thread about me yet me me me i need to make this thread about ME
I know...
It inspired my bf's first nickname on NOOL
Now Now Jack! Cant we all just get along. 
this is one of the things I like about one of my copies of Blue Monday 12"
:D
(I still dont know whos sig it is tho) (Im an ex-dj, I have x3 copies of Blue Monday 12")
There are two ways of looking at this. I do think that Blue Monday was a revolutionary record for New Order and yes they changed the face of Pop/Indie/Dance music worldwide and in particular in the UK and Europe over the last 20 years. It has stood the test of time well unlike say some Human League, Soft Cell, Heaven 17, Yello etc. from the period (BTW I like those groups so no disrespect to them) and along with the Chicago House/Detroi Techno scene probably enabled European Dance Music to be cool, more than likely brought New Order to a mainstream audience and the eventual Madchester scene on the map.
However I also feel that True Faith (original version), The Perfect Kiss, Regret, Round & Round, Fine Time, Crystal and Temptation are as good as Blue Monday IMO and like what other people have commented to someone who is not a fan of New Order they seem to associate the song as the only thing they've ever done a bit like say Depeche Mode and Just Can't Get Enough.
Despite this I still love this record and its probably my joint no.1 NO song for me with TPK and True Faith and the last 2 minutes of Blue Monday would still probably blow away any of the dance trash cover version songs which are being released at the moment. Cheers!
Wombat wrote: this is one of the things I like about one of my copies of Blue Monday 12"
:D
(I still dont know whos sig it is tho) (Im an ex-dj, I have x3 copies of Blue Monday 12")
It's Bernard's signature.
Always shocks me the way people slag this record.
It's a classic, end of.
Anyone who says otherwise is a fcuking moron.
There are much worse records to whinge about: try BLT or True Faith.
I agree with you on BM, Al, but why give True Faith or BLT a hard time? I'm surprised, but that's your preference. 
oldmonkey wrote:
Wombat wrote: this is one of the things I like about one of my copies of Blue Monday 12"
:D
(I still dont know whos sig it is tho) (Im an ex-dj, I have x3 copies of Blue Monday 12")
It's Bernard's signature.
Wow really? I should sell it on Ebay! :D
oldmonkey wrote:
Wombat wrote: this is one of the things I like about one of my copies of Blue Monday 12"
:D
(I still dont know whos sig it is tho) (Im an ex-dj, I have x3 copies of Blue Monday 12")
It's Bernard's signature.
I liked my answer better!!!
BM was the song that got me into NO, so it will always have a special in my heart. I have to admit I don't love it quite as much as I once did, but I still think it's a great song.
It's just awesome.
I first heard it just after it was released in the spring of '83 one night on the late John Peel's late night innings. It's just the sort of song that not only works over a long time - nearly eight minutes - but is structured as a long track. The intro, the basslines, the string melodies, Barney's disconected vocal and the subtle production make a real winner.
It changed the course of pop music. Nuff said.
It still sounds good in clubs. The production, the sounds, the structure are just timeless.
It was Barney's stab at the Italo disco sound - Klein and MBO's Dirty Talk in particular - that mid pitched nagging synth bleep as the beat kicks in is brilliant.
That's what's good about Blue Monday
BM 88 is perhaps the finest 3 or so minutes of pop/dance ever. It condensed all that was good about the original and added a little extra. Still sounds as fresh as a daisy 18 years later.
The original BM is the Magna Carta of music history... Don't diss it you ungrateful bastards! 
It got me into the Order. It looked sooooooo cool at the record shop. It never fails to bring a new fan into the fold at a club. The video was quite cool. Easy beat made changing up the lyrics to something rude or awful a piece of cake.
Though overplayed and overcovered, it still has a fond place in my heart.
Chemical wrote: It's just awesome.
I first heard it just after it was released in the spring of '83 one night on the late John Peel's late night innings. It's just the sort of song that not only works over a long time - nearly eight minutes - but is structured as a long track. The intro, the basslines, the string melodies, Barney's disconected vocal and the subtle production make a real winner.
It changed the course of pop music. Nuff said.
Couldn't possibly argue with that.
[orange]Retroesque[/orange] wrote:
If yer asking "who did the "we can make sandwiches" remix", it was Detroit Grand Pubahs.
I thought it was a 2 Many DJ's mashup of two songs: New Order - The Beach Detroit Grand Pubahs - Sandwiches.
DepecheMode's NewLife?
jeez..the whole point about BM is the SOUND. NewLife sounds like cheese..it's production wasn't even worthy of early sevenities YES. (and I am a huge DM fan)
BLUE MONDAY has a production sound that still sounds a good as anything newly produced, when played in clubs. THAT is it's true historical marker. Yes, it is indeed a well written song with lots and lots of incredible elements....But the production sound is the main reason it is so historically important to all that followed...heh heh...including the amazing drum sounds.
IMHO
[magenta]shedmonite61[/magenta] wrote: BM has plenty of good things including:
Best-selling 12" of all time The 7 1/2 minutes are worth it The technology and the production of the song is ground-breaking. It's difficult to cover (eat that, Orgy!) The floppy-disk vinyl cover
Oh, and final note...
It inspired my bf's first nickname on NOOL
ohhhh dear, this is still going on. 
Royser wrote: I acknowledge it's place in the bands history, but I have to say the 12" version really bores me now.
BM is maybe more of a musical statement than a song - it doesn't have the emotional content of the later electo tunes like TPK. Maybe that's why it doesn't hold up to repeated listens - at least not to fans, who know that there's much more to NO than Blue Monday. Stil love the robots-taking-over-the-wrld feel to it, though, and that TOTP performance where they went on stage looking like a bunch of data entry clerks and stopped playing ages before the end.
Jolene wrote: that TOTP performance where they went on stage looking like a bunch of data entry clerks and stopped playing ages before the end.
One of the greatest moments in rock and roll TV. Right up there with The Doors on Ed Sullivan and PiL on American Bandstand.
