Song Titles

What has happened to cool,quality,interesting,very N.O. song titles? Pretty much everything upto 1993 had a cool sounding,quite typical,New Ordery signature song title.Look at the evidence-Age of Consent,EGG,Ultraviolence,BLT,The Perfect Kiss,586,Thieves Like Us,Subculture etc.,etc.,oh you know what I mean(sorry!) pre '93,but since,we have- Slow Jam,Dracula's Castle,Player in the League,Rock the Shack,Working Overtime,Run Wild-I could go on,totally boring,unimaginative,no mystery whatsoever,bland shit.There have been exceptions-Crystal,Krafty,Sabotage,Jetstream(where the title is better than the song),but otherwise,shite.To me,a good title adds to the song(apart from the aforementioned Jetstream-you can't polish a turd) & even better when the title actually bore no resemblance to the song whatsoever! Ah,the good old days.....bring back classic N.O SONG TITLES! Discuss....

well i don't know it is the same with album titles.

who cares.

they could call a song "dot" and i wouldn't be arsed.

A lot of the mystique surrounding new order has gone. I would agree with the song titles being not as cryptic as before

it's definitely true that the titling has been a bit mediocre as the years crept on. it takes away some of the luster that distinguished them from the rest, but, i am with j.a.k. on this one. a title like 'track 6' (being the 3rd track on an album) would still be listened to.

And why the fuck did "Road to Ruin" get changed to the pathologically shite "Hey Now What You Doing?"? Someone should be very ashamed of themselves, especially when you consider the song before it in the album opens with "hey joe what you doing....."

oldmonkey wrote: And why the fuck did "Road to Ruin" get changed to the pathologically shite "Hey Now What You Doing?"? Someone should be very ashamed of themselves, especially when you consider the song before it in the album opens with "hey joe what you doing....."

Maybe it was just a sick joke

oldmonkey wrote: And why the fuck did "Road to Ruin" get changed to the pathologically shite "Hey Now What You Doing?"? Someone should be very ashamed of themselves, especially when you consider the song before it in the album opens with "hey joe what you doing....."

Maybe "Hey Now What You Doing?"? was supposed to be the working title and "Road to Ruin" was supposed to be the real title and someone fucked up and switched them around?

And people wonder why the War on Drugs is a bad thing.

But really, look at what Bernard's been doing for titles during Electronic. He wasn't really being all that crazy then, either. Nor Republic. Perhaps that was all fine and well during the early days when he felt young and carefree, but settled down into 'serious' musician mode later on.

I really did like the titles for pre-release WFTSC. Thought they brought back some of that old flavor.

I think on the next album, the coverwork should be some really obscure reference to some part on Bernard's boat or Steve's tank or some random item in Hooky's kitchen. They also need one song to dedicate to all those fearless aggressive dancers. They could swipe the title "Security" for that.

I betcha that'd be a fun album to make.

is it the lack of Gretton's influence?

oldmonkey wrote: And why the fuck did "Road to Ruin" get changed to the pathologically shite "Hey Now What You Doing?"? Someone should be very ashamed of themselves, especially when you consider the song before it in the album opens with "hey joe what you doing....."

Maybe, because it's a title of a 4. Ramones album.

That's exactly what the fuck I'm going on about!!! 'Hey now,what you doing'! What kind of shite Bryan Adams song title is that?! I'm glad Melly got where I was coming from tho'.....it was the fucking drugs wasn't it! They say it fuels the creative process,& Barny has pretty much admitted it in the past.Tho' I do like the idea of calling track 3 'Track 6'! At least it's something,like not putting titles on sleeves.....

You're right. Melly has some good ideas. I wonder what drugs she's on, then.

I wonder if she's good on song titles.....

What the hell is this prat ranting about?

leather_girl wrote: What the hell is this prat ranting about?

Which one?

The first poster, was the person who sounds like an idiot on here...and that was who I was referring to.

of course Leather Girl is right. she is the ultimate authority on new order and anybody with whom she disagrees is a moron.

[brown]Ally[/brown] wrote:

leather_girl wrote: The first poster, was the person who sounds like an idiot on here...and that was who I was referring to.

The original poster does has a point, the recent song titles haven't exactly been as classic or as memorable as the older ones I.e. Rock The Shack vs Dream Attack? He's merely expressing an opinion, and a fairly valid one at that.

I don't quite see how that makes him an "idiot" simply because he doesn't see things exactly as you do, unless you're wishing to be deliberately offensive?

Just a thought

well, what do you suggest "rock the shack" be called?

and leather girl, i hope your lost in translation most of the time. If not, please chill and not take everything so seriously. Btw. wftsc is crap.:p

leather_girl wrote: What the hell is this prat ranting about?

Strange, I tend to think that after every one of your posts. Hows about coming back when you have something positive and constructive to bring to the party?

"Run Wild" shows a bit of effort.

Agree that Road to Ruin should have been the real title.

Can never understand the animosity towards Jetstream - maybe it's not everyone's favourite (it is one of mine), but there have been worse crimes committed by New Order in any period of their existence.

Re 'The total authority on New Order that is Leather Girl'...right now,it would be so easy to be offensive back.But why? What's the point? This is a FORUM you silly little person,a ways & means for like minded global fans of the best band in the world to share OPINIONS! To me,an N.O.fan for 23 years,they are a sum of their parts,& part of that was cool song titles,it was part of the mix(overuse of the word part there).Not everyone agrees with each other,or have you to still to find that out yet.Thanx to Nooligan & everyone else for the support.Leather Girl? Chill.

Shellshocker wrote: You're right. Melly has some good ideas. I wonder what drugs she's on, then.

I can't very well just let you guys smoke my brain in a joint, now can I? I'd love to share, but by and large it must be my distinct lack of drugs in the last 6 years that fuels all this brilliance.

Cept the caffeine and the odd drink.

I blame all those parties in the 90s.

Again, thanks to Mark for posing a great question! Good to see other people go WTF when they see latter day songtitles!

They ran out of ideas years back! Theyve been reworking titles since the 80s:

Dreams Never End - Dream Attack

Run - Run Wild

Turn My Way - Turn

Love Vigilantes - Loveless

World In Motion - World(Price Of Love)

Vicious Circle - Vicious Streak

This Time Of Night - Fine Time

See what i mean?

[brown]Ally[/brown] wrote:

jonathan wrote: well, what do you suggest "rock the shack" be called?

"Demo #7" then discarded before it was let anywhere near a proper recording studio

#7? Do you really think it would have taken them SEVEN attempts to come up with that?!!!!

Barcaboy99 wrote:

[brown]Ally[/brown] wrote:

jonathan wrote: well, what do you suggest "rock the shack" be called?

"Demo #7" then discarded before it was let anywhere near a proper recording studio

#7? Do you really think it would have taken them SEVEN attempts to come up with that?!!!!

#7 as in the 7th track they wrote. Doh!

Anyone who's heard the band Forward Russia will be familiar with something like this. Their song titles are numbers, in the order that they were written. So the album tracklisting goes:

1.Thirteen 2.Twelve 3.Fifteen Part I 4.Nine 5.Nineteen 6.Seventeen 7.Eighteen 8.Sixteen 9.Seven 10.Fifteen Part II 11.Eleven

Actually, the more I look at that, the more I think it's a bit shit. But yeah, the new order song titles have gone downhill, just something about the whole mystique. I mean, the fact that some of the simpler song titles have since been used since by other bands - Vanishing Point, Sunrise, Fine Time, Loveless - probably says something. It was all part of the package that sadly (but inevitably) doesn't exist anymore.

Karlos makes a good point about simplicity. Waiting for the Sirens Call has three songs with five word titles, and two songs with four word titles. In general, that is too long to be a good song title. Longer song titles sound clumsy, and also a bit silly when mentioning the sone to someone else- "I was listening to 'hey now what you doing' last night..." Not that a short title automatically means it will be a good one as Working overtime, who's joe, dracula's castle prove.

...and we all know which other 80's indie superstar (and a real favourite of people on this board made a name for himself with long song titles:

"We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" "Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself" "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before"

But even with republic NO were trying a bit - Special, Chemical, Avalanche, Regret.....

New Order's best song titles remind me of New Order themselves - blunt and to the point, yet still somehow enigmatic....but probably having no deeper meaning at all whatsoever!

Whaddya mean even with Republic?

It must be getting more difficult, as time goes by, shorter song/album titles are more likely to be duplicates or near duplicates

Big country - Chance JD - Chance (which became Atmosphere, another double) Big Country, the Monkees and JD all have songs called Heart & Soul NO - Turn, Feeder - Turn, The Byrds Turn Turn Turn NO - Senses, Lightning Seeds - Sense, Feeder - Pushing the Senses Electronic - Imitation of Life, REM - Imitation of Life, Psychedelic Furs - Imitation of Christ Etc...

Theres a Sigur Ros album entitled () with tracks called Untitled 1-8 - Where will it end?

Sorry, by "even with Republic" I was referring to earlier comments in the thread saying the titles for that album weren't as good....

seals wrote: Whaddya mean even with Republic?

It must be getting more difficult, as time goes by, shorter song/album titles are more likely to be duplicates or near duplicates

Big country - Chance JD - Chance (which became Atmosphere, another double) Big Country, the Monkees and JD all have songs called Heart & Soul NO - Turn, Feeder - Turn, The Byrds Turn Turn Turn NO - Senses, Lightning Seeds - Sense, Feeder - Pushing the Senses Electronic - Imitation of Life, REM - Imitation of Life, Psychedelic Furs - Imitation of Christ Etc...

Theres a Sigur Ros album entitled () with tracks called Untitled 1-8 - Where will it end?

Well fook me with a rusty paperclip. Really naughty of Joy Division to even think about naming a song after a Big Country track that was written three years later, wasn't it? Big Country didn't even exist when Ian died. And as for New Order using song titles that were later used by Feeder and the Shitening Seeds, you can hardly blame New Order for writing a song in 1981 and having another band use the same name several years later, can you?

By the way, I wrote a song called "Imitation of Bastard" in 1982. Others clearly imitated the title, or in a rare prescient moment, did I copy them?

Dead Kennedys have records called "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" and "Too Drunk To Fuck" - are they ripping themselves off?

If they ever release a tune called The Power Of Love im off...

agreed.

pop, fast synth and minidisk, although sounding almost more pet shop boys-y than new ordery, are much better than some of the less enigmatic titles post-technique.

they should just surrender and let us choose the song titles and single releases. i would love to choose the remixers too - good call on planet funk for WFTSC mind

oldmonkey wrote:

seals wrote: Whaddya mean even with Republic?

It must be getting more difficult, as time goes by, shorter song/album titles are more likely to be duplicates or near duplicates

Big country - Chance JD - Chance (which became Atmosphere, another double) Big Country, the Monkees and JD all have songs called Heart & Soul NO - Turn, Feeder - Turn, The Byrds Turn Turn Turn NO - Senses, Lightning Seeds - Sense, Feeder - Pushing the Senses Electronic - Imitation of Life, REM - Imitation of Life, Psychedelic Furs - Imitation of Christ Etc...

Theres a Sigur Ros album entitled () with tracks called Untitled 1-8 - Where will it end?

Well fook me with a rusty paperclip. Really naughty of Joy Division to even think about naming a song after a Big Country track that was written three years later, wasn't it? Big Country didn't even exist when Ian died. And as for New Order using song titles that were later used by Feeder and the Shitening Seeds, you can hardly blame New Order for writing a song in 1981 and having another band use the same name several years later, can you?

By the way, I wrote a song called "Imitation of Bastard" in 1982. Others clearly imitated the title, or in a rare prescient moment, did I copy them?

Dead Kennedys have records called "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" and "Too Drunk To Fuck" - are they ripping themselves off?

:\oops:

Exactly. Not blaming anyone it was just an observation about short song titles... Peace!

Karlos - Sorry, didnt mean it like that, just ignore me - (Republic is my fav NO album)

This is just a bit of fun eh?

No worries.....I definitely don't think of Republic as much worse than other NO albums, but wouldn't say it's my favourite. And I do love the song Avalanche.....somehow a great title for their last song ever (so they thought).

simple.. the last 2 albums were pish

Outoforder wrote: simple.. the last 2 albums were pish

No they contained 'pish'.

Maybe if the efforts had been combined we would have had an album something like this:

1. Crystal
2. Krafty
3. WFTSC
4. Turn
5. 60 Miles an Hour
6. Guilt is a Useless Emotion
7. Primitive Notion
8. Turn My Way
9. Vicious Streak
10. Run Wild

It's not the quality of NO that has dimished down the years, just the quality control. Less is more. 8)

Barcaboy99 wrote:

Outoforder wrote: simple.. the last 2 albums were pish

No they contained 'pish'.

Maybe if the efforts had been combined we would have had an album something like this:

1. Crystal
2. Krafty
3. WFTSC
4. Turn
5. 60 Miles an Hour
6. Guilt is a Useless Emotion
7. Primitive Notion
8. Turn My Way
9. Vicious Streak
10. Run Wild

It's not the quality of NO that has dimished down the years, just the quality control. Less is more. 8)

Cool ma man nicly put. I coudnt be fcuked picking out the good tunes on those albums. cheers

Yes, but I'm currently pissed. And being sat in on a Friday night is no joke so what better way to pas the time. Well, I can think of at least one other way...

I'm also currently beating you on 'posts'!!!

Barcaboy99 wrote: I'm also currently beating you on 'posts'!!!

Aye gone yer sel big guy on the posts lol

Outoforder wrote:

Barcaboy99 wrote: I'm also currently beating you on 'posts'!!!

Aye gone yer sel big guy on the posts lol

I could answer that if I knew what the fook you were saying!

Barcaboy99 wrote:

Outoforder wrote:

Barcaboy99 wrote: I'm also currently beating you on 'posts'!!!

Aye gone yer sel big guy on the posts lol

I could answer that if I knew what the fook you were saying!

lol... you might be beating me on the posts, but when did you become a member of NOOL. (handbags ma man handbags)

Outoforder wrote:

Barcaboy99 wrote:

Outoforder wrote:

Barcaboy99 wrote: I'm also currently beating you on 'posts'!!!

Aye gone yer sel big guy on the posts lol

I could answer that if I knew what the fook you were saying!

lol... you might be beating me on the posts, but when did you become a member of NOOL. (handbags ma man handbags)

I bow to your longevity.

Computers and electric only came to Manc in early 2003. Before that we had to rely on carrier pigeon...

Outoforder wrote:

Barcaboy99 wrote:

Outoforder wrote:

Barcaboy99 wrote: I'm also currently beating you on 'posts'!!!

Aye gone yer sel big guy on the posts lol

I could answer that if I knew what the fook you were saying!

lol... you might be beating me on the posts, but when did you become a member of NOOL. (handbags ma man handbags) :confus

:

Respect

sometimes i do parodies of songs, and i hope i don't get bit for this, but i was laughing so hard, i just came up with " dogs will tear it apart".....but then you know...NO has good song titles now as they did back then...

they could do a bright eyes and have really long song titles, turning a complete 360 degrees.

even better when the title actually bore no resemblance to the song whatsoever!

Yeh, they're the best ones. A quirk of theirs that's always made me smile but sadly, as you say, they seem to have ditched it recently. One exception, though: Guilt is a useless emotion is a fantastic title. Shame about the song, mind