Tell us what you like?

Mix of electronic's and guitar, definitly.

I suppose it was the melodies 'n' beats that got me in the first place, but the honesty that made me stay.

None of the above. It's the human element mostly. You have raw emotion mixed with great melodies, the interplay of electronic and traditional sounds, the fact that Hooky's bass is right up front as is Stephen's drumming. Plus some of the music is great, and some of it isn't so great, but it's these juxtopositions that what makes the band wonderful.

Some bands just seem to have something that can't be pin-ponted that make them better than a normal group of musicians. I think New Order is one of those bands. Just my two cents.

Voted for Melodies, but i agree with Almanso...

It sounds cliched but it's that certain X factor that they have. I will never tire of listening to their music. If I have a CD on of anyone else I can switch off mid song not with these guys however.

It's been said before, and I'll say it again: all of the above contribute to New Order's greatness

• but what truly makes the band unique is Hooky's playing. His absence from most of Republic is certainly the main reason why I rate that album the lowest; there are several moments on the record where I can just hear him come in and... he doesn't :\pissedoff:

Electronics and guitar every time. When I was 14/15 (when Temptation came out) I was staunchly a synthesizers or nuffink man : Depeche Mode, OMD etc...

New Order came along and introduced me to the stringy side of musical life (geetars, man ) and I've never looked back since.

Heck, I'm still pulling Hooky "riding a bus-seat like a motorbike" gags when I listen to the Order on me Walkman even now

Congratulations on creating the hardest poll ever Nicos!!

Quite quite indefinable really although musically they are simply peerless i also to this day can fail to find fault from a bands entire catalogue a single one of their songs lyrics, and THAT is quite simply astonishing :D

New Order have the MIDAS touch

Stephen's 4X4 drums and the chilly style.

Definately Stephen's drumming/percussive programming ability. What is missing from all sideprojects (minus The Other Two of course).

the emotion, instrumentation and barney's voice. actually, new order got me into exploring more electronic bands, which is surprising since i used to be very anti-techno music. i had the impression electronic music was cold and it was just boring one-man DJ music. of coarse, i was proved very wrong.

There's just too many reasons, I could probably write a 300 page book about it if I got carried away. For now I'll just do the First and Last.

The first thing that got me interested in them (1983) was the fact that their singles were long and had a lot of different sounds going on in them. No one else did 12 inch only singles at the time, so they were played rarely on the radio always leaving you wanting more.

The major repeating reason why I still adore them is that just when I think that they're too old, 'semi-famous' and 'comfortable' to create some kind of genius again they go ahead and do it to spite me. When I first heard Fine Time on a tinny radio I thought they'd blown it and jumped on the new Acid House bandwagon, then a week later I heard it in a club and immediately changed my mind. When they had their first solo projects break I thought muso-phase was reached, they bounced back with Regret. When they did the big split for 5 years I really thought that was "Time Gentlemen Please". And then Brutal turned up. It's bound to happen again.

gotta be barney with those breasts!

My opinion has changed so much over the years. These days I love listening to Hooky's basslines, but in the early years is was definitely the electronic/guitar crossover that got me hooked, closely followed by Barney's voice. The stark, faceless artwork was the part that cemented my love of New Order, (Peter Saville is a genius too). Love it.....they really are the complete package!

It would just be the FEELING, the overall feeling around them, the laughs and the tears, the parallels with every aspect of real life there is (yes I've had a few beers today), the human emotion and not just sokme PR company setup, the magic, the loss and the regain, and remember English isn't my mother tongue, they're just unique in that sense, that's why they're still my love and I'm near 30 and I see there is a lot of people even more in love than I am. I love you all. I love New Order.

Originally posted by Al Jarvis Nic, which one are you calling 'a girl'? Hooky, Barney or Stephen?!

Nice one AL! I must state that HOOKY is the main reason from the above choices but in a lot of ways i don't know WHY.

The melodies are probably the thing but it is also the use of electronics and bass that is unique. There is more (in the singing e.g.) but impossible to describe.

I like the whooping. That clinches it for me.

For me, it's a mixture of all the criteria listed. Also, I'm into both rock and dance and NO are like a bridge between the two. If I hadn't got into them I'd never have discovered a lot of the music I'm into now.

Definitely for Barney's vocals. Dare I say it, his vocals are stellar.

i find it amusing that no one has voted for "lyrics."

My choice was other, but the ingredients of lyrics,melodies, Hooky's bass, Bernard's vocals, Stephen`s drums and Gillians keyboards make it for me. THE COMBINATION... NOT THE INDIVIDUAL TALENTS...

i guess it would be the guitar and electronic mix of their songs that first piqued my interest when i started listening to them back in the day. it was a pretty new sound to my ears, and i was definitely hooked from the first listen.

and, of course, having great melodies didn't hurt either!

I love everything about newOrder, but it is Hooky's bass lines that keep getting to me. "white people turn up the treble, black people turn up the bass" , this does not apply to Hooky. Go for it Peter.

their best songs are the most multi-layered ones like TPK or BLT, so it's gotta be the programming.

Originally posted by Spotnick Well, the easy answer would be "all of the above and more", but this would be cheating..There must be ONE thing that hooked you to New Order and is the main reason why you like the band.Which reminds me, Billy Corgan copies New Order on that level too... there isn't many boy bands with one girl in the group! Except you can't compare D'Arcy with Hooky...For me, it was the melody at first that made me notice the band, but it was Hooky's bass that made me a fan.....

The Pumpkins may be my favorite band, but you can barely hear D'arcy live, and she didn't even record the bass parts for Siamese Dream. So, basically, she, like James Iha, has very little to do with SP's sound. Hooky, however, dominates New Order's sound; that's probably why most of Republic sounded so cold - it needed that bass. New Order, unlike the Pumpkins, seems like more of a unit, with everyone adding their touches to the sound - Hooky's bass, Barney's voice, Steve's drums, and Gillian's synths/programming and guitars. The Pumpkins, in my opinion, have far better lyrics than NO, Billy Corgan - in their first 3 albums - does some really amazing guitar solos, and Jimmy Chamberlin - when I saw SP live - provides the base for SP's sound. However, two members don't do much, other than standing on stage, and Corgan's live vocals are often out of tune, when the band isn't performing for some TV program.

Lyrics are killer too. Gotta luv those "bitch done me wrong' songs. But the first I ever heard of NO was the Beach and Hooky's bass. That sealed my fate.

it's got to be hooky's bass...

obviously all the factors in the poll play a vital part in the New Order experience, but hooky's bass wins it for me