Tony Wilson, the impresario behind the Haçienda nightclub famous for those hazy Madchester years from the late ’80s to early ’90s, was fictionalized in the film 24 Hour Party People. He moved to Manchester in 1973, where he presented a music and culture show for Granada Television called So It Goes. Soon, Mr. Manchester would launch groundbreaking bands by prioritizing creative freedom over money.
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Intensely disgusted by mid-’70s disco and arena rock, things changed when he saw the Sex Pistols perform in Manchester. He described it as an “epiphany” and invited the band to appear on his show. Wilson immersed himself in the music scene and, in 1978, co-founded Factory Records. The nascent label became home to Happy Mondays, Joy Division, and the Durutti Column—a band managed by Wilson. Factory Records’ Peter Saville told BBC that Wilson spotted things that became important.
When Joy Division’s singer Ian Curtis committed suicide, the members reformed as New Order. Singer and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook, and drummer Stephen Morris were joined on keyboards by Gillian Gilbert. New Order became Factory’s leading band.
On their debut, Movement (1981), the group continued Joy Division’s post-punk sound, albeit with more synthesizers. In summer 1983, they released Power, Corruption & Lies, with more emphasis on electronic music. The album is acclaimed for its innovation and is considered a classic from one of the decade’s most influential bands.
“Blue Monday” was issued as a 12-inch single in March 1983 but wasn’t included on the vinyl release of Power, Corruption & Lies. It was immediately successful, and introduced alternative dance culture to the mainstream on its way to becoming a defining song of the ’80s. It also pioneered how music was made, using emerging technologies like samplers, drum machines, and synthesizers.
How Does It Feel?
Frontman Bernard Sumner said the band was taking LSD when they wrote “Blue Monday.” And Peter Hook admits there’s not much behind the lyrics. Sumner opens the song by addressing an abuser.
How does it feel
To treat me like you do?
When you’ve laid your hands upon me
And told me who you are
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The title doesn’t appear in the song, but there are references to water. The ship in the harbor could be a way to escape the failed relationship. Here, Sumner laments his inability to get past the abuse; it’s something he’ll carry with him for the rest of his life.
I see a ship in the harbor
I can and shall obey
But if it wasn’t for your misfortune
I’d be a heavenly person today
It’s a Gas, Gas, Gas
New Order was breaking new ground in electronic music with “Blue Monday.” The staccato bass line was created using a Moog synthesizer and sequenced on a homemade machine built by Sumner. The vocal choir was sampled from Kraftwerk’s “Uranium,” and is one of music history’s first sampling instances.
Remember how much Tony Wilson hated disco? Peter Hook admitted that Donna Summer’s “Our Love” inspired “Blue Monday.” Working with an early sampler, the group also borrowed pieces from Sylvester’s “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and “Dirty Talk” by Klein & M.B.O.
Before making this all work, they had to learn how to use the sampler. Sumner and Morris spent hours recording their own flatulence. If it weren’t for their sampled gas, New Order might not have arranged the disparate pieces into “Blue Monday.”
The Biggest Selling Single in History, but Where’s the Money Gone?
“Blue Monday” is a synth-pop classic that outsold every 12-inch single in history. Factory co-founder and designer Peter Saville and Brett Wickens designed the single’s artwork, which was made to resemble a floppy disk. The song title and band name are not visible in English. They are instead represented in code using colored blocks. New Order’s second album, Power, Corruption & Lies, included the decipher key on the back sleeve. Due to the cost of die-cutting and colors, Factory Records claimed to have lost money on every copy sold.
Saville said no one predicted “Blue Monday”’s success, so nobody accounted for the cost of production. The later reissues changed the artwork to limit production costs, and by 1988, the single was issued in a conventional record sleeve. There’s a lot of myth around this heady single, and some dispute over how many expensive cover versions were pressed.
Past Is Future
New Order used new technology to sample pieces from older songs, creating a new way of making records. The new methods weren’t limited to electronic and post-punk bands in the U.K. The use of sampling would come to dominate hip-hop music in America, where DJs replaced traditional instrumentation.
Drummer Morris taught himself how to use the drum machine for fear it would replace him. New Order was working with tech, and the machines were taking over. Sound familiar? How does it feel?
Photo by MJ Kim/Getty Images
