Blue Monday (New Order song)
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- This article is about the New Order single: for other uses of the term "Blue Monday", see Blue Monday
| "Blue Monday" | ||
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| Single by New Order | ||
| Non-album single | ||
| Single Released | 1983 | |
| Single Format | Vinyl record (12"), CD (1995 re-issue) | |
| Genre | Dance | |
| Song Length | 7:29 | |
| Record label | Factory | |
| Producer | New Order | |
| Chart positions | #9 (UK) | |
| New Order single chronology | ||
| "Temptation" 1982 | "Blue Monday" 1983 | "Confusion" 1983 |
"Blue Monday" is a 1983 single by New Order, often considered an iconic dance music classic.
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Background
At nearly 7 and a half minutes in length, "Blue Monday" is one of the longest tracks to ever chart in the UK. It is recognised as the biggest selling 12-inch single of all time, but as Factory Records were not members of the British Phonographic Industry association, it was not eligible for an official gold disc. However, the Official UK Chart Company have estimated its total UK sales at just over one million. In the all-time UK best-selling singles chart they published in 2002, "Blue Monday" came 76th.
"Blue Monday" is often seen as one of the most important crossover tracks of the 1980s electronica scene. Synthpop had already been a major force in British popular music for several years, but "Blue Monday" was arguably the first British dance record to exhibit an obvious influence from the New York club scene, particularly the work of producers like Arthur Baker (who collaborated on New Order's follow-up single "Confusion").
As with many of New Order's songs, the meaning of "Blue Monday"'s lyric has been the subject of much debate. Although Bernard Sumner never publicly discusses his lyrics, many people have surmised that "Blue Monday" concerns the suicide of Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis and the effect it had on his former bandmates. However, comparisons with the lyrics and the aftereffects of cocaine have also been made, which would fit in with the potentially drug related themes of many other New Order tracks (another legend has it that the band was on LSD while recording it, and after they finished the producers took them to a café to finish out their tripping while they went back and cleaned it up).
Official Releases
"Blue Monday" has been a hit several times in the UK. In 1983 it was a hit twice, initially reaching number 12, then re-entering the chart later in the year and climbing to number 9, helped by the fact that neither side of the single (the B-side "The Beach" was an instrumental re-working of "Blue Monday") featured on the group's latest album, Power, Corruption & Lies.
In 1988 it was officially remixed by Quincy Jones and John Potoker under the title "Blue Monday 88" (with the instrumental flip being humorously titled "Beach Buggy") and climbed to number 3 in the British charts. A further official remix/reissue in 1995, with a mix by Hardfloor as the lead track, also made the British Top 20.
No real music video exists for the original version. A promotional film to run with the track was produced, and consists of war footage and animation assembled on a then cutting-edge video editing suite by the bands drummer, Stephen Morris. A more complete video featuring the band was produced for Blue Monday 1988. Blue Monday 1995, released during a period when the band were broken up, again featured animated imagery.
Unofficial remixes and cover versions
In 1992, an unofficial remix by Electroset was released as "How does it feel?". This entered the top 30 in the UK
A further semi-offical remix, by Jamx & Deleon, entered the UK Dance Music charts in 2005. It was released on the band's current record label, London Records, but is not an official New Order release.
One highly sucessful cover of the track was released, in 1998 by the American band Orgy. Their cover of Blue Monday was the first single from their album Candyass.
In 2002 the music of "Blue Monday 1988" was combined with the Kylie Minogue vocal of "Can't Get You Out Of My Head", originally in a Soulwax bastard pop track, and was commonly known as "Can't Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head" which was popular in nightclubs and received widespread radio airplay. Minogue later went on to perform this track live, at the Brit Awards, due to popular demand. She also sang some of Bernards vocals from the original track at this performace. New Order have reciprocated by sampling the original track on their 2005 tour performances of Blue Monday.
Also in 2002, Norwegian folktronica act Flunk released a downbeat cover of Blue Monday on their debut album, For Sleepyheads Only, and in 2005 the dance act Dumonde have produced a cover version of the original track, but in a trance music style. Neither of these gained the popularity of the original.
Cultural Significance
The popular 1980s band Happy Mondays have cited the songs title as being a direct inspiration for their name. They were label-mates of New Order on Factory Records, and both Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook of the band produced Happy Mondays tracks at different times.
The popularity of the song have led to "Blue Monday" and the Electroset version being a popular piece for demoscene groups to use in their works.
American Express used two excerpts from the 1983 original in their 1999 advertising campaign for the American Express Blue card, one of the first credit cards to carry a Smartcard.
In 2003, Q Magazine voted Blue Monday the 9th Most Influential Song ever, the only dance track in the top ten. The 2005 NME God-Like Genuises award given to the band cited the track as being one of the reasons
As of 2005, the track is still regarded for its timeless appeal, and still receives regular play by DJ's, both in oldies sets and as part of a normal nights music, with either of the three official versions, or the Kylie mash-up being played. The original is most common, however, due to the usual instant recognition of its intro resulting in it being a floorfiller.
Sleevenotes
A popular story about "Blue Monday" holds that the single's die-cut sleeve cost so much to produce that Factory Records actually lost money on each copy sold. While this story may have some truth to it, it should certainly be taken with a pinch of salt. It is unlikely that Factory Records could have sustained the losses implied, and in any case the sleeve was soon changed to a similar, but non-die-cut, design that would cost no more than a regular sleeve. It is, however, probably true that New Order saw little profit from the single's success, since their investment in the Hacienda nightclub swallowed much of the money they made from their hit.
Another notable feature of the sleeve is that it does not display either the group name or song title in plain English anywhere. Instead the legend "FAC 73 BLUE MONDAY AND THE BEACH NEW ORDER" is represented in code by a series of coloured blocks. The key enabling this to be deciphered was printed on the back sleeve of the album, Power, Corruption & Lies.
Track listing
Blue Monday 1983
- "Blue Monday" (7:29)
- "The Beach" (7:19)
Blue Monday 88
- "Blue Monday 88 [12" Version]" (7:09)
- "Beach Buggy" (6:52)
- "Blue Monday 88 [7" Version]" (4:09)
Blue Monday 95 [UK CD]
- "Blue Monday [1983 12" Version]" (7:23)
- "Blue Monday [Hardfloor Mix]" (8:34)
- "Blue Monday [Manuella Mix]" (7:29)
- "Blue Monday [Andrea Mix]" (8:26)
- "Blue Monday [Plutone Mix]" (6:29)
External links
- New Order Discography (http://www.niagara.edu/neworder/) (includes images of sleeve)