In May 1980, the band Joy Division was devastated by the death of lead singer Ian Curtis. The three remaining band members, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Stephen Morris, decided they would keep making music together, and a few months later, Gillian Gilbert joined them. They called the band New Order.
New Order is one of the most influential bands of the last four decades. Their song “Blue Monday" came out in 1983, and it holds the record for being the best-selling 12-inch single of all time. Rolling Stone put “Blue Monday” on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and Pitchfork included it in its top 5 best songs of the 1980s.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of “Blue Monday,” in this episode, New Order discusses how they created the song. This episode was produced in collaboration with Transmissions, the official New Order and Joy Division podcast produced by Cup and Nuzzle. We’ve put together this story out of the hours and hours of interviews they’ve recorded, along with a new interview I did with Peter Hook. As you’ll hear the four of them explain, nothing about Blue Monday’s success, or really, even its existence, was something that they planned for.
For more, visit songexploder.net/new-order.
Re-issue: Arooj Aftab - Mohabbat
War - Low Rider
Shania Twain - You're Still The One
Danny Brown - Y.B.P. (feat. Bruiser Wolf)
Rhiannon Giddens - You Louisiana Man
Re-issue: Arlo Parks - Black Dog
Green Day - Basket Case
The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight (Deluxe Anniversary Edition)
Foo Fighters - The Teacher
Raye - Escapism (feat. 070 Shake)
Sampha - Spirit 2.0
Paramore - Liar
Kesha - Eat The Acid
Alvvays - Archie, Marry Me
Laufey - From The Start
Re-issue: Janelle Monáe - So Afraid
Siddhartha Khosla - Only Murders in the Building (Main Title Theme)
Local Natives - Dark Days
Bakar - Hell N Back
Natalie Merchant - Sister Tilly
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