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"Blue Monday" is a single released in 1983 by British band New Order, and later remixed in 1988 and 1995. The song has been widely remixed and covered since its original release, and became a popular anthem in the dance club scene.

Background

At nearly seven-and-a-half minutes, "Blue Monday" is one of the longest tracks ever to chart in the UK, and is the biggest-selling 12" single of all time. Despite selling well it was not eligible for an official gold disc because Factory Records was not a member of the British Phonographic Industry association. However, the Official UK Chart Company (UK Singles Chart) has estimated its total UK sales at over one million. In the all-time UK best-selling singles chart, published in 2002, "Blue Monday" came 76th.

The song begins with a distinctive semiquaver kick drum intro, programmed on an Oberheim DMX drum machine. Gillian Gilbert eventually fades in a sequencer melody. According to band interviews in NewOrderStory, she did so at the wrong time, so the melody is out of sync with the beat; however, the band considered it to be a happy accident that contributed to the track's charm. The verse section features the song's signature throbbing synth bass line, played by a Moog Source, overlaid with Peter Hook's bass guitar leads. The synth bass line was sequenced on a Powertran Sequencer home built by Bernard. Bernard Sumner delivers the lyrics in a deadpan manner. "Blue Monday" is an atypical hit song in that it does not feature a standard verse-chorus structure. After a lengthy introduction, the first and second verses are contiguous and are separated from the third verse only by a brief series of sound effects. A short breakdown section follows the third verse, which leads to an extended outro.

"Blue Monday" is often seen as one of the most important crossover tracks of the 1980s pop music scene. Synthpop had 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").

According to Bernard Sumner, "Blue Monday" was influenced by four songs: the arrangement came from "Dirty Talk", by Klein + M.B.O.; the signature bassline with octaves came from Sylvester's disco classic, "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)"; the house beat came from "Our Love", by Donna Summer; and the long keyboard pad on the intro and outro was sampled from the Kraftwerk song "Uranium", from the Radio-Activity album. In an interview for Channel 4's countdown of the biggest selling UK singles, the band claimed to have written the song in response to crowd disappointment at the fact that they never played encores. This song, they say, allowed them to return to the stage, press play on a synthesiser and leave the stage again. However, in reality they always performed on stage when doing Blue Monday whether as an encore or otherwise.

Sleeve notes

A popular misconception about "Blue Monday" holds that the single's die-cut sleeve, created by Factory designer Peter Saville, cost so much to produce that Factory Records actually lost money on each copy sold. It is unlikely that Factory Records could have sustained the losses implied, and the sleeve was soon changed to a similar 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 an investment in the Haçienda 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 nor 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. "Blue Monday" is one of three New Order releases from this time period to employ the colour code. The sleeve's spine simply reads "FAC SEVENTY THREE".

Music videos

A music video for a shortened version of the original song was created in 1983, featuring military clips with false colour, simple computer-generated graphics such as colour blocks and geometric lines, digitised video of band members at very low resolution and framerate, and a short appearance of the game Zaxxon (reportedly the Apple II port). The colour blocks were created using Peter Saville's colour coded alphabet.

The music video for "Blue Monday '88" (the Quincy Jones re-recording and mix of the song), shortened by several minutes and featuring added vocal effects, appears on the Substance video collection released as a companion to the album of the same name. It features sketches by photographer William Wegman and his Weimaraner dog named Fay Ray doing balancing acts intercut with hand-drawn animation by Robert Breer. The band members are shown standing around doing various tasks, such as walking a wooden plank over a floor that is painted blue, holding wire-mesh constructed art and milk crates over their faces, being hit by tennis balls, and standing still while they flip through various flip books (tying into the hand-drawn animation sequences).

On the Australian show Rage, a video was shown containing footage taken from their Top of the Pops performance with the studio track dubbed over it. At other times, the aforementioned videos also get airings.

Official releases

"Blue Monday" has been a hit several times in the UK. In 1983, it charted 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") was featured on the UK version of the group's subsequent album, Power, Corruption & Lies.

New Order appeared on the BBC's Top of the Pops, on 31 March 1983, to promote the song. New Order insisted on performing Blue Monday live. The performance was dogged by technical problems, and was unrepresentative of the recording. In the words of drummer Stephen Morris, "Blue Monday was never the easiest song to perform, anyway, and everything went wrong. The synthesisers went awry. It sounded awful". In 1985, "Blue Monday" and "Thieves Like Us" were officially released in Poland as a 7" single in different sleeve by Tonpress under license from Factory Records and sold over 50,000 copies and reached number 5 on the end-of-year single chart. In 1988, "Blue Monday" was officially remixed by Quincy Jones and John Potoker under the title "Blue Monday 88" (with the instrumental flip being titled "Beach Buggy"). The single reached number 3 in the British charts, number 4 in the Australian charts, and topped the dance charts in the United States. A further official remix/reissue in 1995, with a mix by Hardfloor as the lead track, also made the British Top 20.

Appearances

In 2008, Collector's Editions of all New Order's 1980s albums were released. The result is that remastered versions of the original 12" "Blue Monday" and its B-side "The Beach" appear on the Collector's Edition of Power, Corruption & Lies. Meanwhile, "Blue Monday '88" and "Beach Buggy" appear on the Collector's Edition of 1986's Brotherhood. "Blue Monday" also appeared on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories on its in-game radio Wave 103. "Blue Monday" appears on almost every New Order compilation. This is a brief rundown of what versions appear where.

• 1987: Substance 1987 – Original 12" version
• 1994: Best of New Order – 1988 7" version
• 1995: Rest of New Order – Hardfloor Mix
• 2002: International – Original 12" version
• 2002: Retro – Original 12" version and Jam and Spoon Manuela Mix
• 2005: Singles – Original 12" version and 1988 7" version
• 2011: Total - Original 12" version

Compilation appearances include

• 1996 The Best...Album in the World...Ever! - New edited version of 12" mix (runs at 6:45 length)
• 2001 Mixmag B!g Tunes - Original 12" version
• 2008 Anthems II 1991-2009 - 1988 7" mix (mixed into "Chime" by Orbital)
• 2011 Arkives - Plastikman Remix

Track listing

Blue Monday

UK 12" – FAC73 (1983)

1. "Blue Monday" – 7:29
2. "The Beach" – 7:19

PL 7" – Tonpress S-534 (1985)

1. "Blue Monday" – 7:29
2. "Thieves Like Us" – 6:36

Blue Monday 1988

UK 7" – FAC73-7

1. "Blue Monday 1988" – 4:09
2. "Beach Buggy" – 4:18

US 7" – Qwest 7-27979

1. "Blue Monday 1988" (single mix) – 4:10
2. "Touched by the Hand of God" (single version) – 3:41

UK 12" – FAC73R

1. "Blue Monday 1988" (12" version) – 7:09
2. "Beach Buggy" – 6:52
3. "Blue Monday 1988" (7" version) – 4:09

US 12" – Qwest 0-20869

1. "Blue Monday 1988" (12" Mix) – 7:09
2. "Blue Monday 1988" (Dub) – 7:16
3. "Touched by the Hand of God" (Remix) – 7:02
4. "Touched by the Hand of God" (Dub) – 5:30

UK CD – FACD73R

1. "Blue Monday 1988" (12-inch) – 7:09
2. "Beach Buggy" (12-inch) – 6:52
3. "Blue Monday 1988" (7-inch) – 4:09

UK video CD – FACDV73R

1. "Blue Monday 1988" (12-inch) – 7:09
2. "Blue Monday 1988" (dub) – 7:18
3. "Blue Monday 1988" (7-inch) – 4:09
4. "Blue Monday 1988" (video) – 4:09

US cassette – Qwest 4-27979

1. "Blue Monday 1988" (single mix) – 4:10
2. "Touched by the Hand of God" (single version) – 3:41

Canadian cassette – Qwest 4-27979 – Q-west

1. "Blue Monday 1988" (12" mix) – 7:09
2. "Touched by the Hand of God" (single version) – 4:10
3. "Blue Monday 1988" (single version) – 4:10
4. "Blue Monday 1988" (Dub version) – 7:16

Blue Monday-95

UK 7" – NUO 7

1. "Blue Monday-95" (Hardfloor radio edit) – 4:16
2. "Blue Monday" (original radio edit) – 4:09 (Actually "Blue Monday 1988" (7-inch))

UK 12" – NUOX7

1. "Blue Monday-95" (Hardfloor Mix) – 8:34
2. "Blue Monday-95" (Andrea Mix) – 8:26
3. "Blue Monday-95" (Manuella Mix) – 7:31
4. "Blue Monday" (Original Mix) – 7:26

UK CD – NUOCD 7

1. "Blue Monday-95" (Hardfloor Mix) – 8:37
2. "Blue Monday" (Original Mix) – 7:26
3. "Blue Monday-95" (Manuella Mix) – 7:32
4. "Blue Monday-95" (Andrea Mix) – 8:28
5. "Blue Monday-95" (Plutone Mix) – 6:29

Chart positions

Notes:

• - Charted with "Touched by the Hand of God"

Orgy version

"Blue Monday" is the second single of the rock band Orgy. A cover version of the New Order song, it was released on 14 December 1998. Internationally, the song was a hit, appearing on music charts worldwide. It has been attributed with providing industrial and metal music with a fresh connection.

Background

In an interview with Billboard Magazine guitarist Amir Derakh said that upon working on the song they "wanted to do the original 'Blue Monday' justice" and had expected more criticism. He went on to say that they felt lucky to have covered it and that they felt it could have been something that they had written. The fact that their first major hit was a cover of the 1980s electronica/dance song did not bother the band.

Their first official single release featured various versions of "Blue Monday" and upon the success of the song the band decided to include their previous single "Stitches" on the second release. With the label's support this release was an enhanced CD that featured the music video for "Blue Monday" on 9 February 1999, which was in QuickTime format. "Blue Monday" has been made into several dance remixes, some which were produced to appeal to the underground dance club scene, and was even advertised under "Club Mix" 2000, a popular dance compilation series.

The music video for "Blue Monday" also appeared on several music television stations, and the song was also released on vinyl.

Success

The song appeared on modern rock radio stations, and was a hit on MTV; it appeared on MTV's alternative music program 120 minutes and TRL, in which it debuted at number eight on 22 February 1999. The song was perceived as the band's gateway to success, allowing them to tour in Ozzfest. and in the Family Values Tour and led to the rerelease of the song "Stitches". The song appeared in Spin Magazine's "Hits of the Year" for 1999. "Blue Monday" is also said to have helped pave the way for the cyberpunk trend, as best exemplified in the popularity of the movie The Matrix, which appeared soon afterwards. In an interview of Joel Gallen in Los Angeles Magazine, the music supervisors were discussing the use of Orgy's "Blue Monday" for a football scene in Not Another Teen Movie, among others. Stating that the song "had energy", they eventually selected it for the movie, and it appeared in the soundtrack as well.

"Blue Monday" charted internationally, some of which included CMJ's "Commercial Alternative Cuts" and Billboard's Alternative, Pop, and Dance song charts as well as others. It also appeared in Time Magazine and Newsweek in 2000 as featured song clips.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic (Blue Monday(single))
Allmusic (Blue Monday / Stitches)

"Blue Monday" has been called the "aggro-fied-for-the-1990s" version of New Orders' song, and it is considered to be part of a resurgence of new wave covers in gloomcore, along with Dope's cover of Dead or Alive's "You spin me round". Many critics attribute the success of the album Candyass to "Blue Monday", and some anticipated that Orgy would become a one-hit wonder, believing that it would be difficult for the band to followup with another hit song. Many believed it to be their best song. Porter W. Richards of Sputnik felt that even though many of the songs off of Candyass sounded similar, "Blue Monday" was a great song that should not be overlooked.

In a January 2000 Spin Magazine interview, Buckcherry's vocalist Josh Todd and guitarist Keith Nelson did not speak highly of the song, likening its sound to a Nine Inch Nails rip-off and calling the sound "mechanical". The song is also viewed somewhat negatively by author of the comic book series Blue Monday Chynna Clugston, who in an interview also expresses dislike for the misconception that she borrowed the title for her book.

Track listing

Information on Blue Monday (single).

Information on Blue Monday/Stitches.

Chart performance

Appearances

• Blue Monday (single) (1998)
• Blue Monday/Stitches (1998)
• Candyass (1998)
• I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
• Big Shiny Tunes, Vol. 4 (1999)
• Club Mix 2000 (K-Tel) (1999)
• Family Values Tour '98 CD (1999)
• Shades of Technology (1999)
• The F111 House Session (2000)
• Kerrang: Life Is Loud (2001)
• Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
• Ultimate Teen Flick Soundtrack (2002)
• Nevermind the Originals, Here's the Covers (2003)
• X-Treme Rock (2003)
• All That Alternative (2005)
• Trans Global Spectacle (2005)
• The Take (TV series) (2009)

Information on appearances.

Flunk version

Flunk covered the song and released it as single in 2002. In this version, Flunk slows down "Blue Monday" making it a popular hit for Flunk, based in part on the song's wide recognition. The lyrics become the focus for this version rather than the danceable beat (which was emphasized in the original version). The single received generally positive reviews by electronic music critics, but Mallory O'Donnell of Stylus Magazine commented that Flunk "only showed the paucity of melody" to the original New Order song. The cover was included in the 2004 film Walking Tall, starring Dwayne Johnson. The song was subsequently remixed, with at least 7 remixes along with the original version available. The original release was on the 2002 EP titled Blue Monday.

2002 EP track listing

1. Blue Monday
2. Eight Days A Freak
3. Blue Monday (Howard Maple Mess Up Mix)

References

1. ASCAP entry
2. https://www.allmusic.com/song/t1003217
3. Petridis, Alexis (14 June 2011). "An indie label releases Blue Monday, the biggest selling 12-inch single ever | Music | The Guardian". The Guardian. London: GMG. ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 60623878. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
4. "Oberheim DMX | Vintage Synth Explorer". Vintagesynth.com. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
5. Tom Flint. "Recreating New Order's 'Blue Monday' Live". Soundonsound.com. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
6. ^ "New Order:Singles:Blue Monday". Niagara.edu. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
7. "Cerysmatic Factory > History > FAC229! The Music Week Factorial". Cerysmaticfactory.info. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
8. "Peter Saville's Alphabet - AOL Video". Video.aol.com. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
9. Blue Monday by William Wegman and Robert Breer with New Order. 1988
10. Top of the Pops Episode dated 31 March 1983. imdb.com. Retrieved on 3 November 2007.
11. Simpson, Dave. "You woke up on a Thursday and it smelled like a Top of the Pops day". The Guardian, 29 July 2006. Retrieved on 3 November 2007.
12. Andrzej Buda Historia rocka, popu i hip-hopu wedlu krytykow, Wydawnictwo Niezalezne: 33, 2006, ISBN 978-83-915272-8-3
13. ^ "Charts Surfer - UK, German and French charts". charts-surfer.de. Retrieved 3 September 2008.
14. ^ "The Irish Charts". IRMA. Retrieved 2 October 2008.
15. ^ "Chart Stats - New Order". chartstats.com. Retrieved 2 October 2008.
16. ^ "Indie Hits "N"". Cherry Red Records. Retrieved 2 October 2008.
17. Brusca, p. 544.
18. ^ Bessman, p. 25.
19. ^ Richards, Porter W. "Orgy: Candyass". Sputnik Music. Sputnikmusic.com. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
20. ^ Hay, p. 84.
21. ^ Hay, p. 13.
22. ^ Kenneally (March 1999), p. 46.
23. Billboard (4 March 2000), p. 102.
24. "Orgy - Blue Monday (vinyl)". Discogs. Discogs. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
25. Jackman, p. 128.
26. Bessman, p. 75.
27. ^ Kenneally (January 2000), p. 102.
28. Richardson, p. 69.
29. Melton, p. 35.
30. Melton, p. 36.
31. Udo.
32. ^ CMJ New Music Report, p. 21.
33. Hadden, et al., p. 3.
34. Strousse, et al., p. 7.
35. "Blue Monday (Single)". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
36. ^ "Blue Monday/Stitches". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
37. Clover, p. 201.
38. Whitburn, p. 103.
39. Shirley, p. 220.
40. ^ "Blue Monday". Australian and New Zealand charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
41. ^ "Blue Monday". Billboard charts. Billboard. Retrieved 20 October 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
42. "Blue Monday". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
43. ^ http://www.flunkmusic.com/bio_english.html
44. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/staff_top_10/top-ten-reasons-why-bizarre-love-triangle-blue-monday.htm.

Sources

• Bessman, Jim (23 September 2000). "Orgy Expands on Elemtree's 'Vapor'". Billboard Magazine. 112 (39). Nielsen Business Media, Inc: 138. ISSN 0006-2510.
• Billboard Magazine. 112 (10). Nielsen Business Media, Inc: 132. 4 March 2000. ISSN 0006-2510. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
• Brusca, Donny (2006). BPM List 2006: Main Edition. Lulu.com. p. 700. ISBN 978-1-84728-860-8.
• Clover, Joshua (November 2000). "Jukebox Culture". Spin Magazine. 16 (11). SPIN Media LLC: 224. ISSN 0886-3032.
• "Commercial Alternative Cuts". CMJ New Music Report. 57 (604). CMJ Network, Inc: 60. 8 February 1999. ISSN 0890-0795.
• Hadden, Briton (2000). Time Magazine. 155. Time Inc. ISSN 0040-781X. OCLC 1767509. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Hay, Carla (6 February 1999). "Elemtree's Orgy Hits with '80s cover". Billboard Magazine. 111 (6). Nielsen Business Media, Inc: 84. ISSN 0006-2510.
• Jackman, Ian (2000). TRL: the ultimate fan guide. Simon and Schuster. p. 144. ISBN 0-7434-1850-6.
• Kenneally, Tim (March, 1999). "Just can't get enough: Orgy are, like, totally awesome 80's". Spin Magazine. 15 (3). SPIN Media LLC: 164. ISSN 0886-3032. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Kenneally, Tim (January 2000). "Buckcherry's Jukebox Jury". Spin Magazine. 16 (1). SPIN Media LLC: 144. ISSN 0886-3032.
• Melton, Mary (December 2001). "Burden of Spoof". Los Angeles Magazine. 46 (12). Emmis Communications: 192. ISSN 1522-9149.
• Richardson (November 2000). "Orgy". CMJ New Music Monthly (87). CMJ Network, Inc: 112. ISSN 1074-6978.
• Shirley, Ian (2005). Can rock & roll save the world?: an illustrated history of music and comics. SAF Publishing Ltd. p. 256. ISBN 0-946719-80-2.
• Strousse, Jean (2000). Newsweek. 135 (10–17). Newsweek, Inc. ISSN 0028-9604. OCLC 1760328. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Udo, Tommy (2002). Brave nu world. Sanctuary. p. 255. ISBN 978-1-86074-415-0.
• Whitburn, Joel (2003). Joel Whitburn's rock tracks: mainstream rock 1981-2002 : modern rock, 1988-2002 : bonus section! classic rock tracks, 1964-1980. Record Research. p. 335. ISBN 0-89820-153-5.

External links

• New Order discography (includes images of sleeve)

• Use dmy dates from August 2010
• 1983 singles
• 1999 singles
• Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs number-one singles
• Hi-NRG songs
• New Order songs
• Orgy songs
• Songs written by Bernard Sumner
• Songs written by Gillian Gilbert
• Songs written by Peter Hook
• Songs written by Stephen Morris (musician)