This was a HUGE HUGE hit in the alternative dance clubs when the New Wave hit. New Order, Thomas Dolby, Depeche Mode, Human League, Heaven 17 were all cranking out really great electronic music. You have to hear more from New Order: Bizarre Love Triangle, True Faith, 1963, Touched By the Hand of God, Thieves Like Us, Perfect Kiss, I can go on and on. They were all HUGE dance club hits. And no night was complete without Blue Monday. Great times on the dancefloor!!!
Up there with Blue Monday's synths and effects are: Ministry - Everyday is Halloween, Tones on Tail (Go!, Performance, There's Only One), Depeche Mode (People are People). Joy Division from which New Order sprung after Ian Curtis' suicide was a pioneer of post-punk along with Gang of Four and The Cure (Three Imaginary Boys era) and though fairly dark, drums and guitar driven, they used synth heavily on their track Isolation in 1980, hinting at the direction Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris would soon take the band.
As a 63 year old Brit, I can say the early 1980s were a MISERABLE time in England, but we had the BEST music. I went from the radio still playing 1950s rock-and-roll to 1970s glam rock, to Kate Bush in a few years, then things like this, Depeche Mode, and so much else. Music took a quantum leap forward in those years.
@@MrFoxy125the AIDS epidemic? The Cold War? Radioactive rain from Chernobyl? Miner’s strike, Falklands War, Piper Alpha, Lockerbie, the Herald of Free Enterprise, Hillsborough? The 80’s in the UK were rough.
@maryavatar I wasn't thinking in those terms. Every decade has and will continue to have disasters. I remember the strikes, rubbish in the streets, power cuts, poor economy, and lack of jobs in the 70s. The 80s offered greater prosperity, and you could afford a house, unlike now.
This song was a "put down your drink NOW and rush the dance floor" song. You suddenly hear those first few notes & your eyes get big, you grab your friend and GO lol! And Amber's absolutely correct about how NEW this sound was, coupled with the fact that it was totally a club track & so was meant to be experienced physically, not just aurally. We were LIVING lol!!!
As to the first hit synth records,Popcorn by Hot Butter was really ahead of the curve in summer 1972 (so reminds me of spending my time out playing in that year's school holidays),and then along came Kraftwerk from the mid-70s onwards. A whole host of synth groups started to make it big from 1979 and 1980 onwards. New Order's first single (following the tragic demise of Joy Division the previous year) was Ceremony in early 1981,which I bought when it came out.
It’s not 61 years old! Being 54 I remember being 14 listening to this being blown away ! 1983 was the year ! Oh the 80s ! Best decade ever to grow up as a teenager!
New Order was the band formed by the remaining members of Joy Division after lead singer Ian Curtis took his own life. New Order was amazing and this entire album was a straight up banger. Believe me, we danced to this song in the clubs for years!
This is what is called the second british invasion of music. The alternative (new Wave) music vibe. The 80s was unreal. Black clothes, loud dark nightclubs, clove cigarette smell and dancing to the vibes. Greatest time of my life.
Same here with some party favours added to that mix. I'm 51 now but I have no regrets and I've heard all the music that these kids are listening to now!
Yuuuussssss!!!!! Back then, before the Goth term came 'round, the genre was known as Death Rock. Me? I was a bit of a weirdo and always referred to it as Bat Cave or Dark Wave. But by the closing of the 20th century, there was Industrial/ EBM (Electronic Body Music)
Blue Monday is a masterpiece. A true work of genius. It will remain one of the finest pieces of music ever created. You don't have to be into the genre to recognise that. Humans always know when something is very special.
New Order is former members of the band Joy Division (they formed after the death of their infamous singer Ian Curtis). New Order was not mainstream they were played in underground clubs,punk,goth,queer. The first popular synth song was probably Cars by Gary Newman got a lot of play on early MTV. New Order were a band apart from all the other synth bands. Check out Depeche Mode:Personal Jesus, Echo and the Bunnymen:Dancing Horses and something a little heavier Pailhead: No Bunny. 😊
So, this IS by far THE BIGGEST dance song from the entire decade! It was a game changer when it originally came out in 1983! So much so, that to this day it holds the record as the best selling 12" single of all time. New Order was one of my favorite bands of the 80s. They were not really an electronic band. They were the remaining members of Joy Division, which was a post punk/new wave ba d from the late 70s and early 80s. Their lead vocalist took his own life, and they reformed as New Order a couple years later. This song was originally an instrumental track they played at their concerts when they were finished, but a lit of people liked what they were hearing, so they decided to actually make a song out of it. Little did they know that that background track thing would become the massive hit it ended up being! And yes, being there as a 17 year old teenager at the time and already hitting the clubs, you can only imagine what we felt the first time we heard this. There will never, ever, be another decade like the 80s!!!!!!
This track has never ever sounded dated. It sounded futuristic when it came out and regularly charts somewhere in the world all these years later. If you ever wake up hear this track and it sounds old you've truly fallen through a time slip and must be 100s of years in the future. Perfect and timeless.
@@littlecatfeet9064That's unfortunate,but the way life goes,I suppose. I lost a few things I wanted to keep in one or two moves of house long ago now,but after six moves in under a decade I've had the same home address since 1998. I still have nearly all the vinyl singles I bought in 1979 and the 80s but unfortunately not currently a working record player/turntable to play them on!
I feel SO FORTUNATE to have lived during that time. To have experienced the power, the magic, the diversity, the creativity, and the intensity of eighties music!
100 % I'm now feeling how I'm taken back to getting ready to head out to a house party and listening to this and I'm now transported back in time to my youth 🙂 Brilliant.
I'm 54, this was an anthem for us. You'd never know to look at me or any of my peers now, but we raged exactly as lions before being thrown meat in a menagerie.
The chorus is a sample from the German group Kraftwerk, pioneers in electronic music in the 70's. The beat is Donna Summer. The guitar is an inspiration from the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The remaining members of Joy Division had to really develop new mixing technology to put all this together. Exceptional concept, one of the flares that occasionally popped up separate from the main stream. Timeless piece of art.
I'm 63 and I was NOT much into electronic/synth music at the time BUT ... THIS!! I haven't heard it in 30 years and it sounds fresher than ever now - I can hear more layers, appreciate the craft a lot more - this is FIRE - just as Jay said.
New Order's lyrics often explored loneliness, alienation, abusive relationships and the general darker side of the human experience. Other great tracks are Regret, Round and Round, Bizarre Love Triangle and Perfect Kiss. Also, yes, this song was hugely revolutionary when it came out. New Order was on the cutting edge of techno and had a huge influence on all of the genres of electronic music that came after it.
New Order always seemed to retain the essence of Ian Curtis without being explicit. I love that about them. The dichotomy of melancholic lyrics with joyful music.
Hell yeah! Mid-‘80s, Thursday night at the Park Ave nightclub in downtown Milwaukee, New Wave Night, I’d bring my $2 cover charge and just dance all night long to New Order, REM, OMD, Depeche Mode, and my personal favorite (to this day!)-Big Pig, who just had one hit that didn’t chart big, but I think their album Bonk is one of the best of the decade. I play it all the time.
@@vespoint Their only hit, Breakaway, is heard over the opening credits of one of the Bill and Ted films. I actually prefer a lot of the other songs on the album. IIRC, they only had one other album before breaking up. They were Australian, and their female lead singer was Sri Lankan. What I love about their sound is its percussion-out of seven members, five played drums and/or percussion, the other two harmonica and keyboard. It’s very industrial as a result. The vocals are terrific, and the songs on Bonk are rich in storytelling.
@@kathyastrom1315 OMG- I miss the Park Ave days! Walk in, head straight to the dance floor and stay there until closing time- then collapse on the upstairs couches till they cleared us out. Awesome club & great people 👍
I can't believe I missed this reaction last year. For me, this is the ULTIMATE 80s dance song! This takes me back to Flamingo's dance club on 6th Street in Austin. No matter how tired I was, I ran to the dance floor as soon as I heard the first few beats. Dancing to this fabulous song was an experience. I would just close my eyes and let the beat take me to another place. The music was almost like a drug. If I could time travel, I would go back for 1 night of dancing in the mid-80s. Good times!
If Y'all had an hour to hear about how critical this song was to emergence of entire genres that we have today, like House and techno. It was like an atom bomb in the clubs. You could not go a single night for YEARS withoput hearing it. Every. DJ. Was playing it. Endlessly. (myself included) it bridged eras between one that sounded like Joy Division and the one that sounded like New Order. It was a natural evolution brought on by the untimely passing of Joy Division's singer the genius and beloved Ian Curtis which sent the remaining members into a period of self-reflection, but they new they would carry on. And so New Order was born. It's one heck of a rock and roll story. RIP Ian Curtis.
As crucial and influential as this song is I feel Donna Summers 'I Feel Love' was more of a birth to 'house, techno, trance' and those types of genres than this song was
@@rustycohle7779 I'm quite sure New Order was very influenced by Giorgio Moroder. I Feel Love is actually a Moroder track that Donna Summer sang on. It's similar in that way how Ray of Light was really a William Orbit track that Madonna sang on. I'm quite sure that William Orbit was an influence as well. The thing is that Blue Monday was present in late 80's early 90's clubs in a way that I Feel Love wasn't It was already an "oldie" by the time New Order hit the scene. You didn't start to hear I Feel Love again until well into the 90's when House DJ's dusted it off gave it and Giorgio Moroder a whole new career. IMO, "I Feel Love" is the first *true* House music track. Moroder didn't think of it that way, but it used a "4-on-the-floor" beat, which is the base of all House and Techno whereas most Disco was still using a rock-style back beat.
Should anyone be interested: this is an analysis of the song Blue Monday by RUclips channel Produce Like A Pro. ruclips.net/video/Iyzk1Gwwu7c/видео.html
The first real synth band to make a mark -- the real pioneers -- were Kraftwerk. They were the original synth group to have wide following and they may still be the greatest. They were already pretty famous in the 70s and not only had a huge influence on 80s pop, but rap and hip hop too. Check out "The Robots", "Trans Europe Express" or for some of their best stuff from the 80s, "Techno Pop" or "The Telephone Call" -- among many tunes by them.
So glad that someone chimed in about Kraftwerk as that’s exactly what I dropped in on the comments to do. I would suggest they do Computer Love or Computer World.. or possible “The Man Machine”, but I really love all the songs everyone is listing. Notably, hip hop became heavily influenced by Kraftwerk and the use of synthesizers from when Afrrika Bambaata shared a join in a friends flat in NYC and heard him playing “Trans Europe Express” on his home stereo system. Though I’ve tried several times to suggest it on a few react channels, I’ve yet to see any of the RUclips react channels react to any Kraftwerk. It’s really a shame since it opens the door to not only 80’s dance pop, but techno/house music, EDM, as well as the entire genre of experimental prog “krautrock” of the 70’s which also inspired Brian Eno to invite David Bowie there, who in turn invited both Iggy Pop and Lou Reed as well which revised and thereby revived ALL of their careers, which, of course led to the modernization of many pop bands influenced by them who later surfaced in the 80’s like New Order we hear here as well as many other popular 80’s acts like The Art of Noise, Yello, Yaz, Ministry, Soft Cell, The Cure, Gary Numan, Human League, or even more unusual stylings like Cabaret Voltaire, Severed Heads, Nina Hagen, Laurie Anderson.. etc etc etc.. Kraftwerk really factors in HEAVILY for multiple bands from various genres all the way from the late 70’s, the 80’s, 90’s, and onward if you count indirect influences right up to our current day (Daft Punk, Die Antwoord, etc.).
This track was such a staple of club music in the 80s, it was STILL a staple of the clubs in the 90s. Still dropping on dancefloors 15 years later and still sounded as fresh and new as the day it arrived. True genius.
Y'all! We went INSANE when this track dropped and would come on in the Clubs. I am SO HAPPY you found New Order, they are the soundtrack of so many of my 80s high school memories
This song Broke the Mold! When it came out it hyped everything up. Record shops were full. Dance floors were full. It was a great time to be a 20 year old.
when you listen to this song, you have to picture a crowded and busy dancefloor in a dark 80s nightclub, smoke everywhere coming from the smoke machine, and the only light is coming from a stroboscope beating in time to the music. and you're right in the middle of all of it.
@@geozeo9573 Of course! Walking to the restrooms smelled like...the smoke machine! And no one ever did cocaine in the Eighties ever, too. People were just naturally happy.
Impossible not to underestimate how huge and influential this song was in the 1980’s! There was nothing like it when it came out. It was the one song got everybody off their butts and dance - so much fun; sent you to a different place. You didn’t have to be in a dance club, it was omnipresent. Way ahead of its time. Joy Divisions/New Order were an awesome talent!
“Who first made synths popular?” That would probably be Tubeway Army with Are Friends Electric? and their lead singer who went solo, Gary Numan with the song, Cars. You should definitely check those two tracks out! But, the first all-synth band ever was/is (they still exist) Kraftwerk in the 70’s. Synthpop more or less starts with them.
Before the Tubeway Army there was a band from Germany called Kraftwerk who had an album called Autobahn which was most people's introduction to electronic music and is still held up as a classic today
I was a light jockey at a massive underground nightclub back in the 80s and all the DJs had special imported UK mixes for this track. When this hit the dance floor, all flood lights were set off, black lights on and it was an insane $250,000 lazer light show with sequences I designed specifically for this track. Another track with similar vibes to this that the crowd loved was Strafe's Set It Off.
I will NEVER get tired of this song. My brain is instantly on a dance floor when I hear it. I had to take it off my driving playlists, though. It caused my one and only speeding ticket.
In my opinion the first song that brought the electro-synth sound to the forefront and popularized it in the mainstream was "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer. Released in 1977 it was produced by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte and was influential to such 80s bands as Human League and Blondie.
Interesting. I immediately thought "Sweet Dreams" by Eurythmics when Amber said "mainstream," but I can't disagree with this or "Cars" by Gary Numan, which someone else suggested. Or even "Heroes" by Bowie and Brian Eno. Interesting question.
I still remember when we had a street party back in ‘77 with about 150 people there. The DJ put on I Feel Love and after the first few notes a huge cheer went up and EVERYBODY got up to dance. Magic times.
There is a behind the scenes interview on the making of that track and how they doubled the base line for the bouncy sound...all before anything digital!
@@neilmccrudden It was also released as a 7" by Tonpress in '83 as well as on some cassette and CD versions of their Power, Corruption and Lies album ('83) and was featured on the Substance 1987 compilation. Not including all the various remixes...
@@andreamaronn4510 It was released in Poland in 1985 along with Thieves like us by Tonpress. Not in the UK... A 7" version is not long enough and the later remixes are awful... ;-)
I seem to recall hearing that the band lost money on every copy sold due to the sleeve being very expensive to make. I am sure I saw Pater Hook interviewed years ago saying they were the only band in history to pray that their record would stop selling ! BTW as an eighties child myself hearing this again has brought back so many fantastic memories. I can still see my friends and I up on the cliffs late at night with a fire and this blaring out of the car speakers at full volume repeated over and over again.
Imagine back then there were cavernous all night clubs and the DJs would have a super extended ethereal psycho mix of this and the strobes and smoke.. you can barely see anyone's face but you knew this was the place to be that night.
This tune was a gamechanger. Way ahead of its time. New Order weaved layers of pulsating-electro-FAB! Architects in the genre. Peter Hook's base was integral to their sound. Maybe Kraftwerk (Germany) can be credited with planting the seeds of the genre.
Actually, it was Kraftwerk, a German band formed in 1969 that pioneered the synth wave format. It wasn't until 1979 or the early 80s that it really took off in America though, under the title of 'New Wave'. Their most popular album was 'Compter World' released in 1981. Also, the band 'Art of Noise' was a staple of mid 80s synth, with their track 'Peter Gunn'
And Kraftwerk was in turn inspired by artists like Delia Derbyshire (UK, made the original Dr Who theme among other things) in the 50's and Gershon Kingsley (US artist, made the song "Popcorn") in the 60's. It's why I get annoyed at people claiming techno was invented out of nothing in Chicago - it emerged there, but it was heavily inspired by a bunch of European and earlier American stuff and wasn't created from thin air.
I concur. The Smiths are AMAZING! Morrissey has not only the swagger of Elvis but also the smooth yet confident voice. He actually sounded like an 80s Elvis. I would recommend "Shoplifters of the World" instead of "How Soon is Now" though.
I’m a English girl from Essex, I was living in Australia at the time. Us girls were about 16 years old night clubbing, when New Order’s Blue Monday came on. It was a completely different sound to compared to other bands at the time. It was totally awesome.
Erasure. Anything Box. Bronski Beat. Cause and Effect. Cetu Javu. A Flock of Seagulls. Micro Chip League. Modern English. The Normal. Oingo Boingo. Plastic Bertrand. Q Lazzarus. Romeo Void. Soft Cell. When In Rome…. just to name a few.
This song is absolutely LEGEND! The ultimate 80’s song. New Order were inspired by Hip Hop and House (electronic dance music from Chicago) and made this absolute masterpiece! I think this originally came out in 1980 or ‘81. This *still* is the best selling 12” vinyl single. New Order formed after the lead singer for the band (then named Joy Division) committed suicide on their first American tour. Guitarist/keyboard player Bernard Sumner took over on lead vocals. Hence the name change. You should definitely check out their previous incarnation, Joy Division. Totally different vibe.
Thank you so much, this song is profound to many of us. This song was about Ian Curtis' suicide, which happened on a weekend, and we heard about it on a very Blue Monday.... He was the lead singer of Joy Division which became New Order.
Amber: YES! My favourite rave music genre was called "Trance." And the name says it all. New Order were the early purveyors of what would become Trance music (at least IMO). Your main 80s synth pioneers are: New Order, Depeche Mode and Human League. Try: "Everything Counts" and "People Are People (Depeche Mode); "Fascination" and "Don't You Want Me?" (The Human League)
Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, and New Order what were all us 80's gay kids were listening to. I also listened to New Order's collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys Electronic.
So awesome… theses guys are in a pool,of great bands from this type music- new order, Depeche Mode, the cure, the smith’s, pet shop boys, erasure , orchestral maneuvers in the dark.. a ton of great innovative music.. some of the best ever..
Absolutely killer track, play it on a dance floor in 2023 and it still moves people. It was on a Manchester label called Factory records, who cultivated amazing talent, but were too busy partying to take care of business. So, they managed to loose 10pence (at the time roughly 20 cents) on each copy sold. And it sold a lot! So, eventually they stopped pressing it. Years later, it was remixed and repressed, an this time, they made the money they deserved. It’s still available on 12 inch vinyl, and sounds even better. Big love to yo both from London, UK
“Bizarre Love Triangle” (extended version) by New Order is another absolute banger full of synths which dare you to try and sit still. New Order are one of my favorite bands of all time and they still continue to bring it right up to today. Will be seeing them (for the third time) this October at the Hollywood Bowl along with Pet Shop Boys on their “Unity Tour”. Cannot wait! So much more for you guys to explore in a trip down the New Order rabbit hole. Your question on who broke through to the mainstream when talking about synth based music, while New Order hold the record for the biggest selling 12” inch record with this masterpiece, the first synthpop song to breakthrough on the US Pop Singles and open the floodgates for the second British Music Invasion was “Don’t You Want Me” by Human League which represented a sea change in the sound of pop music and top 40 radio airplay. Hitting #1 on the US Hot 100 Singles Pop Chart in July 1982. What followed was a flood of UK New Wave Synth Pop 80s classics which would characterize the early and mid 80s US pop music charts (by way of UK 🇬🇧)
I still blast this song....takes me right back to the 80's. I wouldn't trade my teens for any other decade. The music was absolutely everything. I remember when I first heard this. Went with a friend to a guy's place who just bought this 12" and when I heard it, I was blown away. I think we listened to it at least 10 times. It was a sound I had never heard before. I'm so lucky to have been 16 during this time. We had some amazing music. The top 40 hits were all over the place...metal, punk, pop, rap, dance. Loved it!
I agree! So exciting to see a true appreciation and just a “pause” to actually really listen to the music of formative years, that did influence so many of the future gen.
British guy here! This is an incredible song, it has haunted me for years. Like all the best songs, it’s hard to pin down what it is about. It may be about the Falklands War, which was happening at the time - it was a confusing time in which lives were lost fighting over a spec of land and the nation was divided about “how should we feel”
You guys were commenting about how advanced this sounded for its time. I completely agree, as I can still remember my initial reaction to hearing this when it was released. My mind was utterly blown and it still is my favourite song ever! It's definitely earned its place in music history and in dance music's overall evolution. I guess you'd have to go back to Donna Summer & Giorgio Moroder's "I Feel Love" from 1977 to understand how "Blue Monday" came to be. Dance music was evolving very quickly, just in those few short years -- you had disco branch out into Ital Disco and HI-Nrg dance music and Germany's Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" and "Man-Machine" albums; while, at the same time, you had the post-punk artists, a few of which were working with synths and electronics (Human League, Orchestral Maneuvers In the Dark, Utravox, Gary Numan, Visage, etc.). Even when New Order were Joy Division, they were working with electronics on some of their songs -- check out 'Isolation' off their 'Closer' album from 1980. Love watching the younger kids absorb all the great music that has come before. Keep on digging in the crates! You'll never know what new treasures you'll find!
I remember hearing this for the first time in the underage dance club I used to go to when I was 14. I can still FEEL the way the music reverberated through me. Timeless.
A gift from the 80’s! You got this 60 year old up and dancing - and remembering with a huge grin dance clubbing when I was young and gorgeous 😉 So glad to see these masterpieces from New Order are being appreciated ❤️❤️❤️
Yes Amber is correct in a lot of ways New Wave was a musical reaction and rejection against, the '70s arena/corporate Rock Machine. It LOOKED and SOUNDED different and Literally a New Wave of Style and Sound.
Before you're done with New Order, be sure to hit True Faith. It was their top hit. Hopefully you'll check out one of the live versions. Totally different experience!
I remember being 18 in 1983 & walking by a pub on a Friday night, this was was being belted out....... I was just blown away & have loved it ever since. One of those memories that music gives you, that stays with you for the rest of your life.
This was soooooo huge for us 80’s high schoolers!!! We loved this type music back in the day. We saw the death of disco, the birth of hair bands and the glorious beginning of techno/new wave!!! Can’t forget Punk!!!!
OMG. Seeing this reaction takes me back to a time. Being on the dancefloor, crowded, sweating, in the dark and even bumping into other people but everything was so cool. It was such an amazing feeling. You could catch a glimpse of someone else on the dancefloor, maybe a little knowing smirk. I wish so much that I could step back into a club like that now and go back to the '80s for one night. The memories that this song bring make me so happy to have been alive and young in the '80s. I swear, we never even really gave a thought to what the songs meant or were about. It was just about that feeling when you were in a crowd on the dancefloor.
1:58 "It reminds me of rave music" That's the natural conclusion to the story of "1983's Blue Monday". It was the best selling 12-inch record ever. Due to the intricate die-cut artwork of the sleeve, New Order lost money on every record sold. When that was eventually rectified, all the profits of this single and future hits all went to their shared stake in Factory Records massive superclub "The Haçienda" in Manchester, England. The club lost massive amounts of money until the end of the decade when future sounding songs like this helped usher in the rave scene and clubs like The Haçienda were perfect for holding massive raves. This single was way ahead of it's time for 1983 and stood out. It's main influences are Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder/Donna Summer combined, with a stolen Spaghetti Western riff. Peter Hook's signature playing the high-end of his bass guitar was unique and innovative itself and made New Order stand out.
This origianlly only released as a 12" single. Was the biggest selling 12" of all time too. Great song and great group. Love their stuff especially "Bizzare Love Triangle".
@@sammich7141 yep but not because it didnt make money. The reason New Order didnt make any money on it was due to Tony Wilson's mismanagement.(I.M.O) They basically bankrolled EVERYTHING he did. FACTORY RECORDS THE HACCIENDA. THE CRAPPY LATE NIGHT TV SHOW ON CHANNEL 4. It was made even more obvious when they left for another record company and everything Wilson "OWNED" WENT BANKRUPT if i remember rightly.
GARY NUMAN is arguably the main act to bring synthesizers mainstream beginning with Are Friends Electric and the classic hit Cars both in 1979. There were ealrier pioneers like Ultravox, The Human League etc, it was Gary Numan who ushered in the new age of synthesizers. The foundations were laid by Gershon Kingsley's Pop Corn (album was called Music To Moog By as it featured the Moog synthesizer) in 1969 that he re-released under the name Hot Butter in 1972, Kraftwerk's Autobahn in 1974, Jean Michel Jarre's seminal Oxygene in 1976 and Space's Magic Fly in 1977. Disco also helped pave the way with that pulsating rhythm that Georgio Moroder did on Donna Summer's hit I feel Love in 1977.
Thank you for this reply. It was interesting! I heard that Numan went to a recording studio to jam out, but he stumbled on a synth there, and there was no going back. I’m not sure if that is true. A former high school drama teacher introduced me to Kraftwerk, but it was not for me. When I heard Gary Numan and Flock of Seagulls, I was hooked! Early Simple Minds music was brilliant.
@@a-stranger-passing-thru He was recording an EP with the first line up of Tubeway Army, with uncle Jes Lidyard on drums and Paul Gardiner on Bass. There was a minimoog synthesizer there. He played around with it was blown away by the sounds it could make, and the rest is history. He was criminally underated and often slated by the press because he made it without there backing.
@@jpcjimThanks for mentioning more folk that pioneered synthesisers. Keith Emerson is the first person that comes to mind when anyone says 'Moog Modular'. Love the old photos of him and mad professor looking Bob Moog. Sure folk will throw more names into the hat like Chicory Tip, an early Brian Eno, or even Pete Townsend who was a big ARP user.
Imagine my surprise, when I rushed out and bought Power, Corruption and Lies on the day it was released. Played it loud when I got home from school, where was Blue Monday? Not there! Although got to say the album was a blinder!
In a way I'm pretty envious that you are hearing this for the first time. As a young teenager listening to Joy Division and New Order literally changed my life.
As someone who was a teen and in my early 20s during the 80s, we would go to the underground clubs to hear music like this. This was not played on most pop radio stations...this was definitely club music...back in the day when we had real underground clubs. Not everyone knew where these clubs were. Those we're the days. I so miss the 80s. I was lucky to have grown up in that era.
Oh, you've hit upon a hell of a groundbreaking band and track with this. It still sounds fresh today. I was NEVER into this type of music I was into Reggae & Ska big time back then. But, when this came out I couldn't stop dancing. This changed my mind about limiting myself to one type of music only. 40 years! I don't know where the time went.
New Order is definitely one of the bands/artists at the top of the list of Synthesizer pioneers. Also, Depeche Mode, Howard Jones, Thomas Dolby, YAZ (aka Yahoo), Kraftwerk…I might be missing a few more, but I consider the daddy of The Synthesizer is Gary Numan. His biggest hit was a song called “Cars”, but the album “Cars” is on is GENIUS!
Gary Numan was one of the greatest synth innovaters of the late 70's, & early 80's. Check out 'Are friends electric?' or 'Cars' by him, they'll really open your eyes........and ears!!
But the German bands Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream were experimenting with synthesizers in the early seventies. Kraftwerk (1970), Autobahn (1974), Trans Europe Express (1977) and The Man Machine (1978) were highly influential Kraftwerk albums. Giorgio Moroder with Donna Summer successfully brought electronic music to the wider public domain. I Feel Love changed everything.
@@thomasalexand The trouble with being first is that whoever comes afterwards are usually better/more popular/more successful, because of technological advances, & of course, more understanding of the 'medium'! Innovators like Kraftwerk, are universally respected, but their 'niche' remains pretty narrow.
New Order was on a while different level than other 80s artists, even within their own genre. The texture and layers of sound in the music is incomparable. And they weren’t a celebrity band. They never seemed interested in fame at all. Their videos were PROFOUND.
New Wave synth pioneers: Gary Numan: Are Friends Electric, or Cars Orchestral Manouvers in the Dark: Tesla Girls, or Enola Gay Human League: Lebanon, or Don't You Want Me. Then the band that inspired them all. KRAFTWERK: the Model, or Tour d'France Yello and Art of Noise are also well worth a listen
I hate to be THAT guy trying to put you onto newer stuff, but have you heard Gary Numan's latest? Check his video for Saints and Liars here on RUclips. It's so rare when you see a guy 40 years past his first hits put out interesting new music.
Blue Monday is iconic in the UK. If you like that 80s synth sound and going on a musical trip then Vienna by Ultravox would be a good one to check out if you haven't already. I was also thinking maybe Fade to Grey by Visage is a cool sound. Thanks for the reactions, always enjoyable.
One of my #1 favorites! My pal always says- “They aren’t musicians, They’re ELECTRICIANS!”- yeah, & I love them! Depeche Mode!, PetShop Boys!, bring em on!
If that's true, then only guitarists that play acoustic are real musicians. It doesn't matter how the sounds are produced or manipulated...it is the MUSIC that matters.
This song plus Donna Summer's I Feel Love and Depeche Mode's Enjoy The Silence is the top 3 electronic pop music of all time. By the way, I watched them play it around the time of the release.
This was released on 12" vinyl and was in the UK charts for the best part of a year. As a DJ it was a must play at least once. Went well with Relax, Just Can't get enough from Depeche Mode, Enola Gay from OMD, Making plans for Nigel from XTC and Two Tribes from Franky goes to Hollywood. Also went well with Quiet Life from Japan Planet earth from Duran Duran and Private lives from Grace Jones.
If you truly want to experience what this track does to you, and I know all the Brits out there from our generation will agree with me, try listening to this in a dance hall, with the DJ booth on stage, huge dass speakers, everyone's been dancing for about two hours. The drum beat you feel going through your chest and your own heart beat follows the tempo. By the end of the night you are exhausted, sweating profusely, you're the walking dead but you feel so alive.
The godfathers of electronic music are Kraftwerk, a German band from 1970(!). These guys were hardcore techno-needs; they invented, designed and built their own electronic instruments and distortion devices by hand!
We went nuts for this! This was in the very first group of full-on synth dance music. Definitely way way before becoming mainstream. In my highschool there was me and MAAAYBE 4 other kids tops that knew nd listened to this at time it came out.
This for me is the absolute pinnacle of the New Wave scene in the 80's. An absolute BANGER !! Couldn't stop playing this when it came out, absolute class.
Blue Monday new order was probably one of the first British proto house music track that was a head of its time very influential to the late 80s Acidhouse scene when Chicago house music arrived in Britain New order owned a club called the hacienda that championed Chicago house and Detroit techno in the late 80s and gave British youth a club then when extacy culture arrived in Britain it gave birth to rave culture before we called it rave we called it Acidhouse a blend a mixture of culture coming together for peace love and hedonistic ritual dancing
Laurie Anderson's 1981 song "O Superman" paralyzed me and shattered my brain when I was a kid. The song is very minimalist compared to New Order. She uses the space between the notes to create tension and anticipation.
Love to hear you stepping outside your comfort zone! Some more iconic electronic artists to check out (but completely different) are Kraftwerk and Jean-Michel Jarre. Try listening to Kraftwerk’s “The Model”, “We Are The Robots” or “Tour De France”. Then with Jean-Michel Jarre try “Magnetic Fields 2”, “Oxygène, Pt. 4”, “Équinoxe, Pt. 5” or “Rendezvous Pt 4”. These guys were precursors to this 80s electronica. For a completely different feel listen to “Spybreak (A Short One” by The Propellerheads or to come right up to date, Public Service Broadcasting’s “Spitfire”, “Gagarin”, “Go!” or “People, Let’s Dance”! All different but all brilliant!
@@davidmarsden9800 yes, my personal fave Kraftwerk track/album… just wasn’t sure @jay and @amber were ready to do a 23 minute epic reaction yet!!!!! 😉🤣🤣🤣
The 80s were amazing, and I'm so glad you all are giving our tunes a true listen. To answer your question about who started synth, you should dip into the history of the synthesizers. It's a fun rabbit hole.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
This was a HUGE HUGE hit in the alternative dance clubs when the New Wave hit. New Order, Thomas Dolby, Depeche Mode, Human League, Heaven 17 were all cranking out really great electronic music. You have to hear more from New Order: Bizarre Love Triangle, True Faith, 1963, Touched By the Hand of God, Thieves Like Us, Perfect Kiss, I can go on and on. They were all HUGE dance club hits. And no night was complete without Blue Monday. Great times on the dancefloor!!!
Heaven 17 "Penthouse to Pavement" ... f'ing BANGER
They totally need to do a lot more New Order. One of the best and now overlooked bands, like INXS.
Oh yeah Heaven 17! Loved Let me Go!
Up there with Blue Monday's synths and effects are: Ministry - Everyday is Halloween, Tones on Tail (Go!, Performance, There's Only One), Depeche Mode (People are People). Joy Division from which New Order sprung after Ian Curtis' suicide was a pioneer of post-punk along with Gang of Four and The Cure (Three Imaginary Boys era) and though fairly dark, drums and guitar driven, they used synth heavily on their track Isolation in 1980, hinting at the direction Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris would soon take the band.
Agree Bizzare Love Triangle is the dance and wedding dance song of the late eighties. I would add OMD. If You Leave.
As a 63 year old Brit, I can say the early 1980s were a MISERABLE time in England, but we had the BEST music.
I went from the radio still playing 1950s rock-and-roll to 1970s glam rock, to Kate Bush in a few years, then things like this, Depeche Mode, and so much else.
Music took a quantum leap forward in those years.
Miserable? Really? Better than the 70's and now.
@@MrFoxy125the AIDS epidemic? The Cold War? Radioactive rain from Chernobyl? Miner’s strike, Falklands War, Piper Alpha, Lockerbie, the Herald of Free Enterprise, Hillsborough? The 80’s in the UK were rough.
@maryavatar I wasn't thinking in those terms. Every decade has and will continue to have disasters. I remember the strikes, rubbish in the streets, power cuts, poor economy, and lack of jobs in the 70s. The 80s offered greater prosperity, and you could afford a house, unlike now.
Unemployed at 3 million to
Great reaction guys
This song was a "put down your drink NOW and rush the dance floor" song. You suddenly hear those first few notes & your eyes get big, you grab your friend and GO lol! And Amber's absolutely correct about how NEW this sound was, coupled with the fact that it was totally a club track & so was meant to be experienced physically, not just aurally. We were LIVING lol!!!
Dance floor filler, every time. I loved the early 80's
Like your put the drink Down and go
........and start break dancing!
YESSSSSS..... Unsitdownable..... Love New Order ❤❤❤
As to the first hit synth records,Popcorn by Hot Butter was really ahead of the curve in summer 1972 (so reminds me of spending my time out playing in that year's school holidays),and then along came Kraftwerk from the mid-70s onwards. A whole host of synth groups started to make it big from 1979 and 1980 onwards. New Order's first single (following the tragic demise of Joy Division the previous year) was Ceremony in early 1981,which I bought when it came out.
Im 61 yrs old now and never tire of this song. It's absolutely timeless.
It’s not 61 years old! Being 54 I remember being 14 listening to this being blown away ! 1983 was the year ! Oh the 80s ! Best decade ever to grow up as a teenager!
Me tooooooo. I'm 60 at it blew me away when it first came out. Big kraftwerk fan as well.
me too dude!!!!!@@07headshot
Indeed. It still rocks. Every time
@@RandomUser2512256 years here. Never forgot the first time I heard this song. Stood head and shoulders above the rest.
New Order was the band formed by the remaining members of Joy Division after lead singer Ian Curtis took his own life. New Order was amazing and this entire album was a straight up banger. Believe me, we danced to this song in the clubs for years!
Joy Division's most well known song is Love Will Tear Us Apart and it's worth a listen.
ruclips.net/video/zuuObGsB0No/видео.html
I dismissed Joy Division because I hated New Order, but I got into them later...
Wow I didn't know that. Thank you for this bit of info
Love will tear us apart is a masterpiece!!! R.I.P Ian!!!
There are some great remixes too.
You've heard Blue Monday for the first time! NOW...tell me now how do you feel?
I feel so extraordinary...
@@bigal3055 somethings gotten over you and now you got a feeling you're in motion?
@ruudwee Yeah, it's weird! It's like a sudden sense of liberty.
I feel like listening to Joy Division!
I feel like dancing 😊
This is what is called the second british invasion of music. The alternative (new Wave) music vibe. The 80s was unreal. Black clothes, loud dark nightclubs, clove cigarette smell and dancing to the vibes. Greatest time of my life.
Same here with some party favours added to that mix. I'm 51 now but I have no regrets and I've heard all the music that these kids are listening to now!
Clove cigarettes..lol.. that takes me back!
@@billyboycinci I know I laughed at that.
Yuuuussssss!!!!!
Back then, before the Goth term came 'round, the genre was known as Death Rock.
Me?
I was a bit of a weirdo and always referred to it as Bat Cave or Dark Wave.
But by the closing of the 20th century, there was Industrial/ EBM (Electronic Body Music)
Then David Byrne took it up to 11
The bass played like a lead instrument is what makes this band so awesome.
You ought to listen to the Who - and of course the Stranglers -- bass up high
As an old Bassist, the Bass *is* a lead instrument...at least to us Bassists! LOL!
It comes out of nowhere, almost alien
@@andyf2837 joy division is better
No@@elcepadedick579
Blue Monday is a masterpiece. A true work of genius. It will remain one of the finest pieces of music ever created. You don't have to be into the genre to recognise that. Humans always know when something is very special.
Well said.
Humans know a good Country song when they hear it.
Humans know a good quality Disco song when they hear it.
I echo your sentiments.
I'd like to think that if we brought back Beethoven or. jS Bach, they'd still feel this
@@ianmorton1799 Imagine Beethoven producing electronic music, that would be so fire. Some fine neo classical music
New Order is former members of the band Joy Division (they formed after the death of their infamous singer Ian Curtis). New Order was not mainstream they were played in underground clubs,punk,goth,queer.
The first popular synth song was probably Cars by Gary Newman got a lot of play on early MTV.
New Order were a band apart from all the other synth bands.
Check out Depeche Mode:Personal Jesus,
Echo and the Bunnymen:Dancing Horses
and something a little heavier Pailhead: No Bunny. 😊
@@Racheltd67 Human League's "Being Boiled" may have beaten "Cars". It was released in 1978. It was also MUCH better than Cars.
This song, when played LOUD, on speakers, when your entire body can feel the music... is simply...other worldly. Fantastic dance tune !!
I remember standing in front of the wall of speakers at dances and feeling your rib cage vibrate
Information society-pure energy .....hits so hard and clean... back in the late 90s/00's when I was into car audio it was one of my favorites to play
@@mikethayer8122 Fucking Love that!!! I could be 99 yrs old & STILL love that chest thumping bass, skull shaking sound!!
#ClubKid4Life
FUN FACTS FOREVER.....💃💃💃💃💃🤟🌞💜
@@mikethayer8122your arm hair dances!!!
So, this IS by far THE BIGGEST dance song from the entire decade! It was a game changer when it originally came out in 1983! So much so, that to this day it holds the record as the best selling 12" single of all time. New Order was one of my favorite bands of the 80s. They were not really an electronic band. They were the remaining members of Joy Division, which was a post punk/new wave ba d from the late 70s and early 80s. Their lead vocalist took his own life, and they reformed as New Order a couple years later. This song was originally an instrumental track they played at their concerts when they were finished, but a lit of people liked what they were hearing, so they decided to actually make a song out of it. Little did they know that that background track thing would become the massive hit it ended up being! And yes, being there as a 17 year old teenager at the time and already hitting the clubs, you can only imagine what we felt the first time we heard this. There will never, ever, be another decade like the 80s!!!!!!
Joy Division = proto-goth also.
So true! Especially at the right kind of club. We were "goin' off" hard! I thank you for the information!
Amen🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮
I was 16, hitting the clubs😎😎😎😎
The 80s = best music decade 😀
This track has never ever sounded dated. It sounded futuristic when it came out and regularly charts somewhere in the world all these years later. If you ever wake up hear this track and it sounds old you've truly fallen through a time slip and must be 100s of years in the future. Perfect and timeless.
I bought the vinyl 12" of it when it was out first time in spring 1983. Pretty sure I've still got it somewhere. I really hope it isn't warped by now.
@@rjjcms1 I’m jealous! I moved around a lot and lost this 12 inch and my amazing record player.
@@littlecatfeet9064That's unfortunate,but the way life goes,I suppose. I lost a few things I wanted to keep in one or two moves of house long ago now,but after six moves in under a decade I've had the same home address since 1998. I still have nearly all the vinyl singles I bought in 1979 and the 80s but unfortunately not currently a working record player/turntable to play them on!
I was watching tik tok the other day and some zoomer girls started doing the cutting shapes dance to it. It brought a smile to my face.
I feel SO FORTUNATE to have lived during that time. To have experienced the power, the magic, the diversity, the creativity, and the intensity of eighties music!
Someone said in the comments that the 1980’s had a futurist feel of how life was gonna go forward.
What happened?
@@janef220 Good question! Seems everything went to Hell.
@@janef220the 90’s happened… and change was in “demand” now we wish things stayed the same
100 % I'm now feeling how I'm taken back to getting ready to head out to a house party and listening to this and I'm now transported back in time to my youth 🙂 Brilliant.
This song is the quintessential “FILL THE FREAKING DANCE FLOOR IMMEDIATELY” best song EVER!!!!
OH YEAH!!
If this didn't get you on your feet, tearing up the flooring, you might be dead....
Maybe.....
✌️
What happened to Sandstorm?
I remember when this came out. It was HUGE in the dance clubs. It was everywhere! Almost 40 years later and this song is still fire!
best club mix is New Order - Blue Monday (Moreno J Remix Re-edited)
ruclips.net/video/T4oKfgKU_W4/видео.html
I'm 54, this was an anthem for us. You'd never know to look at me or any of my peers now, but we raged exactly as lions before being thrown meat in a menagerie.
I am 53, and I approve this! It really was an anthem for us.
Complètement d'accord, New Order, Depeche Mode, Xymox, quelle chance d'avoir grandi dans les années 80
51- and 1000% we rocked the fuck out to New Order every time we went out!!
This was night club magic! Nike high-tops, parachute pants, spiked hair, and insane dance. The 80s. You should try: Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin
Z Cavarricci pants, too, later on! IOU, Guess. Goths, too!
Z Cavarici. Just saying.
Pet Shop Boys West End Girls
Absolutely right!!! Dance clubs were big in the 80s and Blue Monday was a must!!
Also bass was huge!! Gotta feel it!!
Neutron dance
The chorus is a sample from the German group Kraftwerk, pioneers in electronic music in the 70's. The beat is Donna Summer. The guitar is an inspiration from the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The remaining members of Joy Division had to really develop new mixing technology to put all this together. Exceptional concept, one of the flares that occasionally popped up separate from the main stream. Timeless piece of art.
Hookey's bass is completely Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western lift. Wonderful.
The greatest 12" single ever released
@@DavidWalker-sh1dq For its time, I agree. Got mine in the box.
Best and biggest ever selling 12” of all time. I had an original in my teens and am still amazed at how it’s stood the test of time
Donna Summer = Giorgio Moroder
this song was the national anthem of the night clubs in the 80's. When I used to dj back then, this always packed the dance floor
I'm 63 and I was NOT much into electronic/synth music at the time BUT ... THIS!! I haven't heard it in 30 years and it sounds fresher than ever now - I can hear more layers, appreciate the craft a lot more - this is FIRE - just as Jay said.
New Order's lyrics often explored loneliness, alienation, abusive relationships and the general darker side of the human experience. Other great tracks are Regret, Round and Round, Bizarre Love Triangle and Perfect Kiss. Also, yes, this song was hugely revolutionary when it came out. New Order was on the cutting edge of techno and had a huge influence on all of the genres of electronic music that came after it.
New Order always seemed to retain the essence of Ian Curtis without being explicit. I love that about them. The dichotomy of melancholic lyrics with joyful music.
I second those recommendations! 😃👍🏼
All great New Order songs!
The Perfect Kiss would be another great reaction.
I second this comment too
well said@@GradyBroyles
This song was so popular at the dance clubs. Yes, people went crazy when this song started to play !
Hell yeah! Mid-‘80s, Thursday night at the Park Ave nightclub in downtown Milwaukee, New Wave Night, I’d bring my $2 cover charge and just dance all night long to New Order, REM, OMD, Depeche Mode, and my personal favorite (to this day!)-Big Pig, who just had one hit that didn’t chart big, but I think their album Bonk is one of the best of the decade. I play it all the time.
@@kathyastrom1315 never heard of Big Pig. Will definitely check them out. I’d add Shriekback to your excellent list.
@@vespoint Their only hit, Breakaway, is heard over the opening credits of one of the Bill and Ted films. I actually prefer a lot of the other songs on the album. IIRC, they only had one other album before breaking up. They were Australian, and their female lead singer was Sri Lankan. What I love about their sound is its percussion-out of seven members, five played drums and/or percussion, the other two harmonica and keyboard. It’s very industrial as a result. The vocals are terrific, and the songs on Bonk are rich in storytelling.
@@kathyastrom1315 OMG- I miss the Park Ave days! Walk in, head straight to the dance floor and stay there until closing time- then collapse on the upstairs couches till they cleared us out. Awesome club & great people 👍
@@kathyastrom1315 Nice to see R.E.M. included
This came out in ‘83 and is still the biggest selling 12” single of all time. Try “The Perfect Kiss” or “True Faith” next.
I’d add Bizarre Love Triangle to the list
@@amymikesparks2699 yes especially the 12" version remixed by Shep Pettibone -- it has some really nice panning effects.
It's the soundtrack of Decatur St in New Orleans before AIDS decimated it.
Apparently, due to the high cost of the fancy sleeve for this single (designed to look like a floppy disk), they lost money on every copy they sold.
"Regret" (The Fire Island Mix) is sublime. Wistfully beautiful and melancholic. N.O. at their best.
I can't believe I missed this reaction last year. For me, this is the ULTIMATE 80s dance song! This takes me back to Flamingo's dance club on 6th Street in Austin. No matter how tired I was, I ran to the dance floor as soon as I heard the first few beats. Dancing to this fabulous song was an experience. I would just close my eyes and let the beat take me to another place. The music was almost like a drug. If I could time travel, I would go back for 1 night of dancing in the mid-80s. Good times!
Maybe or Relax by Frankie ?
If Y'all had an hour to hear about how critical this song was to emergence of entire genres that we have today, like House and techno. It was like an atom bomb in the clubs. You could not go a single night for YEARS withoput hearing it. Every. DJ. Was playing it. Endlessly. (myself included)
it bridged eras between one that sounded like Joy Division and the one that sounded like New Order. It was a natural evolution brought on by the untimely passing of Joy Division's singer the genius and beloved Ian Curtis which sent the remaining members into a period of self-reflection, but they new they would carry on. And so New Order was born. It's one heck of a rock and roll story. RIP Ian Curtis.
Thank you for mentioning Joy Division and Ian.
As crucial and influential as this song is I feel Donna Summers 'I Feel Love' was more of a birth to 'house, techno, trance' and those types of genres than this song was
@@trjbrew I cannot wait for them to get to Joy Division. They're gonna fall in love with Ian just like we all did
@@rustycohle7779 I'm quite sure New Order was very influenced by Giorgio Moroder. I Feel Love is actually a Moroder track that Donna Summer sang on. It's similar in that way how Ray of Light was really a William Orbit track that Madonna sang on. I'm quite sure that William Orbit was an influence as well.
The thing is that Blue Monday was present in late 80's early 90's clubs in a way that I Feel Love wasn't It was already an "oldie" by the time New Order hit the scene. You didn't start to hear I Feel Love again until well into the 90's when House DJ's dusted it off gave it and Giorgio Moroder a whole new career. IMO, "I Feel Love" is the first *true* House music track. Moroder didn't think of it that way, but it used a "4-on-the-floor" beat, which is the base of all House and Techno whereas most Disco was still using a rock-style back beat.
Should anyone be interested:
this is an analysis of the song Blue Monday by RUclips channel Produce Like A Pro. ruclips.net/video/Iyzk1Gwwu7c/видео.html
Another great song by them, 'Bizarre Love Triangle'. Both were big club songs and still are on retro nights!
Yup.
Yes! That's pretty much my favorite song of all time. As soon as opening notes to any NO song came on, the whole club would explode.
The extended version!
And True Faith!!
Temptation
The first real synth band to make a mark -- the real pioneers -- were Kraftwerk. They were the original synth group to have wide following and they may still be the greatest. They were already pretty famous in the 70s and not only had a huge influence on 80s pop, but rap and hip hop too. Check out "The Robots", "Trans Europe Express" or for some of their best stuff from the 80s, "Techno Pop" or "The Telephone Call" -- among many tunes by them.
Not to forget „Das Modell“ 👍🏼
Dont forget the mid seventies hit autobahn
the most famous one is too mainstream, i guess?
So glad that someone chimed in about Kraftwerk as that’s exactly what I dropped in on the comments to do.
I would suggest they do Computer Love or Computer World.. or possible “The Man Machine”, but I really love all the songs everyone is listing.
Notably, hip hop became heavily influenced by Kraftwerk and the use of synthesizers from when Afrrika Bambaata shared a join in a friends flat in NYC and heard him playing “Trans Europe Express” on his home stereo system.
Though I’ve tried several times to suggest it on a few react channels, I’ve yet to see any of the RUclips react channels react to any Kraftwerk.
It’s really a shame since it opens the door to not only 80’s dance pop, but techno/house music, EDM, as well as the entire genre of experimental prog “krautrock” of the 70’s which also inspired Brian Eno to invite David Bowie there, who in turn invited both Iggy Pop and Lou Reed as well which revised and thereby revived ALL of their careers, which, of course led to the modernization of many pop bands influenced by them who later surfaced in the 80’s like New Order we hear here as well as many other popular 80’s acts like The Art of Noise, Yello, Yaz, Ministry, Soft Cell, The Cure, Gary Numan, Human League, or even more unusual stylings like Cabaret Voltaire, Severed Heads, Nina Hagen, Laurie Anderson.. etc etc etc.. Kraftwerk really factors in HEAVILY for multiple bands from various genres all the way from the late 70’s, the 80’s, 90’s, and onward if you count indirect influences right up to our current day (Daft Punk, Die Antwoord, etc.).
Pocket Calculator :)
It's a song I have heard a million times and even now I still hear it for the first time.
This track was such a staple of club music in the 80s, it was STILL a staple of the clubs in the 90s. Still dropping on dancefloors 15 years later and still sounded as fresh and new as the day it arrived. True genius.
My nephew said that THIS version is STILL being played in clubs he goes to!!😯😯
I was about to write your comment! I clearly remember being in a club in the late 90s and this came on and everyone on the dancefloor went nuts!
Y'all! We went INSANE when this track dropped and would come on in the Clubs. I am SO HAPPY you found New Order, they are the soundtrack of so many of my 80s high school memories
Substance 1987 is the best album. My husband bought it for me on vinyl a few years back.
This song Broke the Mold!
When it came out it hyped everything up. Record shops were full. Dance floors were full.
It was a great time to be a 20 year old.
Can't believe you've got this far through life and not heard Blue Monday. One of the best 12" singles sold.
I don't think the kids today might understand what a 12-inch is. They might think it's something x-rated!
Isn’t it THE best selling 12 inch record of all time? I’m sure I read that somewhere. It’s an incredible piece of music
@@leehackett1614yes. The BEST selling 12” of all time.
when you listen to this song, you have to picture a crowded and busy dancefloor in a dark 80s nightclub, smoke everywhere coming from the smoke machine, and the only light is coming from a stroboscope beating in time to the music. and you're right in the middle of all of it.
I remember it well 😬🎶❤️
Exactly!!! Loved to dance to this!!!😎🎶
Yeah, the smoke was coming from the smoke machines... lol
Exactly 🤟
@@geozeo9573 Of course! Walking to the restrooms smelled like...the smoke machine! And no one ever did cocaine in the Eighties ever, too. People were just naturally happy.
Impossible not to underestimate how huge and influential this song was in the 1980’s! There was nothing like it when it came out. It was the one song got everybody off their butts and dance - so much fun; sent you to a different place. You didn’t have to be in a dance club, it was omnipresent. Way ahead of its time. Joy Divisions/New Order were an awesome talent!
“Who first made synths popular?” That would probably be Tubeway Army with Are Friends Electric? and their lead singer who went solo, Gary Numan with the song, Cars. You should definitely check those two tracks out!
But, the first all-synth band ever was/is (they still exist) Kraftwerk in the 70’s. Synthpop more or less starts with them.
Yes...Are Friends Electric is amazing.
Before the Tubeway Army there was a band from Germany called Kraftwerk who had an album called Autobahn which was most people's introduction to electronic music and is still held up as a classic today
AGREED! I keep suggesting the Very Rare 1979 Unbroadcast Version of "Are 'Friends' Electric?" found on You Tube.
Synths were popular in the late 60s. The Beatles, The Monkees, The Byrds, The Doors, and many others started using them.
@@magneto7930 Yes, but we're mainly talking about the earliest bands to use synths as the main instrument in most of or all of their songs
I was a light jockey at a massive underground nightclub back in the 80s and all the DJs had special imported UK mixes for this track. When this hit the dance floor, all flood lights were set off, black lights on and it was an insane $250,000 lazer light show with sequences I designed specifically for this track. Another track with similar vibes to this that the crowd loved was Strafe's Set It Off.
You make me want to go back
I will NEVER get tired of this song. My brain is instantly on a dance floor when I hear it.
I had to take it off my driving playlists, though. It caused my one and only speeding ticket.
Hahaha I hear that! Suddenly you're going 90 mph and rocking to that beat!
@@octoberguy Impossible not to!
In my opinion the first song that brought the electro-synth sound to the forefront and popularized it in the mainstream was "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer. Released in 1977 it was produced by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte and was influential to such 80s bands as Human League and Blondie.
Interesting. I immediately thought "Sweet Dreams" by Eurythmics when Amber said "mainstream," but I can't disagree with this or "Cars" by Gary Numan, which someone else suggested. Or even "Heroes" by Bowie and Brian Eno. Interesting question.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! my thoughts exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!
I still remember when we had a street party back in ‘77 with about 150 people there. The DJ put on I Feel Love and after the first few notes a huge cheer went up and EVERYBODY got up to dance. Magic times.
The intro drum beat on this was sampled from Donna Summer - Our Love
There is a behind the scenes interview on the making of that track and how they doubled the base line for the bouncy sound...all before anything digital!
Still the best-selling 12" single of all time. 'Nuf said. 💗
Because it was only available on 12"... ;-)
@@neilmccrudden It was also released as a 7" by Tonpress in '83 as well as on some cassette and CD versions of their Power, Corruption and Lies album ('83) and was featured on the Substance 1987 compilation.
Not including all the various remixes...
@@andreamaronn4510 It was released in Poland in 1985 along with Thieves like us by Tonpress. Not in the UK... A 7" version is not long enough and the later remixes are awful... ;-)
Love it. You should listen to Jah Wobble - Visions of you featuring Sinead O’Conner.
I seem to recall hearing that the band lost money on every copy sold due to the sleeve being very expensive to make. I am sure I saw Pater Hook interviewed years ago saying they were the only band in history to pray that their record would stop selling ! BTW as an eighties child myself hearing this again has brought back so many fantastic memories. I can still see my friends and I up on the cliffs late at night with a fire and this blaring out of the car speakers at full volume repeated over and over again.
One of the biggest tracks of all time. The layers, the build, the groove, the sounds, the effects, the vibe, the dynamics, the journey... All fire 🔥🔥🔥
The pioneers of electronic music were Kraftwerk, a band from Germany, and New Order took it to the next level.
Kraftwerk were amazing....I would add Japan to that list of early pioneers.
Tangerine Dream were another pioneering German band formed 2 years earlier than Kraftwerk
Imagine back then there were cavernous all night clubs and the DJs would have a super extended ethereal psycho mix of this and the strobes and smoke.. you can barely see anyone's face but you knew this was the place to be that night.
This tune was a gamechanger. Way ahead of its time. New Order weaved layers of pulsating-electro-FAB! Architects in the genre. Peter Hook's base was integral to their sound. Maybe Kraftwerk (Germany) can be credited with planting the seeds of the genre.
definitely kraftwerk
Was going to say Kraftwerk, in the minds of common people ...
They brought house music to the UK with their Club HACIENDA in Manchester. They had a main influence in what became (Manchester) Rave.
BASS
Kraftwerk werre pioneers talkin 75
Peter Hook banging away with his bass on this track is brilliant
Actually, it was Kraftwerk, a German band formed in 1969 that pioneered the synth wave format. It wasn't until 1979 or the early 80s that it really took off in America though, under the title of 'New Wave'. Their most popular album was 'Compter World' released in 1981. Also, the band 'Art of Noise' was a staple of mid 80s synth, with their track 'Peter Gunn'
In fact, the human choir sound (ahhhh) at several points in this song is actually a sample from a Kraftwerk song (switched to a different key).
@@pfink70 Perhaps you’re talking about the Kraftwerk song, Showroom Dummies?
@@prebenpoejensen8256 Actually, it's from Uranium on Radio-Activity. The choir sound was originally produced on a mellotron.
@@pfink70 Ah, okay! I haven’t heard that album for quite a while, although I have it in my collection. Thanks for telling!
And Kraftwerk was in turn inspired by artists like Delia Derbyshire (UK, made the original Dr Who theme among other things) in the 50's and Gershon Kingsley (US artist, made the song "Popcorn") in the 60's. It's why I get annoyed at people claiming techno was invented out of nothing in Chicago - it emerged there, but it was heavily inspired by a bunch of European and earlier American stuff and wasn't created from thin air.
Remember, this is almost 40 years old. Insane.
That’s what blows my mind every time I listen. It sounds almost futuristic. Even now.
If you haven't already, try out *The Smiths:* "How Soon Is Now?". I bet that one will make you guys ask a million questions 😁
Exactly my thought!!! Great jam!!!
YES!!!
Thats the best song to come out of the smiths imo
Definitely. Also Fools Gold by The Stone Roses.
I concur. The Smiths are AMAZING! Morrissey has not only the swagger of Elvis but also the smooth yet confident voice. He actually sounded like an 80s Elvis. I would recommend "Shoplifters of the World" instead of "How Soon is Now" though.
I’m a English girl from Essex, I was living in Australia at the time. Us girls were about 16 years old night clubbing, when New Order’s Blue Monday came on. It was a completely different sound to compared to other bands at the time. It was totally awesome.
Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Echo and the Bunnymen, Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark and Simple Minds were early pioneers in synthesizer rock.
Gary Numan preceded them
Human League?
Pet Shop Boys should be in there, too!
Oh My, this is what I listened to, at concerts I went to in the early 1980s-mid 1980s, fond memories
Erasure. Anything Box. Bronski Beat. Cause and Effect. Cetu Javu. A Flock of Seagulls. Micro Chip League. Modern English. The Normal. Oingo Boingo. Plastic Bertrand. Q Lazzarus. Romeo Void. Soft Cell. When In Rome…. just to name a few.
This song is absolutely LEGEND! The ultimate 80’s song. New Order were inspired by Hip Hop and House (electronic dance music from Chicago) and made this absolute masterpiece! I think this originally came out in 1980 or ‘81. This *still* is the best selling 12” vinyl single.
New Order formed after the lead singer for the band (then named Joy Division) committed suicide on their first American tour.
Guitarist/keyboard player Bernard Sumner took over on lead vocals. Hence the name change. You should definitely check out their previous incarnation, Joy Division. Totally different vibe.
House didn't exist at the time.
Tahoe Nevada this song came out in 1983! Remastered and released again in 1986.
@@ceceliacross5953 OK. I recall that I said, “I think”. Meaning I don’t know off the top of my head, and was too busy typing to use Google
Easter 1983. I'd just got back to University after Easter break when I heard it and I went straight out and bought the 12"
Thank you so much, this song is profound to many of us. This song was about Ian Curtis' suicide, which happened on a weekend, and we heard about it on a very Blue Monday.... He was the lead singer of Joy Division which became New Order.
Actually that’s not true. The song is not about his death.
They were just he first to make a track like this. It changed music. They merged punk, and disco and Kraftwerk and made a masterpiece
Amber: YES! My favourite rave music genre was called "Trance." And the name says it all. New Order were the early purveyors of what would become Trance music (at least IMO).
Your main 80s synth pioneers are: New Order, Depeche Mode and Human League. Try: "Everything Counts" and "People Are People (Depeche Mode); "Fascination" and "Don't You Want Me?" (The Human League)
Let's throw in some Yaz too.
@@snyderkg ABSOLUTELY!
OMG! I was just listening to Everything Counts in Large Amounts in my car today!
Depeche Mode is like oxygen!
Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, and New Order what were all us 80's gay kids were listening to. I also listened to New Order's collaboration with the Pet Shop Boys Electronic.
So awesome… theses guys are in a pool,of great bands from this type music- new order, Depeche Mode, the cure, the smith’s, pet shop boys, erasure , orchestral maneuvers in the dark.. a ton of great innovative music.. some of the best ever..
Absolutely killer track, play it on a dance floor in 2023 and it still moves people. It was on a Manchester label called Factory records, who cultivated amazing talent, but were too busy partying to take care of business. So, they managed to loose 10pence (at the time roughly 20 cents) on each copy sold. And it sold a lot! So, eventually they stopped pressing it. Years later, it was remixed and repressed, an this time, they made the money they deserved. It’s still available on 12 inch vinyl, and sounds even better.
Big love to yo both from London, UK
Ive 2 original copies from the factory days. one I play the other is just lets stay a STOCK for future dividends plus of course the 88 remixes too
“Bizarre Love Triangle” (extended version) by New Order is another absolute banger full of synths which dare you to try and sit still. New Order are one of my favorite bands of all time and they still continue to bring it right up to today. Will be seeing them (for the third time) this October at the Hollywood Bowl along with Pet Shop Boys on their “Unity Tour”. Cannot wait! So much more for you guys to explore in a trip down the New Order rabbit hole. Your question on who broke through to the mainstream when talking about synth based music, while New Order hold the record for the biggest selling 12” inch record with this masterpiece, the first synthpop song to breakthrough on the US Pop Singles and open the floodgates for the second British Music Invasion was “Don’t You Want Me” by Human League which represented a sea change in the sound of pop music and top 40 radio airplay. Hitting #1 on the US Hot 100 Singles Pop Chart in July 1982. What followed was a flood of UK New Wave Synth Pop 80s classics which would characterize the early and mid 80s US pop music charts (by way of UK 🇬🇧)
I still blast this song....takes me right back to the 80's. I wouldn't trade my teens for any other decade. The music was absolutely everything. I remember when I first heard this. Went with a friend to a guy's place who just bought this 12" and when I heard it, I was blown away. I think we listened to it at least 10 times. It was a sound I had never heard before. I'm so lucky to have been 16 during this time. We had some amazing music. The top 40 hits were all over the place...metal, punk, pop, rap, dance. Loved it!
Me either with the 70s
@@theodoreritola7641 90's indie rock was pretty good to be a part of too!
I just got to say, I love so much how you guys really appreciate and understand the music of the 80s. It was an amazing time. Peace.
I agree! So exciting to see a true appreciation and just a “pause” to actually really listen to the music of formative years, that did influence so many of the future gen.
British guy here! This is an incredible song, it has haunted me for years. Like all the best songs, it’s hard to pin down what it is about. It may be about the Falklands War, which was happening at the time - it was a confusing time in which lives were lost fighting over a spec of land and the nation was divided about “how should we feel”
You guys were commenting about how advanced this sounded for its time. I completely agree, as I can still remember my initial reaction to hearing this when it was released. My mind was utterly blown and it still is my favourite song ever! It's definitely earned its place in music history and in dance music's overall evolution.
I guess you'd have to go back to Donna Summer & Giorgio Moroder's "I Feel Love" from 1977 to understand how "Blue Monday" came to be. Dance music was evolving very quickly, just in those few short years -- you had disco branch out into Ital Disco and HI-Nrg dance music and Germany's Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" and "Man-Machine" albums; while, at the same time, you had the post-punk artists, a few of which were working with synths and electronics (Human League, Orchestral Maneuvers In the Dark, Utravox, Gary Numan, Visage, etc.). Even when New Order were Joy Division, they were working with electronics on some of their songs -- check out 'Isolation' off their 'Closer' album from 1980.
Love watching the younger kids absorb all the great music that has come before. Keep on digging in the crates! You'll never know what new treasures you'll find!
Don't forget Emerson, Lake, and Palmer in the early synth category.
I remember hearing this for the first time in the underage dance club I used to go to when I was 14. I can still FEEL the way the music reverberated through me.
Timeless.
Love this song. If you plan to do more New Order you MUST do Bizarre Love Triangle. ❤
This ^^
Absolutely!!
The extended dance mix
I'm a metalhead but love to dance. In the 1980s this was THE dance song. I spent many nights on the dance floor losing it to this song
Absolutely 💯
A gift from the 80’s! You got this 60 year old up and dancing - and remembering with a huge grin dance clubbing when I was young and gorgeous 😉 So glad to see these masterpieces from New Order are being appreciated ❤️❤️❤️
You're still young and gorgeous mon ami!
😊😙💜
Yes Amber is correct in a lot of ways New Wave was a musical reaction and rejection against, the '70s arena/corporate Rock Machine. It LOOKED and SOUNDED different and Literally a New Wave of Style and Sound.
Electro
Before you're done with New Order, be sure to hit True Faith. It was their top hit. Hopefully you'll check out one of the live versions. Totally different experience!
Bizarre love triangle is fav of mine
I remember being 18 in 1983 & walking by a pub on a Friday night, this was was being belted out.......
I was just blown away & have loved it ever since.
One of those memories that music gives you, that stays with you for the rest of your life.
This was soooooo huge for us 80’s high schoolers!!! We loved this type music back in the day. We saw the death of disco, the birth of hair bands and the glorious beginning of techno/new wave!!! Can’t forget Punk!!!!
OMG. Seeing this reaction takes me back to a time. Being on the dancefloor, crowded, sweating, in the dark and even bumping into other people but everything was so cool. It was such an amazing feeling. You could catch a glimpse of someone else on the dancefloor, maybe a little knowing smirk. I wish so much that I could step back into a club like that now and go back to the '80s for one night. The memories that this song bring make me so happy to have been alive and young in the '80s. I swear, we never even really gave a thought to what the songs meant or were about. It was just about that feeling when you were in a crowd on the dancefloor.
This right here.
Come to Boston. We have a club exactly like that. ManRay. 80's and 90's.
1:58 "It reminds me of rave music"
That's the natural conclusion to the story of "1983's Blue Monday". It was the best selling 12-inch record ever. Due to the intricate die-cut artwork of the sleeve, New Order lost money on every record sold. When that was eventually rectified, all the profits of this single and future hits all went to their shared stake in Factory Records massive superclub "The Haçienda" in Manchester, England. The club lost massive amounts of money until the end of the decade when future sounding songs like this helped usher in the rave scene and clubs like The Haçienda were perfect for holding massive raves.
This single was way ahead of it's time for 1983 and stood out. It's main influences are Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder/Donna Summer combined, with a stolen Spaghetti Western riff. Peter Hook's signature playing the high-end of his bass guitar was unique and innovative itself and made New Order stand out.
This origianlly only released as a 12" single. Was the biggest selling 12" of all time too.
Great song and great group. Love their stuff especially "Bizzare Love Triangle".
Still is.
Lol fk just said that.
Never made any money though
@@sammich7141 yep but not because it didnt make money. The reason New Order didnt make any money on it was due to Tony Wilson's mismanagement.(I.M.O) They basically bankrolled EVERYTHING he did. FACTORY RECORDS THE HACCIENDA. THE CRAPPY LATE NIGHT TV SHOW ON CHANNEL 4. It was made even more obvious when they left for another record company and everything Wilson "OWNED" WENT BANKRUPT if i remember rightly.
Blue Monday was our fraternity theme song in '88-90. Yes, I was a Frat Bro...
I was 13 when I first heard this song. I'm 54. It's always awesome as is most 80's British music, whether it be new wave, punk, hard rock ❤
Loved seeing you reacting to this one guys, what an epic track! Glad you enjoyed the little vinyl vid over on Twitter too 😄
GARY NUMAN is arguably the main act to bring synthesizers mainstream beginning with Are Friends Electric and the classic hit Cars both in 1979. There were ealrier pioneers like Ultravox, The Human League etc, it was Gary Numan who ushered in the new age of synthesizers. The foundations were laid by Gershon Kingsley's Pop Corn (album was called Music To Moog By as it featured the Moog synthesizer) in 1969 that he re-released under the name Hot Butter in 1972, Kraftwerk's Autobahn in 1974, Jean Michel Jarre's seminal Oxygene in 1976 and Space's Magic Fly in 1977. Disco also helped pave the way with that pulsating rhythm that Georgio Moroder did on Donna Summer's hit I feel Love in 1977.
Thank you for this reply. It was interesting! I heard that Numan went to a recording studio to jam out, but he stumbled on a synth there, and there was no going back. I’m not sure if that is true. A former high school drama teacher introduced me to Kraftwerk, but it was not for me. When I heard Gary Numan and Flock of Seagulls, I was hooked! Early Simple Minds music was brilliant.
@@a-stranger-passing-thru He was recording an EP with the first line up of Tubeway Army, with uncle Jes Lidyard on drums and Paul Gardiner on Bass. There was a minimoog synthesizer there. He played around with it was blown away by the sounds it could make, and the rest is history. He was criminally underated and often slated by the press because he made it without there backing.
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
@@jpcjimThanks for mentioning more folk that pioneered synthesisers. Keith Emerson is the first person that comes to mind when anyone says 'Moog Modular'. Love the old photos of him and mad professor looking Bob Moog. Sure folk will throw more names into the hat like Chicory Tip, an early Brian Eno, or even Pete Townsend who was a big ARP user.
Power, Corruption, and Lies is one of the best albums ever! Your Silent Face is a masterpiece.
Incidentally, Your Silent Face had a working title of KW1 as in 'that Kraftwerk One'.
Imagine my surprise, when I rushed out and bought Power, Corruption and Lies on the day it was released. Played it loud when I got home from school, where was Blue Monday? Not there! Although got to say the album was a blinder!
In a way I'm pretty envious that you are hearing this for the first time. As a young teenager listening to Joy Division and New Order literally changed my life.
As someone who was a teen and in my early 20s during the 80s, we would go to the underground clubs to hear music like this. This was not played on most pop radio stations...this was definitely club music...back in the day when we had real underground clubs. Not everyone knew where these clubs were. Those we're the days. I so miss the 80s. I was lucky to have grown up in that era.
How huge this tune was cannot be under estimated. This was the biggest techno pop song of the 80s, hands down.
Oh, you've hit upon a hell of a groundbreaking band and track with this. It still sounds fresh today. I was NEVER into this type of music I was into Reggae & Ska big time back then. But, when this came out I couldn't stop dancing. This changed my mind about limiting myself to one type of music only. 40 years! I don't know where the time went.
This is THE BEST reaction I have seen to this song. You are both SO IN IT and that’s what it’s about!
New Order is definitely one of the bands/artists at the top of the list of Synthesizer pioneers. Also, Depeche Mode, Howard Jones, Thomas Dolby, YAZ (aka Yahoo), Kraftwerk…I might be missing a few more, but I consider the daddy of The Synthesizer is Gary Numan. His biggest hit was a song called “Cars”, but the album “Cars” is on is GENIUS!
Keith Emerson and Pete Townsend were some of the first users too
Can I add Alphaville to that list??
Don't forget Edgar Winter. Frankenstein
@@laurabailey1054 Oooh Alphaville! Yes! I hear they were big in Japan. . .
Nik Kershaw was/is good friends with Howard Jones, and have done joint retro gigs in the recent past.
Gary Numan was one of the greatest synth innovaters of the late 70's, & early 80's.
Check out 'Are friends electric?' or 'Cars' by him, they'll really open your eyes........and ears!!
Yesss, was wondering when someone was going to mention Gary Numan! 🖤
But the German bands Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream were experimenting with synthesizers in the early seventies. Kraftwerk (1970), Autobahn (1974), Trans Europe Express (1977) and The Man Machine (1978) were highly influential Kraftwerk albums. Giorgio Moroder with Donna Summer successfully brought electronic music to the wider public domain. I Feel Love changed everything.
@@thomasalexand
The trouble with being first is that whoever comes afterwards are usually better/more popular/more successful, because of technological advances, & of course, more understanding of the 'medium'!
Innovators like Kraftwerk, are universally respected, but their 'niche' remains pretty narrow.
New Order was on a while different level than other 80s artists, even within their own genre. The texture and layers of sound in the music is incomparable. And they weren’t a celebrity band. They never seemed interested in fame at all. Their videos were PROFOUND.
The music back then was like a fine meal, mixing so many ingredients together to create magic
New Wave synth pioneers:
Gary Numan: Are Friends Electric, or Cars
Orchestral Manouvers in the Dark: Tesla Girls, or Enola Gay
Human League: Lebanon, or Don't You Want Me.
Then the band that inspired them all.
KRAFTWERK: the Model, or Tour d'France
Yello and Art of Noise are also well worth a listen
I hate to be THAT guy trying to put you onto newer stuff, but have you heard Gary Numan's latest? Check his video for Saints and Liars here on RUclips. It's so rare when you see a guy 40 years past his first hits put out interesting new music.
@@Billis75 you're not being THAT guy. I saw Gary with Nine Inch Nails in Toronto. My Name is Ruin is my fav of his newer releases.
@@Billis75 BTW, thanks for the gentle spelling correction 😉 🍻
OMD: The New Stone Age
YELLO!!!!! is art! Ilove them....
Good list btw....
Blue Monday is iconic in the UK. If you like that 80s synth sound and going on a musical trip then Vienna by Ultravox would be a good one to check out if you haven't already. I was also thinking maybe Fade to Grey by Visage is a cool sound. Thanks for the reactions, always enjoyable.
New Order is iconic here in N. America too.
Fade to Grey would be my choice for greatest song ever. But that's just me.
One of my #1 favorites! My pal always says- “They aren’t musicians, They’re ELECTRICIANS!”- yeah, & I love them! Depeche Mode!, PetShop Boys!, bring em on!
If that's true, then only guitarists that play acoustic are real musicians. It doesn't matter how the sounds are produced or manipulated...it is the MUSIC that matters.
@@neptune9 I agree. I can't stand the rock purists that call any electronic music garbage not worthy of even listening to. They are so close minded.
How blessed we were to be young and British when this absolute opus descended on us.
Blue Monday is the best selling 12-inch single of all time. $1.16 million in sales.
Do you mean 12-inch single?
@@Wordsmyth8 Yes, thanks.
This song plus Donna Summer's I Feel Love and Depeche Mode's Enjoy The Silence is the top 3 electronic pop music of all time. By the way, I watched them play it around the time of the release.
This was released on 12" vinyl and was in the UK charts for the best part of a year. As a DJ it was a must play at least once. Went well with Relax, Just Can't get enough from Depeche Mode, Enola Gay from OMD, Making plans for Nigel from XTC and Two Tribes from Franky goes to Hollywood. Also went well with Quiet Life from Japan Planet earth from Duran Duran and Private lives from Grace Jones.
If you truly want to experience what this track does to you, and I know all the Brits out there from our generation will agree with me, try listening to this in a dance hall, with the DJ booth on stage, huge dass speakers, everyone's been dancing for about two hours. The drum beat you feel going through your chest and your own heart beat follows the tempo. By the end of the night you are exhausted, sweating profusely, you're the walking dead but you feel so alive.
The godfathers of electronic music are Kraftwerk, a German band from 1970(!). These guys were hardcore techno-needs; they invented, designed and built their own electronic instruments and distortion devices by hand!
We went nuts for this! This was in the very first group of full-on synth dance music. Definitely way way before becoming mainstream. In my highschool there was me and MAAAYBE 4 other kids tops that knew nd listened to this at time it came out.
This for me is the absolute pinnacle of the New Wave scene in the 80's. An absolute BANGER !! Couldn't stop playing this when it came out, absolute class.
Blue Monday new order was probably one of the first British proto house music track that was a head of its time very influential to the late 80s Acidhouse scene when Chicago house music arrived in Britain New order owned a club called the hacienda that championed Chicago house and Detroit techno in the late 80s and gave British youth a club then when extacy culture arrived in Britain it gave birth to rave culture before we called it rave we called it Acidhouse a blend a mixture of culture coming together for peace love and hedonistic ritual dancing
This was one of my favourite bands back in the day. I loved dancing to this in the clubs.
Laurie Anderson's 1981 song "O Superman" paralyzed me and shattered my brain when I was a kid. The song is very minimalist compared to New Order. She uses the space between the notes to create tension and anticipation.
Love to hear you stepping outside your comfort zone! Some more iconic electronic artists to check out (but completely different) are Kraftwerk and Jean-Michel Jarre. Try listening to Kraftwerk’s “The Model”, “We Are The Robots” or “Tour De France”. Then with Jean-Michel Jarre try “Magnetic Fields 2”, “Oxygène, Pt. 4”, “Équinoxe, Pt. 5” or “Rendezvous Pt 4”. These guys were precursors to this 80s electronica.
For a completely different feel listen to “Spybreak (A Short One” by The Propellerheads or to come right up to date, Public Service Broadcasting’s “Spitfire”, “Gagarin”, “Go!” or “People, Let’s Dance”! All different but all brilliant!
Great recommendations 👍👍
Jean Michel Jarre’s “Oxygene” was amazing!!!!!!!
The track "Autobahn" is the Kraftwerk one to hear.
@@davidmarsden9800 yes, my personal fave Kraftwerk track/album… just wasn’t sure @jay and @amber were ready to do a 23 minute epic reaction yet!!!!! 😉🤣🤣🤣
Yes Jean Michel Jarre, song , Oxygen. That's a great 1.
The 80s were amazing, and I'm so glad you all are giving our tunes a true listen. To answer your question about who started synth, you should dip into the history of the synthesizers. It's a fun rabbit hole.