@DistortThePreamp I am 52 and completely agree w @nunofernandes4501! My jaw is on the floor!! I love this SO MUCH!!! I too bought this album when I was about 14 years old, living in a sleepy beach town in Southern California (I have the cut-out version and I still have it!) I had no idea of any of this! As someone who loves New Order and puzzles, this completely made my day and felt like it completed a life long puzzle, and solves the question of the other color blocking on their other albums, so thank you very much for sharing!!
Thank you so much for this video - it was really interesting. I have a Manchester United x Peter Saville x Adidas scarf designed by Peter in 2023. It uses the same cryptic colour code. I originally presumed this was just an interesting pattern inspired by Saville's previous work (I'm a graphic designer myself, I should have known better than thinking he would work on just an aesthetic level). Using your colour to letter chart, I was able to decode the message. It says: CONCILIO ET LABORE. A Latin phrase that translates to "by wisdom and effort" and is the motto on Manchester's coat of arms. On the scarf, the spaces between the words are occupied by grey octagons rather than blanks as per the album.
This video made me glad to be alive. It has been a long time since RUclips has been able to blow my mind, but this video was exceptional and incredibly beautiful. I can only imagine the private joy the artist must’ve felt on sending out this album with their private code. Another example of science as pure art. Thank you for this.
I just went to reply to this and it turns out I have. I have literally no recollection. I’m very sick at the moment and everything is a bit addled. This is gonna delay some videos which is frustrating. Although maybe I should just dose myself up and cough into the camera…
Did you all notice that when he solved the problem of blue and changed the video to that color, the photo of Joni Mitchell also changed to a different one, and when we reversed the color, it changed back to the previous photo?
I've had this record in my collection for 40 years - the one with the floppy disc cutouts showing the graphite sleeve beneath! Never thought the bands of colour were anything more than "decorative"... *mind blown*!
Haha! Thank you! I was a bit worried that a lot of people would fall asleep with boredom 😂 So I really appreciate you watching and taking the time to comment :)
Fantastic news! The algorithm gets a lot of hate from creators, but I have always found it to be very supportive :) Thank you for the kind words - really pleased you liked the video :)
@@DistortThePreamp I think it might be because you busted the youtube code! lol, and I fully agree, best random YT suggestion I have ever clicked on. Thanks.
I don't know what to tell you. Other than Blue Monday came out my senior HS year and I bought the import, which was twice the price of a domestic record. Blue Monday was a huge hit in the US. I never got past the 3.5 floppy disk aspect of the cover, but you opened new information for me. Thank you for your passion and effort and this video!
So glad I found this! Blue Monday is my all time favorite song. I’ve probably listened to it thousands of times over the years. I’ve got nearly 300 remakes and remixes of the song. To this day I’ll listen to it driving in my car. Oddly enough as you talk about a code … I’ve always felt this song has a deeper meaning. I know a lot of people thing that about songs that literally mean nothing. Long story short, I continue to listen and always will love this song. I was 10 years old when this song came out. It was released on my mom’s bday. The 80s in general will always be in my heart. But this song especially. ❤
this is too genius, the encoding, the cover, the idea/spirit behind the song and New Order altogether, the decoding, using the code as musical notes, this sheer genius!!! Blue Monday is a before and after milestone in music. Thank you for such a wonderful video and story, probably the shortest 21 minutes I've had in many years.
Amazing, just amazing. I am one yr younger than you. Nice. 1983 was the year I got my first computer (C64) and started programming. Can remember those days when synth stuff was really creating a new world of instruments. The idea of creating any new sound, never heard on earth before was and still is amazing. The most iconic cos experimantal album in those days was Construction Time again from DM for me (pretty much sampling used). Cheers! 👍😎
Outstanding. There's a music-related symbolic puzzle in Spielberg's Ready Player One which involves the opening track "Jump" "Synchronicity" and a New Order "Technique" t-shirt. Your video just gave me some additional insight into why Spielberg picked that particular album. It makes perfect sense now. Thank you. There's more to this story.
I’m been a new order fan for a significant part of my life and I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Thank you very much. New order’s music had a significant impact on my life.
Would you mind possibly dropping me an email at the address in the description? I have a question that I need to ask someone who (a) enjoyed this video, and (b) is a lifelong “New Order fan”…
Wow. I still have my copy of the 12" 45 I bought in 1983 (actually, I still have every record I've bought) in the laser cut sleeve. I'd kinda known that the colours meant something, but I wasn't inquisitive enough to follow up. This video is the only one of yours I have seen, and you now have a new subscriber.
Haha! Given how many of my records have been nicked, I’m amazed it’s still in my possession! Although when I was editing the video I did notice that I threw it around a bit and didn’t treat it with a lot of respect. It’s looking a bit crumpled these days…
I see what did there. 🐰🥚 Funny enough, I was just talking to a mate about her album/song the other day. Thanks for such an enjoyable and interesting video!
That was enlightening. In the 80’s I volunteered at a university radio station in London (Ontario). I played the crap out of this disc. I must have looked at the cover a thousand times but never twigged to a code. Well done 14 year old you. Worth a sub👍.
Pretty much. A lot of the air time was filled with specific shows. Jazz, African, Caribbean, punk, metal, news magazines, Varsity sports, etc. I used to have a 1 1/2 hour slot on a Saturday night 8-9:30 and I filled in for a fair amount of 2am-7am shifts. There were no restrictions. We would take requests occasionally. CHRW, University of Western Ontario. It was a great place back then.
Really incredible. That would have been a great situation to be alive in. Very exciting. I remember visiting a college radio station in the UK and spending a weekend just helping them sort records. It was a wonderland.
I totally get this. I realise that if I hadn’t stuck Barney on the thumbnail a lot of people wouldn’t have discovered the video. One has to be careful not to just become a click baiter, but I’ve had experience of putting up the ‘wrong thumbnail’, realising it was wrong and changing it, and then people saying that with the old thumbnail they just scrolled past the video in the feed. Tricky needle to thread.
This is absolutely fascinating. The fact that you cracked this code on the bus aged 14 shows your intelligence was finely tuned even at a young age. I didn't even know the sleeve design was a code. I thought it was just pretty colours they put on floppy discs. I was rather hoping that the music at the end would actually play the Blue Monday melody and other riffs in the song. Ps have you ever seen the artwork of fellow Mancunian Frank Sidebottom aka Chris Sievey? He always put codes on everything as borders around each picture. You'd probably crack them instantly. Thanks for sharing your incredible brain with us. One of the most interesting videos I've seen on t'internet :)
It's been sitting amongst my vinyl for 40 odd years. I always knew it had to have some meaning but never looked into it. Utterly fascinating. Keep making the content.
Wow, you are now a hero, this is fantastic. I've always been too lazy to figure out easter eggs and stuff. Supposedly Boards of Canada album art is filled with them, and I own every one of their albums on CD. But this is extra cool because of who the band is, when it came out, and so on. Not only did you crack the code, but you actually discovered hidden New Order tunes that very few people have ever heard before.
Saw this by chance on the side column while watching the Blue Monday song video. Absolutely brilliant! Most likely the best RUclips video I've ever seen! Very well done! You have my like and I am now subscribed!
What a great video, thanks so much! As a fan of Blue Monday, software developer, graphic design appreciator and hobby musician this was a very interesting watch! Cracking the code on a bus trip deserves much respect 🙂
You sound like the perfect audience! As a software developer you hopefully understood the way that the cipher key repeats by combining colours. I still think I could have explained that better…
I always wondered about the "pretty barcode" on the Blue Monday sleeve. It never occurred to me and my mates that it was a code, we just enjoyed the music! You decoded the sleeve on the bus journey home. Outstanding.. I would need a bloody long bus journey to attempt anything like that.😂 (crossing Australia perhaps?) Then again, I've never been one for cipher puzzles. Thank you so much for this most entertaining video. Cheers!
These were great times, you remembered me of how I used to play the Reptile House EP of the Sisters of Mercy backwards in order to get the extra lyrics in Burn, or discover what secret message was left in the run-out grooves.. Records were much more thoughtfully designed. Thank you for your videos!
Great EP, I was fortunate enough to buy the floppy disc die cut ORIGNAL pressing, I was 15 years old when i bought it and was blown away when i first played it.
Such an amazing record! Does your version have the stickers on the right side? A lot seem to have the Blue Monday side labelled The Beach and vice versa…
Hey Man this was soooo cool and 1000 fun to watch! I bought mine back in 83! I just looked it up.. mine has grey circles for the 'space' wher yours got black.. Finding this out after 41 years of listening to it is 🎉 incredible.. you just made my day. Thank you lots.. Still sounds hammer Gery. Switzerland
There’s a scene I deleted where I explain how the code falls apart with numbers and basically doesn’t work. I removed it because it got in the way of the story. But I’m thinking of releasing it. Since you said you loved the Saville code, do you think it would annoy or offend you if I was critical about an aspect of it?
I still haven't finished watching it, but I'm gonna say... I love this video!!! It makes me feel not so alone, that these things get me all excited. The music and the art, the math, the video, the script, the diction, the pacing, Wow!
Thank you for the interesting decoding. i never thought about the colours on the sleeve... But because of your report I wondered about your sleeve. I remembered one fun fact was a sleeve like a floppy disc. After short online research i realized that i own a little treasure because my floppy disc sleeve is like new.
LOL.... I've had that sat there since 1983 and never once even thought about that as a code. I just assumed it was artwork based on those CMYK swatches you see in the gutter of offset printing. Genius!!! Fab video as always.
I was wondering if that’s what Saville was thinking about. One of the squares il almost certain is actually a printing error. And he would have probably had to get the printers to actually out the artwork together using traditional screens (70% Cyan, etc). You obviously understand print, and Saville would have routinely reviewed Cromalin proofs from the film (pre plate) and they all look like they’ve got the Blue Monday code printed down the edge 😂
@@DistortThePreamp :) In fact, every time I flatten out a box for recycling and see those printing marks, I actually think about that record sleeve :) Mine is floppy disk version... I had no idea there was a plain one. I think I prefer the plain one.
@@pook2830I think the floppy disk cover was what cost factory records a lot of money, they cost more to print that they sold for and obviously sold a lot, that could be a myth spread by Tony Wilson or someone though
I just re bought this last week and always wondered why those colours were on the sleeve and why the b side the beach is actually the A side. I think you have just qualified this single to one of the most sought after singles ever with your video. Wow this is amazing
@ I already had a original copy that had the cut outs in the sleeve but I think I may have sold it but this video comes a week after reaquiring it as i am currently getting more information about the classics and then buying and playing them in my sets. I’ve been collecting a lot of early electronic 80’s singles like Georgia moroder, space, yellow magic orchestra and cerrone. Really love the early disco /Electronic 70’s -80s music. It’s the basis of EVERYTHING that electronic music uses to day
Ah what a terrific video, full of passion and focus and concentration and feeling and engagement with the things of the world. Nothing else for it now but to give Blue Monday the run of the house. Salute!
Bloody Hell! I bought that record back in 83 and just thought it was nothing more than a 'trendy' cover'. You mind clearly works differently! Great video!
No I didn’t, though I know the story and love Poe. I don’t remember who told me but it has to be my mother. I think she told me that E was the most common letter, and then I decided to take matters into my own hands and check. Or something like that. I was reading a lot of detective stories at the time but it’s all lost in the midst of time…
What a wonderful Gem. Thank you so much for this Video. I too bought this record back then and solved it thinking I was the only one, but I never went as far to solve the whole alphabet and numbers.
They turned out great, right! I was worried they would all sound dreadful, which I why I caveatee them so heavily. But in the end every one of them is listenable!
That was a "Godlike" video. WOW I rarely smile this hard from a video but dang, this one really tickled something in me in a very unexpected way. Much respect to you.
You know you are obsessed when 3 weeks later you switch to BBC6 Friday - 80's Forever Programme (via Internet in Canada) for the first time, and Blue Monday is playing so my ears perk up! Then the host starts to speak and I think, where have I heard that accent? Rush to BBC6 Programming guide, host is Holly (William) Johnson of Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Immediately realize just how mistaken I am even though, not the least of which, "William" is too many letters. I gotta get another hobby. 😆
Love it! I always suspected something was going on with the cover of Blue Monday. Life at the time was too hectic for me to stop and attempt what you actually did. But I do remember the mind blowing first listen, even 40 years later. Thank you sir!
I say we all write coded letters to Peter Saville, in this color-coded cypher, thanking him for this thoughtful treasure that we're still discovering, learning about and enjoying 40 years later!! What a thrill that'd be for him to receive!!
This video answers one of those big life questions at the who-shot-JFK level. Thank you for being smart because I surely lack the mental horsepower to figure something like this out. Also, thanks to your mum.
This is a really cool video, which makes refreshing change from yet another reaction. I hadn't heard about this cover until now and I'm way old. Just be glad that the sleeve designer didn't use a one-time pad. Otherwise, you might still be trying to crack the cipher over four decades later.
Fascinating! And I only came 'cos I was thinking of remaking Blue Monday via DAW and Mini Synths! As a kid, I was captivated by Edgar Allan Poe's story: "The Gold-Bug"! (Beware - reflected stereotypes of day). But the idea of cryptograms etc., in music... 😸
Great video! You produce some great stuff - I'm glad I subscribed last week! Blue Monday was my first purchase - 12" vinyl, £2.25 from the music store in Doncaster! I, too, was looking at it on a bus home from school! I can't believe you don't own a die-cut version though! I've bought a handful of releases since to look after my original. Mine, weirdly, has the centre labels on the wrong side! You're missing another character of the code - early releases also had silver octagons between the words! Several prints followed the original to keep the costs down, because as you're probably aware, they were apparently losing anything from 2p to 10p on each purchase because of the cutting process to replicate the floppy disc design! Fantastic track and overall product. I'm not kidding when I say I've heard it over 2000 times! Programmed the drums into a a Roland TR-707, Yamaha RX5, and Alesis SR-16 over the years! Good times!
Yeah - I can’t believe that either (that I don’t have the die cut version). I must have not got it release week or something. Were the octagons in silver ink? For the spaces between the words?
@@DistortThePreamp Yes, that's all they were. You can actually google the sleeve and see them. I could instantly see them missing from yours when you held it up - like a cheap Chinese fake! Red Monday, perhaps?! What's also of note, is that yours, without the silver octagons, is showing the equivalent of two [black] spaces between 'FAC73' and 'BLUE'. It's important to note that the original has a silver octagon and an actual square cut out in order to retrieve the inner cardboard sleeve which was silver or black, before the paper one you have. As such, I believe the decision to reorientate the sleeve when you flipped yours over, was likely for alignment of the words to meet that gap, rather than a sneaky move to fool the decoder?! It may also explain the 'printing error' character! I would need to dig mine out and check though.
That’s extremely interesting. I have often wondered why I didn’t end up with the laser cut version. I’m pretty sure that I bought it at the HMV on Oxford Street and could easily have done so a few weeks after release by which time as I understand it the floppy disc versions had all run out and been replaced by the cheaper sleeve. In fact I remember that after I already had the record I saw some of the laser cut versions in stores and assumed it was a gimmick that had been done *after* release, and that mine was the pure original. That explanation for the two spaces makes perfect sense. There’s a deleted scene from my video which I’m debating whether to post where I explain how the number code doesn’t actually work as a code and propose an alternative, and I note that there are two black spaces after FAC73. My best guess (which in the light of your comment turns out to be wrong) was that Saville had been briefed that the code would be FACT73 (which a T) but they chabged to FAC. At the time there was some chopping and changing between FAC and FACT. But there being an extra cut out is obviously the correct explanation. I’ll never feel bad about not having the laser cut version because my copy is the genuine copy I got at the time, and that feels more important. But the laser cut version was very cool…
@@DistortThePreamp I'm sorry for bringing up good and bad memories! Yeah, you proposed an interesting idea, but since the album FACT50 Movement had previously been released, along with the singles FAC33 Ceremony, FAC53 Procession, and FAC63 Temptation, I doubt Blue Monday would have been anything but FACx3 (with x or even xx representing an increasing number over the years), The FACT designation for their vinyl albums, in multiples of 25 had already been assigned, since FACT75 PC&L would have been in production. As you'll know, that became FACD for eventual CD releases. As I collected New Order vinyls over the years, I often wondered why some numbers jumped a range - like there's no FAC63 or FAC83 for New Order releases. Turned out Factory didn't entirely reserve the idea ending in a '3' just for New Order releases which kind of bothered me!
@@DistortThePreamp I found this on discogs after just digging out my versions. I thought I had five, but I only have four, two of which were originals, and the remaining two bought years later to save my vinyl. Vinyl : The original UK version was mastered and cut on 5 occasions: - FAC-73-A-1 MT. STRAWBERRY OUT VOTED! // FAC-73-B-1 MT. HO.EL+TEL! STRAWBERRY (runoff space 0,8 cm // 1,6 cm) This original edition misses the first 2 beats of the 16-bar intro are cut off due to a mastering error by the Strawberry engineer, who brought up the fader too late and missed the first drumbeats. "Out Voted!" refers to New Order taking a vote as to whether the mistake should stay, and the yes vote prevailed. - FACT 73 A2 .THE ROBOT. STRAWBERRY GG // FACT 73 B2 .THE ROBOT. STRAWBERRY GG (runoff space 2,2 cm // 2,2 cm) - - I own this version - FAC 73 A2 GG POUNDA TA1PE R-CUT // FAC 73 B2 GG R-CUT (runoff space 1,3 cm // 1,4 cm) - FAC 73 A3 GG POUNDA TA1PE. WHERE'S MURDER? // FAC 73 B3 GG I SAID WHERE'S MURDER? (runoff space 1,6 cm // 1,6 cm) - - I own this version - FAC-73-A1 ✱ TOWNHOUSE MAX. // FAC-73-B1 ✱ MAX. (runoff space 1,6 cm // 1,6 cm) What's interesting is that I have one of the FACT 73 (note the 'T') inscribed versions written on the inside of the disc! This harks back to your comment!
Probably the best 22 minutes I've watched on RUclips. Thanks
Oh that’s amazing! Very kind! Comments like this help me get out of bed.
Define having a small life.
@@jedgould5531 😂😂😂 I take the point, which is well made!
I was just going to say the same thing myself 😂
Totally agree
Now, THIS what I want RUclips to show me all day long. Excellent video!
Awesome comment! Thank you!
I'm 51 and I've been a New Order fan for 4/5 of my life. This is a moment of revelation! Thank you so very much for sharing.
Oh amazing! You are very welcome! So pleased you liked it!
@@DistortThePreampIwould like to second the comment, well done and thank you, interesting information you shared.
@DistortThePreamp I am 52 and completely agree w @nunofernandes4501! My jaw is on the floor!! I love this SO MUCH!!! I too bought this album when I was about 14 years old, living in a sleepy beach town in Southern California (I have the cut-out version and I still have it!) I had no idea of any of this! As someone who loves New Order and puzzles, this completely made my day and felt like it completed a life long puzzle, and solves the question of the other color blocking on their other albums, so thank you very much for sharing!!
Thank you so much for this video - it was really interesting. I have a Manchester United x Peter Saville x Adidas scarf designed by Peter in 2023. It uses the same cryptic colour code. I originally presumed this was just an interesting pattern inspired by Saville's previous work (I'm a graphic designer myself, I should have known better than thinking he would work on just an aesthetic level). Using your colour to letter chart, I was able to decode the message. It says: CONCILIO ET LABORE. A Latin phrase that translates to "by wisdom and effort" and is the motto on Manchester's coat of arms. On the scarf, the spaces between the words are occupied by grey octagons rather than blanks as per the album.
That’s amazing! I don’t know that he made that scarf, and it’s so fantastic that you were able to decode the message!!!!
Wow, that's fascinating. Did not know that's what it said
Thanks for sharing
This video made me glad to be alive. It has been a long time since RUclips has been able to blow my mind, but this video was exceptional and incredibly beautiful. I can only imagine the private joy the artist must’ve felt on sending out this album with their private code. Another example of science as pure art. Thank you for this.
Thank you so much for this! Very much appreciated! 🙏🙏🙏
I just went to reply to this and it turns out I have. I have literally no recollection. I’m very sick at the moment and everything is a bit addled. This is gonna delay some videos which is frustrating. Although maybe I should just dose myself up and cough into the camera…
Did you all notice that when he solved the problem of blue and changed the video to that color, the photo of Joni Mitchell also changed to a different one, and when we reversed the color, it changed back to the previous photo?
Cover of LP 'Blue'.
Underrated comment. Joni Mitchell Blue. Genius
Forget your cat videos and lifestyle choices you view, this is what RUclips is about.
Clever and well worth the watch.
@@stephenbrown9400 Thank you!
I've had this record in my collection for 40 years - the one with the floppy disc cutouts showing the graphite sleeve beneath! Never thought the bands of colour were anything more than "decorative"... *mind blown*!
Thank yóu for an amazing and surprising TED-talk about an album cover.
It was way more interesting than I expected!
Haha! Thank you! I was a bit worried that a lot of people would fall asleep with boredom 😂 So I really appreciate you watching and taking the time to comment :)
@@DistortThePreampyou could literally do any video about New Order / Blue Monday and you have a new fan! Lol
Random RUclips suggestion works out beautifully. Very well done.
Fantastic news! The algorithm gets a lot of hate from creators, but I have always found it to be very supportive :) Thank you for the kind words - really pleased you liked the video :)
@@DistortThePreamp I think it might be because you busted the youtube code! lol, and I fully agree, best random YT suggestion I have ever clicked on. Thanks.
Excellent. What a great story. And such a surprise ending. Thank you!
Thank you! Really appreciate you watching and taking the time to comment ;) and for making it to the end 🙏
I don't know what to tell you. Other than Blue Monday came out my senior HS year and I bought the import, which was twice the price of a domestic record. Blue Monday was a huge hit in the US. I never got past the 3.5 floppy disk aspect of the cover, but you opened new information for me. Thank you for your passion and effort and this video!
@@merkury06 It not a 3.5 floppy disk, it's actually the older type 5.25 floppy disk 😉
@@TinDK You are right! I noticed my mistake after I right after I posted it.
So glad I found this! Blue Monday is my all time favorite song. I’ve probably listened to it thousands of times over the years. I’ve got nearly 300 remakes and remixes of the song. To this day I’ll listen to it driving in my car. Oddly enough as you talk about a code … I’ve always felt this song has a deeper meaning. I know a lot of people thing that about songs that literally mean nothing. Long story short, I continue to listen and always will love this song. I was 10 years old when this song came out. It was released on my mom’s bday. The 80s in general will always be in my heart. But this song especially. ❤
It’s such a brilliant track. I remember playing the vinyl over and over again…
the photo in the background changing when the color changes was a wonderful touch.
Thank you so much for noticing! I think you’re the first person to note this in the comments :)
True!! Becoming the photo of her album "Blue" haha you are a genius
Puts a smile on your face, stunningly brilliant; the coding and the decoding...
Thank you very much!
This is one of those youtube videos that leave a mark, leave something to ponder long after its ended. Loved the surprise at the end. Thanks for this.
Thank you for this. And sorry for the delay - there have been A LOT of comments…
The track that struck me age 8 and did catapult me into my career. Amazing story, making it even more special to me! Wonderful channel!
Thanks very much indeed Mike. I am aware of your work and I am not worthy.
@officialmikepush thanks for your music over the years!
this is too genius, the encoding, the cover, the idea/spirit behind the song and New Order altogether, the decoding, using the code as musical notes, this sheer genius!!!
Blue Monday is a before and after milestone in music.
Thank you for such a wonderful video and story, probably the shortest 21 minutes I've had in many years.
adding musical notes and then choosing voices on a synth and playing them in a pleasing way and calling that a code is pure bullshit
Remember figuring this out. And the cover for the Confusion 12 inch. Was so cool. New Order will never be beaten.
And finally since the early 80's I now know the missing colour. Thanks to you.
THANKS!
You are so welcome! 🙏🙏🙏
the part where you switched to the joni mitchell blue album art was perfect 👏💙👏
I’m so pleased you noticed that!
@@DistortThePreampSneaky! I’ve seen both sides now.
@DistortThePreamp I love little details like that!
Yeah I was wondering why she was in the background
Brilliantly done
Amazing, just amazing. I am one yr younger than you. Nice. 1983 was the year I got my first computer (C64) and started programming. Can remember those days when synth stuff was really creating a new world of instruments. The idea of creating any new sound, never heard on earth before was and still is amazing. The most iconic cos experimantal album in those days was Construction Time again from DM for me (pretty much sampling used). Cheers! 👍😎
That album - Construction Time Again - is excellent. At some stage I’ll make some videos all about DM’s methods…
@DistortThePreamp good idea 👍
I keep watching your videos because of your English pronunciation. Thank you for being so helpful to improve my English level.
Haha! That is an added bonus 😂
beware the 'transatlanticisms' !
eg. Ian Curdis / compuders / aesthedic / eighdy three .... edc edc 😀
So interesting! Or, to put it another way, “So interesding!” 😂
Outstanding. There's a music-related symbolic puzzle in Spielberg's Ready Player One which involves the opening track "Jump" "Synchronicity" and a New Order "Technique" t-shirt. Your video just gave me some additional insight into why Spielberg picked that particular album. It makes perfect sense now. Thank you. There's more to this story.
WHAT?!?! We need to hear more!! @DistortThePreamp
As someone that also used to create and solve codes as a child, I found this very interesting and enlightening, thank you.
This makes me very happy. I’ve never stopped loving codes…
I’m been a new order fan for a significant part of my life and I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Thank you very much. New order’s music had a significant impact on my life.
Oh, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Would you mind possibly dropping me an email at the address in the description? I have a question that I need to ask someone who (a) enjoyed this video, and (b) is a lifelong “New Order fan”…
@@DistortThePreampdone
👍
Am very impressed that you even thought there was a code in there. Chapeau, sir!
Haha - chapeau 🎩 🙂🙏
Seriously... WOW! Thank you for one of the best videos I've watched all year.
Thank you so much!
immediately pulled out the 12 inch (with the diecut) and completely geeked out over this.
what a reveal.
fantastic video.
Fantastic! You have a much better version that I do 😂😂😂
Wow. I still have my copy of the 12" 45 I bought in 1983 (actually, I still have every record I've bought) in the laser cut sleeve. I'd kinda known that the colours meant something, but I wasn't inquisitive enough to follow up. This video is the only one of yours I have seen, and you now have a new subscriber.
@@Andy-pu2iv Fantastic! Thanks Andy! Very glad to hear you’ve still the vinyl - never let it go!
The Da Vinci Code for synth-pop lovers.
Haha! Given how many of my records have been nicked, I’m amazed it’s still in my possession! Although when I was editing the video I did notice that I threw it around a bit and didn’t treat it with a lot of respect. It’s looking a bit crumpled these days…
I see what did there. 🐰🥚 Funny enough, I was just talking to a mate about her album/song the other day.
Thanks for such an enjoyable and interesting video!
Oh this is amazing, and very much appreciated! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! My first ever superthanks from AU! 🙏🙏🙏
I am truly flabbergasted, true close encounters of the musical kind
So glad you liked it!
That was fun! Also, the band shows regard for their fans....giving them a puzzle to play with.
💯
That was enlightening. In the 80’s I volunteered at a university radio station in London (Ontario). I played the crap out of this disc. I must have looked at the cover a thousand times but never twigged to a code. Well done 14 year old you. Worth a sub👍.
Thank you! It must have been amazing working at a uni radio station in the 80s. No playlists, right? You could literally play what you wanted?
Pretty much. A lot of the air time was filled with specific shows. Jazz, African, Caribbean, punk, metal, news magazines, Varsity sports, etc. I used to have a 1 1/2 hour slot on a Saturday night 8-9:30 and I filled in for a fair amount of 2am-7am shifts. There were no restrictions. We would take requests occasionally. CHRW, University of Western Ontario. It was a great place back then.
Really incredible. That would have been a great situation to be alive in. Very exciting. I remember visiting a college radio station in the UK and spending a weekend just helping them sort records. It was a wonderland.
Dreams never end, congratulations.
Yet if it wasn't for New Order I might have missed your video entirely.
I totally get this. I realise that if I hadn’t stuck Barney on the thumbnail a lot of people wouldn’t have discovered the video. One has to be careful not to just become a click baiter, but I’ve had experience of putting up the ‘wrong thumbnail’, realising it was wrong and changing it, and then people saying that with the old thumbnail they just scrolled past the video in the feed. Tricky needle to thread.
So nice to find out that I’m not the only person who sees patterns and sequences everywhere
Everywhere. Absolutely everywhere.
This video/channel is what makes me happy to be alive!
That’s very kind indeed!!!
I can honestly say this is one of the most joyous and captivating videos I’ve seen in a very very long time.
Thank you so much! So glad you like it!
This is absolutely fascinating. The fact that you cracked this code on the bus aged 14 shows your intelligence was finely tuned even at a young age. I didn't even know the sleeve design was a code. I thought it was just pretty colours they put on floppy discs. I was rather hoping that the music at the end would actually play the Blue Monday melody and other riffs in the song. Ps have you ever seen the artwork of fellow Mancunian Frank Sidebottom aka Chris Sievey? He always put codes on everything as borders around each picture. You'd probably crack them instantly. Thanks for sharing your incredible brain with us. One of the most interesting videos I've seen on t'internet :)
Oh thank you so much! This video was so much fun to make! I’ve actually never seen any of the Frank Sidebottom artwork, and I’m checking it out now1
I think we need a video of this, too, @DistortThePreamp!!
It's been sitting amongst my vinyl for 40 odd years. I always knew it had to have some meaning but never looked into it. Utterly fascinating. Keep making the content.
Oh fantastic! Very glad you liked it. Do you have the same cover as me?
@DistortThePreamp haven't pulled it out for years as obviously have in digital format as well, but from memory, it's the floppy disc version.
@@georgeb3383 Ah. Very posh.
I've got the floppy disc version. "Borrowed" it from my older sister when she moved out of the family home 30+ years ago 🤫
Thanks
Thank you so much for this! That’s really kind! So glad you enjoyed it :)
Absolutely fascinating. Blue Monday remains as iconic today as it was when i first heard it in 1983.
Absolutely iconic!
What a stroke of genius this is, absolutely brilliant!
Oh thank you!
Wow, you are now a hero, this is fantastic. I've always been too lazy to figure out easter eggs and stuff. Supposedly Boards of Canada album art is filled with them, and I own every one of their albums on CD. But this is extra cool because of who the band is, when it came out, and so on. Not only did you crack the code, but you actually discovered hidden New Order tunes that very few people have ever heard before.
Saw this by chance on the side column while watching the Blue Monday song video. Absolutely brilliant! Most likely the best RUclips video I've ever seen! Very well done! You have my like and I am now subscribed!
This video scratched a cerebral itch I didn't realise I had! Subbed!
Oh awesome! There’s a deleted scene from the same video I may release also…
Wonderful video. Thank you!
@@miguelbass You are very welcome! Thank you for taking the time to comment!
This is the coolest thing I've seen in ages. Bravo.
Thank you so much! 🙏🙏🙏
What a great video, thanks so much! As a fan of Blue Monday, software developer, graphic design appreciator and hobby musician this was a very interesting watch! Cracking the code on a bus trip deserves much respect 🙂
You sound like the perfect audience! As a software developer you hopefully understood the way that the cipher key repeats by combining colours. I still think I could have explained that better…
@@DistortThePreamp Oh, but I found that a very clear explanation, I would not know how to explain that better!
@ Phew! I went over and over that part. Thanks for reassuring me!
I always wondered about the "pretty barcode" on the Blue Monday sleeve. It never occurred to me and my mates that it was a code, we just enjoyed the music! You decoded the sleeve on the bus journey home. Outstanding.. I would need a bloody long bus journey to attempt anything like that.😂 (crossing Australia perhaps?) Then again, I've never been one for cipher puzzles. Thank you so much for this most entertaining video. Cheers!
Funniest comment ever! Thank you so much for this :)
These were great times, you remembered me of how I used to play the Reptile House EP of the Sisters of Mercy backwards in order to get the extra lyrics in Burn, or discover what secret message was left in the run-out grooves.. Records were much more thoughtfully designed. Thank you for your videos!
Bloody masterpiece, I had to physically go an put on a hat so I could take it off to you 🎩
Hahaha! Very kind comment. Much appreciated :)
Thanks for making this video about one of the most influential songs of my youth!
This was fantastic, all these years a fan and I never knew this!
Oh, amazing! So pleased you enjoyed it!
ONE OF THE BEST VIDEOS I HAVE EVER WITNESSED ON RUclips!!!!!!
Thank you very much indeed!
Wow!!! That was amazing!! I had this video saved in my watch later list, and I finally got around to watching it. Totally not what i expected!
Fantastic! Thanks for suspending disbelief and watching :) Really appreciate the comment :)
Great EP, I was fortunate enough to buy the floppy disc die cut ORIGNAL pressing, I was 15 years old when i bought it and was blown away when i first played it.
Such an amazing record! Does your version have the stickers on the right side? A lot seem to have the Blue Monday side labelled The Beach and vice versa…
Hey Man this was soooo cool and 1000 fun to watch!
I bought mine back in 83!
I just looked it up.. mine has grey circles for the 'space' wher yours got black..
Finding this out after 41 years of listening to it is 🎉 incredible.. you just made my day.
Thank you lots..
Still sounds hammer
Gery. Switzerland
@@gerhardscherz675 Thank you! Yeah, I think you have the superior first pressing 🙂
Amazing, an artistic flourish 40 odd years ago and we're still talking about it because its still interesting.
Yes. I don’t want to talk smack about current music, but it’s hard to imagine people telling stories about songs from 2024 in forty years
This is the most well thought out youtube video I have ever seen. Good work. Thank you.
That’s very kind indeed!
Always love the Saville color code. And Wim Crouwel’s New Alphabet. Fun stuff!
There’s a scene I deleted where I explain how the code falls apart with numbers and basically doesn’t work. I removed it because it got in the way of the story. But I’m thinking of releasing it. Since you said you loved the Saville code, do you think it would annoy or offend you if I was critical about an aspect of it?
@@DistortThePreamp would not offend at all!
This is good to hear. I’ll release it and take a deep breath…
I've loved new order and joy division since 1979 and I had no idea, thanks so much for this...mind blown
Oh, that’s fantastic! So glad you enjoyed it :)
One of the best videos on RUclips, thank you.
Thank you so much! You are very welcome!
I still haven't finished watching it, but I'm gonna say... I love this video!!! It makes me feel not so alone, that these things get me all excited. The music and the art, the math, the video, the script, the diction, the pacing, Wow!
Thank you so much!
This is now my second favorite video on RUclips. Thank you
Oh fantastic! What’s your favourite? (just so I know the competition 😂)
@DistortThePreamp ruclips.net/video/2WeEyncm_jQ/видео.htmlsi=2MOJJHQb7ScEtH62
@DistortThePreamp Hahaha, I just found your channel today. You still have a chance. Get a snack and check out that other video.
Yes, please, what's your first favorite video on RUclips?!
Thank you for the interesting decoding. i never thought about the colours on the sleeve...
But because of your report I wondered about your sleeve. I remembered one fun fact was a sleeve like a floppy disc. After short online research i realized that i own a little treasure because my floppy disc sleeve is like new.
Oh you’re absolutely right! That’s the first pressing!
LOL.... I've had that sat there since 1983 and never once even thought about that as a code. I just assumed it was artwork based on those CMYK swatches you see in the gutter of offset printing. Genius!!! Fab video as always.
I was wondering if that’s what Saville was thinking about. One of the squares il almost certain is actually a printing error. And he would have probably had to get the printers to actually out the artwork together using traditional screens (70% Cyan, etc). You obviously understand print, and Saville would have routinely reviewed Cromalin proofs from the film (pre plate) and they all look like they’ve got the Blue Monday code printed down the edge 😂
@@DistortThePreamp :) In fact, every time I flatten out a box for recycling and see those printing marks, I actually think about that record sleeve :) Mine is floppy disk version... I had no idea there was a plain one. I think I prefer the plain one.
@@pook2830I think the floppy disk cover was what cost factory records a lot of money, they cost more to print that they sold for and obviously sold a lot, that could be a myth spread by Tony Wilson or someone though
I didn't realise about the code, and using to generate new music has sent me down a right rabbit hole ... TO THE STUDIO...
TO THE STUDIO is always a good idea!
The coolest and most interesting sound designer on youtube is right here. Just commenting for support...
Thank you very much. Really appreciate the support 🙏🙏🙏
What a fascinating gem of a video. Sometimes you watch something that sends shivers down your spine. This is one such video. Thank you
That’s a very kind thing to say! Thank you so much!
A different type of frequency analysis than this channel would usually cover - quite fun!
😂😂😂
I just re bought this last week and always wondered why those colours were on the sleeve and why the b side the beach is actually the A side. I think you have just qualified this single to one of the most sought after singles ever with your video. Wow this is amazing
@@Yourtruthmightnotbemine So pleased! Did you buy it last week before this video? Was it a coincidence?
@ I already had a original copy that had the cut outs in the sleeve but I think I may have sold it but this video comes a week after reaquiring it as i am currently getting more information about the classics and then buying and playing them in my sets. I’ve been collecting a lot of early electronic 80’s singles like Georgia moroder, space, yellow magic orchestra and cerrone. Really love the early disco /Electronic 70’s -80s music. It’s the basis of EVERYTHING that electronic music uses to day
Ah what a terrific video, full of passion and focus and concentration and feeling and engagement with the things of the world. Nothing else for it now but to give Blue Monday the run of the house. Salute!
Thank you! Very much appreciated!
Bloody Hell! I bought that record back in 83 and just thought it was nothing more than a 'trendy' cover'. You mind clearly works differently! Great video!
Just when I was getting frustrated and fed up with youtube, here comes this wonderful video! Thank you!
No I didn’t, though I know the story and love Poe. I don’t remember who told me but it has to be my mother. I think she told me that E was the most common letter, and then I decided to take matters into my own hands and check. Or something like that. I was reading a lot of detective stories at the time but it’s all lost in the midst of time…
Now *that’s* an awesome comment! 🙏
What a wonderful Gem. Thank you so much for this Video. I too bought this record back then and solved it thinking I was the only one, but I never went as far to solve the whole alphabet and numbers.
Thank you! It’s such a great record!
The secret services like people like you! I have this record, with this artwork, knowing this makes me cherish it even more. Many thanks.🙏
Oh you are very welcome!
Amazing video. I would never even thought of looking or had noticed. Blown away here.
Thank you so much!
Some videos make you wish YT provided multiple thumbs up to click. This is one of them. Great video.
Oh that’s very kind! Thank you :)
Ahhhhh -- that’s a very nice thing to say. I thank my mum a lot.
This is amazing stuff. I'd never imagined colors and music could be coded this way👏
Isn’t it wonderful!
This channel is really coming into its own. Great work!
Thank you so much! I’m having a day of rest!
Pure joy, mate. So interesting and I enjoyed your biographical details too. Cheers to your Mum for cultivating such an entertaining nerd 😅
😂😂😂
I just felt like a kid again. Thank you
Oh, that’s so nice to hear! So glad you liked the video!
This whole talk was so clever and entertaining. Well done!
Thank you so much!
Love Peter’s Themes at the end. Great video.
They turned out great, right! I was worried they would all sound dreadful, which I why I caveatee them so heavily. But in the end every one of them is listenable!
Wow absolutely fantastic you blew my mind. I love New Order and it was #1 in the New Wave clubs in New York. Thank you so much for sharing your story.
@@elliotmotola5348 thank you!
That was a "Godlike" video. WOW I rarely smile this hard from a video but dang, this one really tickled something in me in a very unexpected way. Much respect to you.
That’s completely awesome! The best response someone could ever wish for…
You know you are obsessed when 3 weeks later you switch to BBC6 Friday - 80's Forever Programme (via Internet in Canada) for the first time, and Blue Monday is playing so my ears perk up! Then the host starts to speak and I think, where have I heard that accent? Rush to BBC6 Programming guide, host is Holly (William) Johnson of Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Immediately realize just how mistaken I am even though, not the least of which, "William" is too many letters. I gotta get another hobby. 😆
😂😂😂
Really great episode. Thanks for that!
Thank you so much! And also thank you for calling it an “episode”. That is exactly how I think of them. :) 🙏
Love it! I always suspected something was going on with the cover of Blue Monday. Life at the time was too hectic for me to stop and attempt what you actually did. But I do remember the mind blowing first listen, even 40 years later.
Thank you sir!
Wow! A mystery I could NOT stop watching!
That is so great to hear! Seriously, this is the kind of reaction one hopes for.
Totally worth it, thank you for this video. One of my all-time favorite albums. I’ve just gotten to know a tiny bit better.
Fantastic! So glad you liked it!
OK, best internet content award!
Thank you so much!
I say we all write coded letters to Peter Saville, in this color-coded cypher, thanking him for this thoughtful treasure that we're still discovering, learning about and enjoying 40 years later!! What a thrill that'd be for him to receive!!
This video answers one of those big life questions at the who-shot-JFK level.
Thank you for being smart because I surely lack the mental horsepower to figure something like this out. Also, thanks to your mum.
This is a really cool video, which makes refreshing change from yet another reaction. I hadn't heard about this cover until now and I'm way old. Just be glad that the sleeve designer didn't use a one-time pad. Otherwise, you might still be trying to crack the cipher over four decades later.
Hahaha! Very true!
Bravo, my friend. Excellent video. Very Very cool
Thank you! 🙏🙏🙏
Fascinating! And I only came 'cos I was thinking of remaking Blue Monday via DAW and Mini Synths! As a kid, I was captivated by Edgar Allan Poe's story: "The Gold-Bug"! (Beware - reflected stereotypes of day). But the idea of cryptograms etc., in music... 😸
Someone else mentioned The Gold Bug too. I grew up on Poe although not that specific story. But now I want to read it again…
Great video! You produce some great stuff - I'm glad I subscribed last week! Blue Monday was my first purchase - 12" vinyl, £2.25 from the music store in Doncaster! I, too, was looking at it on a bus home from school! I can't believe you don't own a die-cut version though! I've bought a handful of releases since to look after my original. Mine, weirdly, has the centre labels on the wrong side! You're missing another character of the code - early releases also had silver octagons between the words! Several prints followed the original to keep the costs down, because as you're probably aware, they were apparently losing anything from 2p to 10p on each purchase because of the cutting process to replicate the floppy disc design!
Fantastic track and overall product. I'm not kidding when I say I've heard it over 2000 times! Programmed the drums into a a Roland TR-707, Yamaha RX5, and Alesis SR-16 over the years! Good times!
Yeah - I can’t believe that either (that I don’t have the die cut version). I must have not got it release week or something. Were the octagons in silver ink? For the spaces between the words?
@@DistortThePreamp Yes, that's all they were. You can actually google the sleeve and see them. I could instantly see them missing from yours when you held it up - like a cheap Chinese fake! Red Monday, perhaps?!
What's also of note, is that yours, without the silver octagons, is showing the equivalent of two [black] spaces between 'FAC73' and 'BLUE'. It's important to note that the original has a silver octagon and an actual square cut out in order to retrieve the inner cardboard sleeve which was silver or black, before the paper one you have. As such, I believe the decision to reorientate the sleeve when you flipped yours over, was likely for alignment of the words to meet that gap, rather than a sneaky move to fool the decoder?! It may also explain the 'printing error' character! I would need to dig mine out and check though.
That’s extremely interesting. I have often wondered why I didn’t end up with the laser cut version. I’m pretty sure that I bought it at the HMV on Oxford Street and could easily have done so a few weeks after release by which time as I understand it the floppy disc versions had all run out and been replaced by the cheaper sleeve. In fact I remember that after I already had the record I saw some of the laser cut versions in stores and assumed it was a gimmick that had been done *after* release, and that mine was the pure original. That explanation for the two spaces makes perfect sense. There’s a deleted scene from my video which I’m debating whether to post where I explain how the number code doesn’t actually work as a code and propose an alternative, and I note that there are two black spaces after FAC73. My best guess (which in the light of your comment turns out to be wrong) was that Saville had been briefed that the code would be FACT73 (which a T) but they chabged to FAC. At the time there was some chopping and changing between FAC and FACT. But there being an extra cut out is obviously the correct explanation. I’ll never feel bad about not having the laser cut version because my copy is the genuine copy I got at the time, and that feels more important. But the laser cut version was very cool…
@@DistortThePreamp I'm sorry for bringing up good and bad memories! Yeah, you proposed an interesting idea, but since the album FACT50 Movement had previously been released, along with the singles FAC33 Ceremony, FAC53 Procession, and FAC63 Temptation, I doubt Blue Monday would have been anything but FACx3 (with x or even xx representing an increasing number over the years), The FACT designation for their vinyl albums, in multiples of 25 had already been assigned, since FACT75 PC&L would have been in production. As you'll know, that became FACD for eventual CD releases. As I collected New Order vinyls over the years, I often wondered why some numbers jumped a range - like there's no FAC63 or FAC83 for New Order releases. Turned out Factory didn't entirely reserve the idea ending in a '3' just for New Order releases which kind of bothered me!
@@DistortThePreamp I found this on discogs after just digging out my versions. I thought I had five, but I only have four, two of which were originals, and the remaining two bought years later to save my vinyl.
Vinyl : The original UK version was mastered and cut on 5 occasions:
- FAC-73-A-1 MT. STRAWBERRY OUT VOTED! // FAC-73-B-1 MT. HO.EL+TEL! STRAWBERRY
(runoff space 0,8 cm // 1,6 cm)
This original edition misses the first 2 beats of the 16-bar intro are cut off due to a mastering error by the Strawberry engineer, who brought up the fader too late and missed the first drumbeats.
"Out Voted!" refers to New Order taking a vote as to whether the mistake should stay, and the yes vote prevailed.
- FACT 73 A2 .THE ROBOT. STRAWBERRY GG // FACT 73 B2 .THE ROBOT. STRAWBERRY GG
(runoff space 2,2 cm // 2,2 cm) - - I own this version
- FAC 73 A2 GG POUNDA TA1PE R-CUT // FAC 73 B2 GG R-CUT
(runoff space 1,3 cm // 1,4 cm)
- FAC 73 A3 GG POUNDA TA1PE. WHERE'S MURDER? // FAC 73 B3 GG I SAID WHERE'S MURDER?
(runoff space 1,6 cm // 1,6 cm) - - I own this version
- FAC-73-A1 ✱ TOWNHOUSE MAX. // FAC-73-B1 ✱ MAX.
(runoff space 1,6 cm // 1,6 cm)
What's interesting is that I have one of the FACT 73 (note the 'T') inscribed versions written on the inside of the disc! This harks back to your comment!