And We Danced

Honored as one of the top 10 songs that changed the world by Q magazine, Blue Monday remains one of the top selling 12-inch singles of all time and a critical recording in the history of Dance music. In the process of climbing out of the wreckage of Joy Division, New Order firmly established their own musical aesthetic. The song has resurfaced over the years in new mixes cover versions, but the original recording remains the definitive.

New Order had already released a few singles and one album prior to the March 1983 release of Blue Monday. Most observers believed the band was still dealing with the death of Joy Division's lead singer Ian Curtis, and were struggling to find their own unique sound. Blue Monday represented a distinct solid sound that was pure New Order. Filled with layers of computer sequencers, looped instrumental segments, and Bernard Sumner's narrowly focused vocals, Blue Monday was a revelation for club audiences. It is clearly influenced by the danceability of Disco, but at the same time points to a more futuristic sound.

Blue Monday is a key link between styles in the history of Dance music. It appears to be influenced by Disco, Punk and electronic bands such as Kraftwerk. Consequently, Blue Monday influenced music in the future such as House, Techno and the entire realm of electronic Pop music. Factory Records, founded by Tony Wilson, released Blue Monday only in the 12-inch configuration and packaged in a sleeve designed to look like a computer floppy disc, complete with cutout segments. Most believe artist Peter Saville's design for the sleeve is meant as a visual analogy to the computer sequencers used in the recording. This sleeve design was so expensive to manufacture that reportedly neither the record label nor the band made any financial profit from the sales of over 500,000 copies.

The original 1983 release of Blue Monday broke New Order into the top 5 of the Dance chart in the U.S. and the 12-inch release spent nearly 5 years on British charts. A new mix supervised by Quincy Jones was released in 1988 and topped the American dance charts. Blue Monday returned to the upper reaches of the British charts in 1995 with yet more remixes of New Order's recording. In recent years, a small flurry of cover versions have been released. Alternative Metal band Orgy broke through to Pop audiences with their version of Blue Monday in 1999. The Norwegian Downbeat group Flunk issued their own take on the classic in 2002. Kylie Minogue riveted the attention of audiences and critics alike singing the lyrics for her hit Can't Get You Out Of My Head over the instrumental line of Blue Monday resulting in what many have referred to as Can't Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head.