The iconic 12” single Blue Monday celebrates its 40th Anniversary on 7th March 2023. Written and produced by New Order and released on the legendary label Factory, the seminal track has continued to enthrall fans and influence generations of musicians and creatives since release in 1983.
Blue Monday reached the Top 10 in the UK charts, spent a total of 38 weeks in the Top 75 and is the biggest-selling 12” single of all time with worldwide sales of +3 Million. Designed by Peter Saville the unique cover sleeve, resembling a 5 ¼ floppy disk with coloured code strip which when deciphered reads the artist, track and label information, became an instant classic and equally revered as the music itself.
In addition to the huge commercial success on release, the track has been sampled, covered and remixed by many of the worlds biggest stars including Rihanna on Shut Up And Drive, Kylie ‘Cant Get Blue Monday Out Of My Head’, Quincy Jones ‘Blue Monday 88’’ and even inspired fashion designer Raf Simons’ A/W 2019 collection, achieving an almost unparalleled status in contemporary culture.
Blue Monday has also soundtracked a multitude of high profile film releases, video games and advertising campaigns in recent years, including House Of Gucci, Ready Player One, Atomic Blonde, Wonder Woman 1984, the Call of Duty game series and Yves Saint Laurent, in the process introducing it to whole new audience forty years after it’s original release.
To celebrate the 40th Anniversary, New Order are releasing a range of merchandise available from 7th March, exclusively via their online store here.
From the ashes of legendary band Joy Division, New Order triumphed over tragedy to emerge as one of the most influential and acclaimed bands of all time.
After Ian Curtis tragically took his own life, Bernard Sumner (keyboardist and guitarist), Peter Hook (bassist) and Stephen Morris (drummer) re-formed the same year as New Order, with the addition of Gillian Gilbert (keyboardist and guitarist) and Sumner taking over as vocalist.
Their debut Movement (1981) was over shadowed by the sound of Joy Division; going forward the band combined post-punk with influences from New York’s club scene, the result was Power, Corruption & Lies (1983). 1983 also saw the release of “Blue Monday” which became the best-selling 12-inch single of all time, selling over 3 million copies worldwide.
New Order then released the albums Low-Life (1985), Brotherhood (1986), Substance (1987) and Technique (1989). Between several brief hiatuses and line-up alterations, Republic (1993), Get Ready (2001) and Waiting for the Sirens’ Call (2005) came out, before Peter Hook’s departure in 2007.
Phil Cunningham joined the band in 2001, followed by Tom Chapman as bass player in 2011
The band released their critically acclaimed tenth studio album Music Complete in 2015 featuring guest vocals from Iggy Pop, Brandon Flowers and Elly Jackson of La Roux.
Never resting on their legacy, New Order continue to perform live around the world, playing some of the biggest shows of their career to date, headlining Manchester’s Heaton Park and London’s O2 in 2021 and a US arena tour with Pet Shop Boys in Autumn 2022.
