Blue Monday (New Order song)

"Blue Monday"
Original die-cut sleeve
Single by New Order
B-side
Released7 March 1983[1]
Recorded1982
StudioBritannia Row, Islington
Genre
Length7:29 (12-inch version)
4:09 (7-inch version)
LabelFactory (12-inch version)
Tonpress (7-inch version)
Songwriter(s)
  • Gillian Gilbert
  • Peter Hook
  • Stephen Morris
  • Bernard Sumner
Producer(s)New Order
New Order singles chronology
"Temptation"
(1982) 		"Blue Monday"
(1983) 		"Confusion"
(1983)

"Blue Monday" is the fifth single by the British rock band New Order. It was released as a 12-inch single on 7 March 1983 through Factory Records. It appears on certain cassette and CD versions of New Order's second studio album, Power, Corruption & Lies (1983).[4] The track was written and produced by Gillian Gilbert, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner.

"Blue Monday" is a eurodisco, synth-pop and alternative dance song that drew inspirations from many works of other artists. The 12-inch single was backed with a primarily instrumental version of the song entitled "The Beach" on the B-side. The single's unique packaging was designed by Peter Saville and Brett Wickens. It features a die-cut sleeve designed to resemble a 5+1⁄4-inch floppy disk. The cover features no words, but instead has code, invented by Saville, in the form of coloured blocks that contains the artist, song and label information.

The original single made the top 10 in many countries. It reached number nine on the UK Singles Chart and spent 38 weeks in the top 75. It spent 186 weeks on the UK Independent Singles Chart, effectively selling for four years until the release of the Substance 1987 compilation on which it featured. The UK Indie Chart run was second only to "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division, which clocked 195 weeks (their runs overlapped). In New Zealand, it peaked at number 2 and spent 74 weeks (spread across three calendar years) in the top 50. The 1988 remix reached number 3 on the British chart and number 4 on the Australian chart, and it topped the dance chart in the United States.

"Blue Monday" is the best-selling 12-inch single of all time.[5][6] In the United Kingdom, it has sold 1.16 million copies in all formats, including the 1988 and 1995 re-releases. Sales of the original 1983 12-inch release account for the bulk of the total, at over 700,000 copies.[7] It was remixed by the band twice, in 1988 and 1995. The 1988 remix reached number 1 in New Zealand and the top 10 in other countries. The song has been covered by bands including Orgy, Flunk, 808 State, the Enemy and Health. In 2021, Rolling Stone included it at number 235 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

  1. ^ "WATCH: New Order Reveal How BLUE MONDAY was Made".
  2. ^ King, Richard (2012). How Soon is Now? The Madmen and Mavericks who Made Independent Music 1975-2005. Faber & Faber. ISBN 9780571278329 – via Google Books. "Blue Monday" was us getting into Euro disco, says Stephen Morris, New Order's drummer.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference RS 2004 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "New Order, 'Power, Corruption & Lies' | 100 Best Albums of the Eighties". Rolling Stone. 18 April 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference review was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Alexis Petridis (14 June 2011). "An indie label releases Blue Monday, the biggest selling 12-inch single ever". The Guardian. London. ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 60623878. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  7. ^ "The history of the Official Charts: the Eighties". London: Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 January 2011.