New Order - Blue Monday

"Blue Monday", originally released in 1983, is frequently described as one of the greatest dance records ever made. That's an impressive claim, but it also raises a question. Is "Blue Monday" really a dance song?

Obviously it is. It's driven by a relentless electronic beat, it was made for clubs, and the original 12-inch version lasts more than seven minutes. But calling it a dance song somehow seems inadequate. Most dance music invites you to enjoy yourself. "Blue Monday" sounds cold, lonely and vaguely threatening. It's music for dancing in the dark.

To understand why, it's necessary to go back to Joy Division. After the suicide of singer Ian Curtis in 1980, the remaining members continued as New Order. They didn't simply abandon their past and become a synthpop group overnight. The darkness of Joy Division remained, but it was combined with synthesisers, sequencers and drum machines. "Blue Monday" is the moment when those two worlds came together perfectly.

The song begins with a programmed drum pattern that immediately establishes its mechanical pulse. Then Peter Hook's bass enters, refusing to behave like a conventional bass guitar. Instead of merely supporting the rhythm, it becomes a melodic instrument in its own right, cutting through the electronics and giving the song an unmistakably human element.

Bernard Sumner's voice is just as distinctive. He sounds detached, almost numb, beginning with the unforgettable question, "How does it feel to treat me like you do?" The lyrics suggest anger, disappointment and emotional confusion without ever explaining exactly what has happened. Even the title doesn't appear in the song.

That's the great paradox of "Blue Monday". The rhythm tells your body to move while everything else tells you that something is wrong. It's enormously danceable, but there's no sense of celebration. You can imagine a room full of people dancing while each person remains trapped inside his own thoughts.

That's what separates "Blue Monday" from so much 1980's synthpop. New Order didn't use electronic instruments to make something bright and futuristic. The machines sound cold because the emotions are cold.

Is "Blue Monday" the greatest dance song of all time? I don't know how anyone could objectively give that title to a single record. But it deserves to be part of the argument.

It's a dance record without happiness, a pop record without a conventional chorus and an electronic record that still feels unmistakably human. New Order took the darkness of Joy Division onto the dance floor.

More than four decades later, the beat still starts and people still dance.

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How does it feel to treat me like you do?
When you've laid your hands upon me
And told me who you are?

I thought I was mistaken,
I thought I heard your words.
Tell me, how do I feel?
Tell me now, how do I feel?

Those who came before me
Lived through their vocations,
From the past until completion
They'll turn away no more.

And still, I find it so hard
To say what I need to say,
But I'm quite sure that you'll tell me
Just how I should feel today.

I see a ship in the harbour,
I can and shall obey,
But if it wasn't for your misfortune
I'd be a heavenly person today.

And I thought I was mistaken,
And I thought I heard you speak.
Tell me, how do I feel?
Tell me now, how should I feel?

Now I stand here waiting.

I thought I told you to leave me
While I walk down to the beach.
Tell me, how does it feel
When your heart grows cold?