Thread by @Birmingham_81

Happy 40th birthday to New Order's Blue Monday, which was released on this day in 1983. Here's a celebratory thread, starting with a live version filmed for Switch that year (THREAD 1 of 12)

It went on to be the biggest selling 12” single of all time. Legend has it that Peter Saville’s iconic die-cut floppy disc sleeve meant Factory Records lost money on every copy, but this original design was quickly changed for a less expensive version (THREAD 2 of 12 inches)

New Order had used synths before, but took things to a whole new level with Blue Monday. Here they are explaining how things work on the Dutch TV show Countdown in 1983. "Tell him you come from Macclesfield" (THREAD 3 of 12)

Blue Monday's title was taken from a illustration by Kurt Vonnegut in his 1973 novel Breakfast of Champions (THREAD 4 of 12)

Several years later, New Order rewrote the lyrics and rerecorded Blue Monday for this Sunkist advert (THREAD 5 of 12)

Listening to Blue Monday brings back fond memories of dancing to it every Wednesday night at the alternative disco at Birmingham's Powerhouse club back in 83 and 84. It kicks off this playlist inspired by those nights (THREAD 6 of 12)
open.spotify.com/playlist/1HSua…

Here's how you dance to Blue Monday. Watch Wendy Wild and Dino Sorbello at 1.30 in this dance competition filmed at Danceteria in NYC in 1983. Wendy was in Pulsallama and both of them were in Mad Violets (THREAD 7 of 12)

Here's a short documentary about the making of Blue Monday featuring all members of the band plus Martin Usher who engineered the track (THREAD 8 of 12)

What magic ingredients went into Blue Monday? This deconstruction reveals all, including drums from Donna Summer, bass from Sylvester, keys from Klein & MBO and voices from Kraftwerk (THREAD 9 of 12)

This playlist features all those influences plus the Few Dollars More theme that inspired Hooky's riff. I've also included Gerry and the Holograms, which was recorded in Manchester in 79 and some say created the blueprint for Blue Monday (THREAD 10 of 12)
open.spotify.com/playlist/7B2Q4…

Here's a YouTube playlist of Blue Monday videos, including the official ones from 1983 and 1988, plus various live takes such as the legendary #TOTP performance and the full version of this from Countdown (THREAD 11 of 12)
youtube.com/playlist?list=…

I first saw New Order perform Blue Monday live at Birmingham's Tower Ballroom in May 1983. Still got my ticket from that night, but sadly didn't take any photos. These are from their Imperial Cinema show in Jan 1982 #BlueMonday (THREAD 12 of 12)

Addendum: here's Peter Saville's colour code to help you decipher the wording on the 12" single. More info at new-order.fandom.com/wiki/Peter_Sav…