9. New OrderSubstance
I hope I’m not breaking the rules here, including a compilation. But Substance definitely felt like an artefact. I was aware of New Order, but it wasn’t until this record put together these songs I had dabbled with that I realised, “Wow, this is a force to be reckoned with”. I didn’t have much idea about the connection with Joy Division, and they re-recorded some songs for this record, which must have been quite a big deal for them. I can imagine them wanting to make a statement, put their flag in the ground, “This is what we’ve done”.
And New Order have never gone away, for me. The most obvious thing about them is the dance aspect. New Order became my absolute bread and butter – at this point I took my ambitions to the dancefloor. I had given up college and become a DJ, and they became my absolute go-to artiste when things were falling flat. Everyone knows it is going to get serious if ‘Blue Monday’ comes on. ‘Blue Monday’ is probably the single track that I wished I could have created. Something so permanent and cool and fantastic as ‘Blue Monday’. I have danced to that song so many times and it never gets boring. They take it up and up, the beats are going, the floor is full and they have the confidence to sing: “And now I stand here waiting” and nothing happens. It is brilliant, so fucking moody! He is this pissed off guy, you know, who has gone to the extent of this brilliant dance record just so he can make a point to his girlfriend or something. I would play it if I still DJed, but I kind of overdosed on DJing, I leave it to others now.
