New Order -- Blue Monday '88

 

Following a few weeks of Xmas-themed Reminiscings of Youth articles, it's time to return to normal somewhat, although I know that we're still in the Holidays. And for this final ROY of 2022, I wanted to bring in something danceable and nostalgic since we're approaching the final party season of the year. Not that I will be going anywhere near a club on December 31st; I'm simply too old for that now. It's gonna be toshikoshi soba for dinner on that night.

My first ROY regarding the legendary 80s band New Order revolved around "Bizarre Love Triangle" which was a favourite on the dance floor in all of those discos that my university buddies and I had used to frequent such as The Copa and RPM in Toronto. As soon as we heard the familiar intro, we were up and at 'em. However, we also had an affinity for the band's darker but still plenty danceable song "Blue Monday".

When I saw the Wikipedia information on the song, I was surprised to see that it had been released so early...in March 1983. I certainly don't recall hearing it that early in the decade. But then, I realized that the version that we'd been used to hearing and dancing to was "Blue Monday '88" (a lot of us liked to do a march to it) remixed by Quincy Jones and released in April 1988. Indeed, I did get my copy of the record as you can see in the thumbnail photo at the top. And the video above us here is of this remixed version while the video below has the original 1983 song.

I figure that there are plenty of representatives for 1980s music. New Order's "Blue Monday" would be the ambassador for the UK dance territory. The combination of the rat-a-tat drum, the synths and the bass/bass synth and especially Bernard Sumner's vocals is iconic. If there is ever a movie set in the 1980s, this is the song for the trailer as much as "In the Mood" has usually been utilized for any flick taking place in the 1920s or 1930s.

Apparently, the movie was no great shakes but "Wonder Woman 1984" had Sebastian Böhm making his mark on its trailer with his own version of "Blue Monday". It would have been cool to use it during an action scene there.

So, what were up at Nos. 1, 3 and 5 on Oricon for April 1988?

1. Hikaru Genji -- Paradise Ginga (パラダイス銀河）

3. Checkers -- One Night Gigolo

5. Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi -- Kanpai （乾杯）