Blue Monday

Recorded in 1982 at Britannia Row in Islington, London. New Order built the track around programmed synths and drum machine work, with Michael Johnson engineering and Martin Usher helping design the sync circuit for the sequencer and drum machine. Released on 7 March 1983, it became the band’s breakthrough dance single and a defining statement of post-punk’s move into synth-driven club music. In the UK, it reached No. 9 and spent 38 weeks on the chart. It is widely regarded as the best-selling 12-inch single in history and remains one of New Order’s signature recordings. Its sound and sequencing helped shape later electronic pop and club music, and it has been repeatedly reissued, remixed, and covered.