POP ART

WELCOME

02 @ClassicPopMag June 1976, and it was a

ODES TO JOY

IN THIS ARCHIVE INTERVIEW FROM 2019, PETER HOOK TELLS JONATHAN WRIGHT ABOUT THE “WONDERFUL OUT-OF-CONTROL EXCITEMENT” OF MAKING JOY DIVISION'S UNKNOWN PLEASURES, ONE OF THE BEST DEBUT ALBUMS OF ALL TIME

CLOSING THE DOOR

IN THIS EYE-OPENING CHAPTER FROM HIS SUPERB 2021 BIOGRAPHY, JOY DIVISION + NEW ORDER: DECADES, JOHN AIZLEWOOD REVISITS CLOSER AND RETREADS THE TRAGIC FINAL DAYS OF IAN CURTIS AND JOY DIVISION

MOVEMENT NEW ORDER

WITH THE TRAGIC EVENTS OF MAY 1980 STILL A HAUNTING PRESENCE, THE REMAINING MEMBERS OF JOY DIVISION RESOLVED TO GET THROUGH THE PAIN AND ON TO THE OTHER SIDE. THE RESULT WAS AN LP STILL AT HOME IN THE DARKER CLIMES OF THEIR OLD POST-PUNK SOUND BUT WITH A FRESH PALETTE OF ELECTRONICS BEGINNING TO EMERGE

BROTHERHOOD

NEW ORDER’S FOURTH STUDIO ALBUM WOULD SEE THE BAND SPLIT THEIR ROCK AND ELECTRO-POP INFLUENCES OVER THE LP’S TWO SIDES. THE RESULTING RECORD, WHILE NOT BEING EXACTLY A FAN FAVOURITE, WOULD BIRTH ONE OF THEIR MOST ENDURING SONGS – BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLE…

THE BIG PICTURE

THE VIDEOS

WAITING FOR THE SIRENS’ CALL NEW ORDER

WITH GILLIAN GILBERT MAKING HER EXIT, AND THE BAND RESURFACING FROM A CREATIVE LULL, A RETURN TO PETER GABRIEL’S REAL WORLD STUDIOS LED TO AN ALBUM THAT REVISITED PLENTY OF WELL-WORN TERRITORY. WHILE CRITICS WERE LEFT MOSTLY UNMOVED, THE BAND’S EIGHTH LP HIT THE SPOT WITH FANS, SAILING INTO THE UK TOP 5.

LOST SIRENS NEW ORDER

AN ALBUM OF OFFCUTS? AN UNFINISHED PROJECT? A MUSICAL TIME CAPSULE? THE JURY’S OUT, BUT DESPITE THE LAST REMNANTS OF HOOKY, SOME LUSH ARRANGEMENTS AND A FEW STANDOUT HIGHS, LOST SIRENS IS – AS CRITICS SURMISED – ONE FOR THE COMPLETISTS

THE POWER AND THE GLORY

POWER, CORRUPTION & LIES MARKED THE MOMENT WHEN NEW ORDER FINALLY COMPLETED THE TRANSFORMATION FROM JOY DIVISION. IN THIS INTERVIEW FROM 2020, SYNTH-POP’S GOLDEN COUPLE, STEPHEN MORRIS AND GILLIAN GILBERT, TOGETHER FOR OVER 40 YEARS, TOLD CLASSIC POP THE TRUTH BEHIND THE LANDMARK ALBUM.

GILBERT’S GUIDE?

Stephen Morris’ memoir, Fast Forward, about his New

MORE POWER, MORE CORRUPTION

2020’s boxset of Power, Corruption & Lies was

ANOTHER OTHER TWO?

During New Order’s breaks in the 90s, Stephen

THIS CHANGING WORLD

NEW ORDER HAVE BEEN MUCH LESS PROLIFIC IN THEIR SECOND 12 YEARS TOGETHER THAN IN THEIR FIRST INCARNATION. BUT, DESPITE THE BITTER FEUD BETWEEN THE REST OF THE BAND AND PETER HOOK, BOTH SIDES HAVE OFFERED A WORLD OF INTRIGUE SINCE THEIR SPLIT BECAME DEFINITIVE IN 2011.

THE MAKING OF BLUE MONDAY

A CANNY PLOY TO SWERVE ENCORES, SOLDERING IRONS AND A MESS OF WIRES, SOME SLIGHTLY BODGED SEQUENCING AND EVEN BOUTS OF FLATULENCE – 40 YEARS ON, CLASSIC POP LOOKS BACK AT THE MAGIC AND MAYHEM THAT WENT INTO THE MAKING OF NEW ORDER’S ICONIC 1983 SINGLE

OUT OF THE BLUE

Cover versions and reworks from the weird to the wonderful…

“WEREN’T THEY GREAT DAYS BEFORE WE ALL DISAPPEARED UP OUR OWN ARSES?”

WITH NEW ORDER’S SEMINAL 1985 ALBUM LOW-LIFE GETTING THE DELUXE REISSUE TREATMENT, CLASSIC POP CATCHES UP WITH FORMER BASSIST PETER HOOK TO REVISIT THE MAKING OF ONE OF THE BAND’S MOST CONSISTENT – AND RANDY – RECORDS

TECHNIQUE

NEW ORDER

THE BIG PICTURE

THE VIDEOS

THE FACTORY FLOOR

MANCHESTER WAS PRIMED FOR AN ERA-DEFINING MECCA OF MUSIC BY THE TIME THE HAÇIENDA OPENED IN 1982. FOR THE NEXT 15 YEARS ITS PILLS-AND-THRILLS FUELLED HEDONISM SPAWNED A LEGACY THAT THRIVES TO THIS DAY…

NEW ORDER TOP 40

For over four decades, New Order have given us some of the most thrilling and genre-busting tracks. Here’s our rundown of their very best…

REPUBLIC

AS THE ONLY ALBUM IN THE 12 YEARS OF TURMOIL BETWEEN TECHNIQUE AND GET READY, REPUBLIC IS A SOMETIMES COMPROMISED AND SAFE RECORD. BUT THERE’S MUCH TO CHERISH TOO – EVEN IF THE BAND BLAMED THEIR NEW HEADMASTER FOR SOME OF ITS FAULTS…

THE BIG PICTURE

THE VIDEOS

FACTORY

MORE THAN 30 YEARS AFTER IT CLOSED ITS DOORS, IT’S STILL MANCHESTER’S FAVOURITE FACTORY. CLASSIC POP SPEAKS TO THE KEY FIGURES BEHIND ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST ICONIC LABELS AND REVEALS HOW FACTORY RECORDS AND ITS HAÇIENDA NIGHTCLUB PUMPED OUT THE SOUNDS, SLEEVES AND SPIRIT THAT DEFINED AN ENTIRE EPOCH OF BRITISH MUSIC CULTURE…

SUNKEN TREASURE

A DECADE OF CLASSICS FROM JOY DIVISION AND NEW ORDER MAY HAVE KEPT FACTORY’S PRODUCTION LINES ROLLING, BUT PLENTY OF OTHER VALUABLE RELEASES HAVE SLIPPED THROUGH THE CRACKS OF TIME. GARETH MURPHY DIGS UP FIVE LESSER-KNOWN GEMS THAT DESERVE GREATER ATTENTION.

GET READY NEW ORDER

HAVING SPREAD THEIR WINGS VIA THEIR VARIOUS SOLO ENTERPRISES, NEW ORDER’S FIRST ALBUM OF THE NEW MILLENIUM WAS A (VERY) LONG TIME COMING. YES, IT’S FAR FROM A CLASSIC, BUT WHEN THE ROCKIER GET READY EVENTUALLY HIT THE SHELVES, IT WAS A WORTHY RETURN

MUSIC COMPLETE

NEW ORDER

THE BIG PICTURE

THE VIDEOS

ELECTRONIC

ELECTRONIC

THE BIG PICTURE

THE VIDEOS

“SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN BERNARD’S KRAFTWERK AND TECHNOTRONIC OBSESSION AND MY CHIC AND S’EXPRESS OBSESSION”

JOHNNY MARR TALKS CLASSIC POP THROUGH ELECTRONIC’S SEMINAL DEBUT ALBUM

TOP 20 COLLABORATIONS

THE NEW ORDER BACK CATALOGUE ISN’T JUST ABOUT GENRE-DEFINING SINGLES AND PIVOTAL ALBUMS. CLASSIC POP SELECTS 20 ENDURING COLLABORATIONS WITH OTHER ARTISTS…

CLASSIC POP MOMENTS

© Alamy NEW ORDER KICK OFF E NGLAND’