In 1983, there was this 7-minutes long music called "Blue Monday" that caused a massive impact with its mixture of dance and electronic rhythms with a rock
energy also felt through depressive, meaningful lyrics. Yes, all those universes collided in New Order's music (a group formed by the ashes of the dark Joy
Division), their first mainstream song coming from their second album. From the monochromatic world of Division comes the more colorful Order; both equally important.
However, that single could be only heard on some radios, several hot spot places to dance and obviously the album since MTV wouldn't accept such a long
music for a video - despite "Thriller" get a cinematic music video around the time. Instead, audiences had to wait until 1988 to get something manageable for
MTV to show when New Order made a new version of the epic song (released on a Greatest Hits compilation) and delivered such artistic, bizarre and intriguing clip.
Bernie, Hooky, Stephen & Gillian all appear in quick shots, dividing their moments while tennis balls float around their heads, and the image of several
colorful paintings are presented. The main images comes from the 5th member, a spooky dog that appears in different poses on top of a chairs displayed either in a barricate
form or put together so the animal can form a bridge between them. Meaning? All up to you or just stop making sense, go along with the music - a shortened version
of "Blue Monday", the whole lyrics is there but the music is played faster, loose and that long instrumental introduction is not there. It's a pure commercial way
to sell music and video to wider audiences.
New Order has a great memorable moment with this short, though I always keep thinking about the possibility a clip with some story using the original version of
the song could be made so people could get a different view beyond the sound; the words from the lyrics have a deep inner dimension of feelings, there's an
emotional ressonance to it along with several possible interpretations (the sadness of Joy Division never left the group, and "Blue Monday" has a feel to the
words that it seems to have been written by Ian Curtis before his death, but we know that New Order made it). I like what I got from the clip, a rare artful
video that it's missed those days and a time travel machine from a great period in music where audiences could do more than just enjoy the song but could also
play with our senses by using art, references, paintings, reflections, and to each viewer comes a unique and different portrait from what is presented on the screen.
We were never the same after those experiences. 10/10.
