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seedarklyxeroWelcome to the Third Sunday Throwback edition of SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies where the goth/industrial cover songs come to us from the 20th century!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
On occasion, I'm surprised to find that someone will think a cover version of a track is the original, for either never having been exposed to the original or simply thinking the original is the cover of what they've first encountered. (Though sometimes it's a case of the cover being way more popular than the original; I recently discovered that was the case with Animotion's Obsession, which was released a year after the original by songwriters Des Barres and Knight. I'm clearly not immune to making this error.) I have run into the phenomenon several times with respect to this cover, despite the familiarity and popularity of the original track:
Orgy - Blue Monday
When originally released by synth-pop icons New Order as a single in 1983, Blue Monday was packaged to appear as a 5¼" floppy disc and the title was obscured in a unique code made up of colored shapes along one side. The key to unlocking the code on the single was said to be on back sleeve of their 1983 album, Power, Corruption & Lies, which was released globally a couple months after Blue Monday. The song, however, was only included on U.S. and Australian pressings of the album, at least until later reissues and compilations.
The track swiftly became one of their most popular club hits and may still be the number one selling 12" single of all time.
According to some accounts, various elements of Blue Monday were inspired specifically by four other songs: Dirty Talk by Klein + M.B.O., You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) by Sylvester, Our Love by Donna Summer and Uranium by Kraftwerk. However, the anthemic and asynchronous rhythm that opens the song is said to be an accidental programming error, but one the band thought worked significantly better than originally composed.
Blue Monday has been covered at least a dozen times over the years, possibly more. Perhaps the most notable of them all was the cover done by the industrial alternative rock band, Orgy.
In August of 1998, Orgy launched their debut album, Candyass, which featured the single they released later that year. In the course of their career, Blue Monday has effectively become Orgy's one hit wonder. Even though both Stitches and Fiction (Dreams in Digital) also received some short term radio play, only Blue Monday continues to get steady recurrent broadcast on commercial alternative radio.
While nearly identical in tempo, Orgy's version is far more aggressive in style, in keeping with the aggro-rock that was trending popularly in the late 90's. With portions of New Order's upbeat synthesizers revised as loud distorted guitars and vocals far harsher than Sumner's, Orgy transformed this club classic into a solid and memorable head-banging floor-stomper.
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
Planning to present something industrial and possibly even more aggressive since the weeks prior to this were a bit more downtempo (and perhaps indulgent) than I'd intended. Got to keep the balance, right? (Pardon the unrelated Depeche reference. It won't be one from them again until the end of May.)
Suggestions are welcome, as are general comments, discussions, etc...
This week I spin twice, celebrating my 10 year anniversary of being a club DJ in the goth/industrial scene of New England: on Tuesday in Western Mass and on Wednesday (for the official anniversary date) in Boston! Please check my schedule for details and join me if you are able. ^_^
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Feb 14 - Lovage - Sex (I'm A...) (Berlin)
Feb 07 - Daniela Andrade x Dabin - Heartbeats (The Knife)
Jan 31 - Halovox - Fly on the Windscreen (Depeche Mode)
Jan 24 - XP8 - Nightlife (IAMX)
Jan 17 - David Bowie - Sorrow (The McCoys)
Directory of All DisCOVERies
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
On occasion, I'm surprised to find that someone will think a cover version of a track is the original, for either never having been exposed to the original or simply thinking the original is the cover of what they've first encountered. (Though sometimes it's a case of the cover being way more popular than the original; I recently discovered that was the case with Animotion's Obsession, which was released a year after the original by songwriters Des Barres and Knight. I'm clearly not immune to making this error.) I have run into the phenomenon several times with respect to this cover, despite the familiarity and popularity of the original track:
Orgy - Blue Monday
When originally released by synth-pop icons New Order as a single in 1983, Blue Monday was packaged to appear as a 5¼" floppy disc and the title was obscured in a unique code made up of colored shapes along one side. The key to unlocking the code on the single was said to be on back sleeve of their 1983 album, Power, Corruption & Lies, which was released globally a couple months after Blue Monday. The song, however, was only included on U.S. and Australian pressings of the album, at least until later reissues and compilations.
The track swiftly became one of their most popular club hits and may still be the number one selling 12" single of all time.
According to some accounts, various elements of Blue Monday were inspired specifically by four other songs: Dirty Talk by Klein + M.B.O., You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) by Sylvester, Our Love by Donna Summer and Uranium by Kraftwerk. However, the anthemic and asynchronous rhythm that opens the song is said to be an accidental programming error, but one the band thought worked significantly better than originally composed.
Blue Monday has been covered at least a dozen times over the years, possibly more. Perhaps the most notable of them all was the cover done by the industrial alternative rock band, Orgy.
In August of 1998, Orgy launched their debut album, Candyass, which featured the single they released later that year. In the course of their career, Blue Monday has effectively become Orgy's one hit wonder. Even though both Stitches and Fiction (Dreams in Digital) also received some short term radio play, only Blue Monday continues to get steady recurrent broadcast on commercial alternative radio.
While nearly identical in tempo, Orgy's version is far more aggressive in style, in keeping with the aggro-rock that was trending popularly in the late 90's. With portions of New Order's upbeat synthesizers revised as loud distorted guitars and vocals far harsher than Sumner's, Orgy transformed this club classic into a solid and memorable head-banging floor-stomper.
The Cover:
The Original:
Next week:
Planning to present something industrial and possibly even more aggressive since the weeks prior to this were a bit more downtempo (and perhaps indulgent) than I'd intended. Got to keep the balance, right? (Pardon the unrelated Depeche reference. It won't be one from them again until the end of May.)
Suggestions are welcome, as are general comments, discussions, etc...
This week I spin twice, celebrating my 10 year anniversary of being a club DJ in the goth/industrial scene of New England: on Tuesday in Western Mass and on Wednesday (for the official anniversary date) in Boston! Please check my schedule for details and join me if you are able. ^_^
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Feb 14 - Lovage - Sex (I'm A...) (Berlin)
Feb 07 - Daniela Andrade x Dabin - Heartbeats (The Knife)
Jan 31 - Halovox - Fly on the Windscreen (Depeche Mode)
Jan 24 - XP8 - Nightlife (IAMX)
Jan 17 - David Bowie - Sorrow (The McCoys)
Directory of All DisCOVERies