New Order's story is forever entwined with the legend of their previous band, Joy Division. With their landmark second album Closer recorded, their troubled singer Ian Curtis took his own life on the eve of the group's first American tour on 18th May 1980.
Lesser bands would have faded back into obscurity, but the re-christened New Order (www.neworderonline.com) would gradually forge a new and distinctive sound of their own during the 1980s. Echoes of Joy Division's towering, melancholic guitar sound would remain, but the rhythmic sounds of bands like Chic and the emerging New York club scene also impacted on New Order's development.
New Order's Hit Single Blue Monday Opened the Door for The Pet Shop Boys' success
During the '80s, New Order's hit singles Blue Monday and True Faith topped the charts and opened the door for successful synth-pop acts like The Pet Shop Boys. New Order continued to evolve and quickly picked up on the sunny, Balearic sounds of early Acid House. They were so taken with the possibilities, they decamped to Ibiza to record most of Technique there during 1988.
Technique was released to uniformly positive reviews on January 30th, 1989 and remains New Order's most fully-realized album to this day. Re-issued recently with bonus tracks on the Rhino label (www.rhino.com), it's a terrific fusion of modern technology and old-fashioned human complexity and continues to compel.
New Order's Technique Melded the Sound of Ibiza Clubs with Indie Guitar Rock
The Balearic influence is most noticeable on the churning, House-influenced grooves of the hit single Fine Time. Round and Round would follow it into the Top 30 and remains equally sleek and stylish. Vanishing Point would later feature as the theme tune for gritty TV drama Making Out and its' expansive melodic edge ensured it would be a cult hit on its' own terms.
Despite Ibiza's sunshine and love surroundings, it's often when New Order's natural melancholia takes over that Technique really excels. Frontman Barney Sumner's failed marriage casts a shadow over his lyrics, ensuring songs like All The Way, Run and Love Less seethe with an intimate frankness rare in rock'n'roll. The sadness is all too palpable when he sings “I spent a lifetime working on you and you won't even talk to me” during Love Less.
Having had the vocalist role foisted upon him with Ian Curtis' premature demise, Sumner really comes into his own on Technique. The rest of the band shine too. Peter Hook's melody-hugging bass lines and Steve Morris' tenacious drumming drive the songs along and Gillian Gilbert's synths and guitar top and tail even the less-celebrated tracks like Guilty Partner and the under-rated Dream Attack.
Technique's Role in Shaping the 'Madchester' Music Scene
1989 would prove a monumental year for the Manchester music scene. The Stone Roses' debut album, the Inspiral Carpets' string of hits and Happy Mondays' decadent grooves would all contribute to a major scene dubbed 'Madchester' by the media. It would introduce Club Culture to Indie Rock in no uncertain terms at the dawn of the 1990s.
Hindsight suggests it was a musical powderkeg ready to explode anyway, but it's equally certain that New Order's Technique put the match to it. Its' creativity will still be blazing brightly in another twenty years time.
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