New Order

New Order formed in Manchester in 1980 after the death of Joy Division's Ian Curtis. Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, and Stephen Morris — joined by Gillian Gilbert — faced an impossible task: continuing after one of the most devastating losses in rock history. Their response was to change direction entirely, embracing electronic music and synthesisers in ways that Joy Division never had.

'Blue Monday' (1983) was the moment everything changed. The twelve-inch single — with its drum machine, synthesiser bassline, and Sumner's detached vocals — was unlike anything that had come before. It became the best-selling twelve-inch single of all time. The synthesis of rock and electronic music that New Order achieved on 'Blue Monday' and the subsequent 'Power, Corruption & Lies' (1983) created a template that dance music still follows.

'Technique' (1989) — recorded in Ibiza at the height of the acid house explosion — was another landmark: rock guitars and Balearic beats in perfect synthesis. 'Republic' (1993) was their most commercially successful album. New Order have continued to record and tour, their influence on British music — from Britpop to the present day — impossible to overstate.