088: New Order - Substance (1987)

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“What we want to do is present music without any of the peripheral rubbish around it … It doesn’t matter who played what solo or what instruments we used or even who we are.”

—Bernard Sumner

We used to think that the day would never come, but Discord & Rhyme has reached a new milestone: it’s our first singles compilation! New Order issued Substance in an effort to bail out Factory Records, whose financial mismanagement is the stuff of legend. But that also meant that the label was willing to spend money on cool new equipment for the band, which meant that they were always one step ahead of the game technologically, leading an unintentional revolution in electronic dance music. Substance spans the years 1981–1987, during which the band rose from the ashes of Joy Division, issued the groundbreaking 12-inch single “Blue Monday,” and ascended to arena stardom with appearances on major soundtracks such as Pretty in Pink and hits such as “Bizarre Love Triangle” and “True Faith.” They’re one of Rich’s very favorite bands, so join us as he leads Mike and John on the journey from Manchester to Madchester.

Miscellany

• In addition to the 2007 documentary Joy Division and the 2002 comedy-drama 24 Hour Party People, both of which Rich mentioned and are very well worth watching, the band recorded the official 1993 documentary New Order Story, and the 1984 BBC short film Play at Home, featuring interviews with a wide range of figures associated with Factory Records.

• For more on the connection between New Order’s music and the industrial heritage of the city of Manchester, Rich highly recommends checking out the radio/podcast series Classic Album Sundays episode “Sounds of a City: New Order’s Power, Corruption & Lies.”

• If you need even more New Order in podcast form, in 2020 the band released an eight-part series called “Transmissions: The Definitive Story of Joy Division & New Order,” narrated by Maxine Peake and featuring exclusive interviews with every member of the band.

• Manchester, the Hacienda club and the Madchester rave music scene is a much larger subject than we could hope to cover in one podcast, but Reid Forgrave of Sports Illustrated wrote an excellent feature delving into the scene’s ties to sports hooliganism and gangland violence. 

Other links 

• New Order’s official website (store.neworder.com)

• How 'Blue Monday' changed music forever (Matthew Horton, NME)

• Gillian Gilbert: Why New Order's singular synth queen deserves more (Alan York, Dig!)

• Substance: Inside New Order by Peter Hook (HarperCollins)

• “The Perfect Kiss” short film, directed by Jonathan Demme (YouTube)

• The short-lived “Blue Monday” Sunkist TV ad (YouTube)

• Discord & Rhyme’s Substance playlist (Spotify)

• Discord & Rhyme’s Patreon

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call 

• Rich Bunnell (host)

• John McFerrin (moderator)

• Mike DeFabio 

Substance tracklist 

1. Ceremony

2. Everything’s Gone Green

3. Temptation (new version)

4. Blue Monday

5. Confusion

6. Thieves Like Us

7. The Perfect Kiss

8. Sub-culture

9. Shellshock

10. State of the Nation

11. Bizarre Love Triangle

12. True Faith 

Other clips used 

New Order/Joy Division:

• Fine Time

• Age of Consent

• Warsaw (Joy Division)

• She’s Lost Control (Joy Division)

• Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)

• Dreams Never End

• Heart and Soul (Joy Division)

• Procession

• Temptation (7-inch version)

• Blue Monday (Sunkist lyrics version)

• Confusion (7-inch version)

• Sub-culture (Low-Life version)

• Shame of the Nation

• 1963

• Bizarre Love Triangle (Brotherhood version)

• Bizarre Love Triangle (single mix)

• Regret

• True Faith (Shep Pettibone remix)

• Vanishing Point

• Your Silent Face

• The Him 

Others:

• The Moody Blues - Procession

• Klein + MBO - Dirty Talk

• Donna Summer - Our Love

• Sylvester - You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)

• Ennio Morricone - La Resa Dei Conti (from A Few Dollars More)

• Kraftwerk - Uranium

• Orgy - Blue Monday

• Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock

• Frank Zappa - Baby Snakes

• Pet Shop Boys - Was It Worth It?

• Janet Jackson - State of the World

• Peter Hook and the Light - The Perfect Kiss

• New Order x Kylie Minogue - Can’t Get Blue Monday out of My Head

Band/album personnel 

(Note: Substance draws from a variety of recordings produced during a six-year span, so the following information is approximate and almost certainly incomplete.)

• Bernard Sumner – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards, programming, melodica, production

• Stephen Morris – drums, percussion, keyboards, programming, production

• Gillian Gilbert – keyboards, guitars, programming, production

• Peter Hook – bass, electronic percussion, vocals, keyboards, programming, production

• Ian Curtis – songwriting (1)

• Martin Hannett – production (1, 2)

• Arthur Baker – songwriting (5, 6)

• Michael Johnson – engineering (3, 5)

• John Robie – remixing (8), production (9)

• Shep Pettibone – remixing (11)

• Stephen Hague – songwriting, production (12)

• David Jacob – engineering (12)

Credits 

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of: 

• Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

• Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste

• The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...

• Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

• Herbie Hancock - Hornets

• Kraftwerk - Autobahn

• Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen

• New Order - Thieves Like Us (this episode only) 

You can buy or stream Substance and other albums by New Order at store.neworder.com, your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing and production is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production assistance, our theme song, and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.