39. New Order - Confusion (Factory)

Three weeks at number one from w/e 10th September 1983

In 1991, a peculiar, almost unprecedented chart quirk occurred. Bryan Adams’ single “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)” held firm at number one for so long that his label A&M were faced with a tricky decision – should they hold back his follow-up single “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started” until it ran out of steam (which it showed no imminent signs of doing) or just put it out anyway and risk it being overshadowed?

Ultimately, A&M took the latter route, leading to the absurd spectacle of “Can’t Stop” rising, peaking and falling out of the charts before its elder brother had fallen from the top spot. Radio stations gave it some begrudging plays and DJs asked daft questions like “I wonder if he can do it again with this one?” but everyone knew the answer to that question already. In 1991 at least, Bryan Adams was going to be The Bloke With The Robin Hood Song to Mr and Mrs Woolworths.

Obviously I’m troubling you with seemingly unrelated Bryan Adams trivia because New Order were faced with a similar flattering but awkward problem in 1983. “Blue Monday” was proving to have such longevity with both British post-punk kids and common-or-garden clubbers that any follow-up single was going to find itself competing with its predecessor both critically and commercially. On the official charts “Confusion” did lead the way for a few weeks, peaking at a very respectable number 12 (the same peak position as Adams’ “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started”, serendipity fans) before being usurped by their earlier release rising back up above it. It was almost as if “Confusion” served the purpose of reminding the public that New Order had another better single in the shops at the same time.

Despite being one of New Order’s biggest eighties hits, “Confusion” doesn’t seem to have quite recovered from being overshadowed. I can’t remember the last time I heard the original mix on the radio and I don’t think I’ve ever heard it played in a club (although this is certainly an "age thing" – the US club charts point towards lots of turntable spins over there at least). It was slightly grudgingly well-reviewed at the time, with lots of luke-warm praise littered with reservations; Tom Hibbert's half-hearted verdict of "vaguely toe-tapping" in Smash Hits not being entirely atypical. It didn’t appear to be what people expected.

I have to wonder if the shadow cast by “Blue Monday” was the only problem here. Immersing myself in this single again, the first thing I’m struck by is a hesitancy and uncertainty we haven’t heard from New Order since “Everything’s Gone Green”. Bernard Sumner feels fractionally out of time with the rhythm track and strangely ill at ease with the limits of his vocals for the first couple of minutes at least. Arthur Baker was one of the most credible American producers of the era, a painfully cool operator despite his unremarkable hairy appearance, and the group sound almost cowed, desperate to impress and slot neatly alongside his plans.

Eventually everything coheres, but the boisterous, Americanised chanting of “Why can’t you see – What – You – Mean – TO – ME!” feels tacked on, like a badge of New York street credibility piercing the skin of an underfed, pale Manc kid. More than on any post-Blue Monday record of New Order’s career, the group sound like they know what they want to be rather than aware of the strengths of who they truly are, but an unexpectedly monstrous hit will often create these schisms.

None of this makes “Confusion” in any way objectionable overall. The digital jitteriness of it is effective, and the song itself coheres to the extent that future remixes – including the one that eventually found its way on to the “Substance” compilation – improve it significantly. Possibly its strengths in commercial terms are weaknesses when weighed up against the rest of their catalogue, though; it has a confident pop sensibility without the grit in the oyster shell New Order tracks often came with. Those straightforward “relationship gone awry” lyrics could be off a Kajagoogoo record, containing no real hidden messages or vague meaning for the listener to run wild with. The group didn’t run the whole way and try to make commercial life completely easy for “Confusion”, confining it to a twelve inch release in the same way as “Blue Monday”, but there’s a sense that they didn’t want to take too many chances with their newfound visibility either. 

It’s also telling that when you search the internet for people talking about “Confusion”, they’re usually raving about “This brilliant remix of it I found!” The ideas were there waiting to be fished out, retooled and repurposed to better effect, to the extent that the original 1983 version feels like a perfectly good, if anxious, demo by comparison.

New Entries On The Chart

Week One


16. Gene Loves Jezebel – Bruises (Situation Two)

Peak position: 15

“Bruises” is a bit of a gem where Gene Loves Jezebel snatch their usual goth melodrama and intersperse it with some regular arena rock trickery – those hollers and cries of “Run, run, run away!” and the theatrical chorus like the work of a group who had heard the best of early U2 and Simple Minds but decided only to sprinkle a little of it into the mix to add sweetness.

Cautiously ambitious but still overwhelmingly melancholic, it’s surely impossible to hate this one even if you usually have an aversion to gothic goings on.




19. Screaming Dead - Night Creatures EP (No Future)

Peak position: 19

Oho, what’s this? The No Future label boarding the ghost train, kicking the street punks on their label off at the creaky wooden entrance?

“Night Creatures” is closer to The Damned than Sisters Of Mercy, featuring lots of straightforward claims of ghoulishness against simple chord chuggery. It’s cartoonish, immediate and borderline ridiculous, but it’s doubtful that anyone involved with it would claim otherwise – it's more Scooby Doo than Anne Rice and completely unashamed of the fact.




29. Luddites - The Strength Of Your Cry EP (Xcentric Noise)

Peak position: 22

It’s unusual for a John Peel Festive Fifty entry to fall between the cracks in the long term, but “Doppelganger” from this EP seems to have done just that (charting at number 36 in the '83 Festive Fifty, four spaces above The Fall’s “Wings” and five above U2’s “New Years Day”). Featuring little but three chords slowly building drama and momentum, it’s proof that an enormous amount can be achieved with such minimal outlines. Scratchy guitar thrashing and towering vocals slowly introduce themselves, creating a track whose hugeness creeps up on you just as the whole thing is almost over.

The Luddites never did manage to build on this initial promise, managing one more single before disappearing again, but their name will forever be found in the Excel spreadsheets of the most devoted John Peel listeners.




30. The Oppressed - Never Say Die EP (Firm)

Peak position: 30


Week Two

23. Cook Da Books – I Wouldn’t Want To Knock It! (Kiteland)

Peak position: 23

Da Books launch another single into the indie charts, this one perhaps showing a bit more smoothness and style than its predecessors – “I Wouldn’t Want To Knock It” sounds as if the group have been listening to both New Order (dig that twittering electro pulse) and Orange Juice simultaneously.

Such a recipe should have created an opening for them, but they always seemed to be doomed to the outer edges of the indie chart.




24. UK Subs - Another Typical City (Jungle)

Peak position: 13


27. Fad Gadget – I Discover Love (Mute)

Peak position: 16

Swinging supper club synthery meets panicked backing vocals and some deeply gothic romanticisms. Fad’s attempts to seduce a lady sound almost certain to end in failure despite their best efforts, the aural equivalent of one of those drunken love poems to someone's amour hastily scribbled in red biro on cheap spiral bound notebook paper. Really rather good.




Week Three


11. Xmal Deutschland - Incubus Succubus EP (4AD)

Peak position: 4

Those German goths return to stir up discontent. More minimal than many of their peers, this EP makes the right moves with the tribal drumming and rooftop vocal declarations without once taking an unexpected left fork.

In 1983 there was obviously still a huge appetite for Siouxsie-esque punk-goth snacks you could enjoy between extended 12” cinematic journeys.




14. Bauhaus - 4AD 12" EP (4AD)

Peak position: 5

A six-track compilation cobbling together some of their finer moments, including “Dark Entries” and their take on T-Rex’s “Telegram Sam”. Nothing new to see here, but the kids wanted to see it again anyway.




24. Modern English - Someone's Calling (4AD)

Peak position: 24

Ivo Watts must have leaned back in his 4AD office chair and scratched his chin wondering why Modern English’s singles were only selling moderate amounts in the UK while the awkwardness of the Cocteau Twins began to demand repress after repress.

“Someone’s Calling” is proof that once again, the group were 4AD’s biggest commercial hope, filled with sophisiticated synth-pop flourishes as well as awkward angles for the artschool kids listening in. Proof, that is, not backed up by any known statistical evidence. It’s a strange world.

25. Hurrah! - Hip Hip (Kitchenware)

Peak position: 25

Hurrah! were arguably Kitchenware’s most obvious “indie” signing, focusing their efforts on choppy guitars and Postcard styled vocals rather than sophisticated songsmithery (Prefab Sprout) or smooth soulboy tunes (Kane Gang). “Hip Hip” ba ba bas and jingle jangles to its hearts content, and asks “Are you scared to get happy?”

“A classic high water mark for mid-80s indie!” says a commenter on YouTube. 1983 was not quite the mid-80s, but you can understand their mistake.




30. Toyah - Rebel Run (Safari)

Peak position: 7

And if the second wave punks were beginning to get shoved aside by different noises in 1983, how exposed must Toyah have felt? Her particular brand of civic theatre punk began to seem particularly adrift by this point.

“Rebel Run” introduces some new ideas to keep her bouyant and relevant, with galloping “Eye Of The Tiger” styled basslines and honking synths bringing a gloss that dragged her closer to the typical pop aspirations of the day.

It’s one of her stronger efforts, allowing her to climb to number 24 in the national charts, demonstrating a longevity few would have predicted (even Adam Ant was having to battle to peer inside the Top 40 by this point).

For the full charts, head over to the UK Mix Forums

Number One In The Official Charts

UB40 - Red Red Wine (DEP International/ Virgin)

Culture Club - Karma Chameleon (Virgin)