The Blue Monday Diaries In the Studio with New Order

The fastest selling 12" single ever recorded, 'Blue Monday' is an infectious dance anthem that will never age. Released by New Order in 1983, it helped cement the band's identity like no other track. Three decades on, author Michael Butterworth – a close friend invited by New Order to document a string of thrilling studio sessions – breaks the silence to reveal exactly what went into the recording of this classic track, as well as the Power, Corruption and Lies album. Drawn from Butterworth's meticulous journal entries, Blue Monday provides a uniquely personal insight into the creative personalities and processes of the band that no New Order fan should be without.

Michael Butterworth is the author, editor and publisher of a plethora of short stories, poems and novels. In the late sixties, his regular contributions to New Worlds – a literary magazine at the very forefront of the New Wave of British sci-fi talent – earned him a cult following. In 1976, he went on to found the innovative, Manchester-based publishing house, Savoy Books.

A fixture on the Madchester party scene, he knew New Order from the very beginning of their career. A trusted friend, he was welcomed into the intense fortnight-long studio sessions for Power, Corruption and Lies to document the band’s progress throughout. For the next two decades, his notes remained unpublished – until now.

In 2006 he founded the Michael Butterworth imprint, an off-shoot of Savoy Books, and in 2009 launched the annual contemporary visual arts and writing journal, Corridor8. His fiction and poetry has appeared in various Emanations anthologies. He is the author of three further books and six novelizations. He lives in Manchester, UK.