NewOrderOnline: A Temptation Too Much to Resist If You Are a New Order Fan

As I have indicated at various times in various articles published here, my favorite rock band is the Manchester quartet that rose from the ashes of Joy Division. Upon the suicide of Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis, the remaining members recruited keyboardist Gillian Gilbert and rechristened themselves New Order. What followed was the transformation of a guitar-based band into one of the most influential synth-based bands of the 80s. Just about any alternative band since the mid-80s owes a debt of alliegance to New Order. Manchester was a particularly fecund breeding ground for post-punk bands, including A Certain Ratio and The Smiths, but it is New Order that remains the poster band for the city's place in music history.

Several web sites are devoted to New Order and their multiple spin-off projects, but the premiere site for any serious New Order fan simply has to be Neworderonline.com. Neworderline is the centralized web location for any and all things that have to do with New Order. It is a community site, not the official New Order site, which could use a bit more attention, if you catch my drift. For anyone who considers himself or herself a serious Joy Division or New Order fan there simply is no other place on the entire world wide web that gives you half of what you can get at Neworderonline. Even if you are as obsessive as I am and own every single remix New Order has released to date-something much easier to do with the advent of the internet, but still a Herculean task-then chances are you already on the trolley about the site. Despite that, I'd be willing to toss a few Benjamins down on the table that there will be something here you haven't discovered before. (For instance, a live version of the Sex Pistols' Anarchy in the UK by our Manchester friends!). On the other hand, if you count yourself among those unfortunately people who have never heard of New Order, this web site is the best place to start your journey toward finding out that pop music doesn't have to be bland, artless, homogenized and packaged by Fox Television.