Each day in November, I’m revisiting a song from the 90’s — a decade that was a sorta coming of age for me. In that span, I experienced high school, college and my time as a young single guy in New York City. It was a decade of ups and downs, and the music never stopped playing during that span. It was always there with me. #30DaysOf90sSongs
New Order was never Joy Division Lite, or Joy Division Part 2. It was just an entirely different entity, mainly because Ian Curtis’ persona loomed so large with JD that he was simply incomparable. But… as genius and as influential as Joy Division was, New Order was always the band that I connected with more between the two. Bernard Sumner’s vocals and lyrics were at my level. I think I understood him, but I couldn’t say the same for Ian. And while I believe New Order peaked in the late eighties, no other song from the band resonated with me more than the nineties hit “Regret”.
The track brings me back to the Summer of ‘93. I was home from college, spending my days working a crap internship and my nights hanging out with old high school friends. It was a great, great summer, and “Regret” was on full rotation on my go-to radio station WDRE. The big concert of the summer for us was New Order with 808 State at the old Brendan Byrne Arena in Jersey. The acoustics sucked, but the song still radiated. “Regret” contained one of Sumner’s more memorable guitar hooks with the band, which had these pregnant-like pauses built into them, which helped frame Hooky’s infectious bass lines that skittishly danced along the upper octaves. I think “Regret” is one of the last great New Order tracks.
“You used to be a stranger. Now you are mine.”