New Order | Republic

Republic is the sixth studio album from New Order which was released on  May 3rd, 1993 through London Records. It is their first album released after the end of Factory Records, and their last for eight years until the release of Get Ready in 2001.

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The album reached number one in the UK, and featured singles such as  “Regret“, “World“, “Ruined in a Day“, and “Spooky“.

At the same time as Republic, a documentary written by Paul Morley was released called “New Order Story “.  The documentary starts off reminiscing about Joy Division and singer Ian Curtis‘s suicide then goes on to the formation and history of New Order.  Included are the majority of the band’s music videos, as well as interviews with the band members, Tony Wilson, their manager Rob Gretton, producers, and more.

It also features appearances from Pet Shop Boys‘ Neil Tennant, U2‘s Bono, Quincy Jones, and journalist Jon Savage. The film offers sometimes an eccentric setting with Sumner being interviewed while having his haircut done, Peter Hook having himself surrounded by drag queens, and an appearance from Bono where he films himself using his camcorder calling Joy Division “an original of the species that would later become Goth...”.

The entire band and their friends also can be seen as guests of a fictional TV game show hosted by Keith Allen, the father of Lily and Alfie Allen). Though it’s not visible in the documentary, the band was filmed at the brink of their separation that would last for seven years.  Oddly, the band would “separate” again around the time of their official Joy Division Documentary released in 2007.