80s

New Order are an new wave/synthpop band which formed in 1980 in Salford, England, United Kingdom by the three remaining members of Joy Division. The band's classic lineup consists of Bernard Sumner (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Peter Hook (bass, electronic percussion), Gillian Gilbert (keyboards, guitar) and Stephen Morris (drums, keyboards). The group effectively disbanded in 1993 but reformed in 1998. Gilbert left in 2001 to look after her and Morris' children and was replaced by guitarist/keyboardist Phil Cunningham. Hook left acrimoniously in 2007 and declared the band to be defunct. Initially, Sumner, Cunningham and Morris denied the band had split up, but in 2009, following the release of the trio's Bad Lieutenant album, they admitted that that they could not continue on without Hook and officially disbanded. However, the band reformed in 2011 for a pair of charity dates without Hook, with Gilbert returning to the fold and Tom Chapman replacing Hook on bass.

Pioneers of dance music in the 1980s and one of the first bands to effectively and popularly synthesize keyboard- and guitar-based music, New Order's members hailed from Salford and Macclesfield, England out of the ashes of Joy Division, are noted as being one of the first bands to bridge the gap between Post-Punk and Dancefloor. They were Factory Records' highest selling artist. They also funded Factory's famous Manchester club, The Haçienda. The band partnered with Quincy Jones's American label Qwest, recorded with legendary hip-hop producer Arthur Baker (on 1983's single "Confusion" and 1984's "Thieves Like Us"), and they embraced Ibizan club culture on the album, Technique.

The band was formed in 1980 by the three surviving members, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris of Joy Division after the lead singer Ian Curtis committed suicide. Morris' girlfriend (and later wife) Gillian Gilbert joined in October 1980 on keyboards and occasional guitar shortly after contributing guitar to the second release of New Order's first single "Ceremony". Their early music followed in the same vein as Joy Division, most notably on debut album Movement. This is mostly seen now as a 'transitional' album where the new 4-piece band was trying to find a new identity.

They continued to develop their music and their identity with tracks such as "Procession" and "Temptation" until 1983 when, under the influence of early electro funk and Italo-Disco tracks (most notably Klein & MBO's Dirty Talk), they released "Blue Monday", arguably their most famous song and the biggest-selling 12" single of all time. This came in such a detailed Peter Saville-designed sleeve (replicating a floppy disc) that it is claimed by some that the band's record company, Factory, lost money on every copy sold.

The release of "Blue Monday" coincided with the album Power, Corruption & Lies which further developed their dance/rock crossover. Other albums followed in 1985 (Low-Life), 1986 (Brotherhood) and 1989 (Technique, influenced heavily by Ibiza's acid house scene). In 1990 the band scored their sole number 1 hit with a song written by Keith Allen and performed with the England football team, "World in Motion", the official England World Cup song. One more album, Republic followed in May 1993, which was released by London Records after the collapse of Factory in November 1992.

The band effectively split in 1993 to pursue solo projects, but returned with a triumphant gig at the Reading Festival in 1998. After the recording of 2001's Get Ready album Gillian Gilbert left the band amicably for family reasons - her and Stephen's daughter Grace had been diagnosed with Transverse myelitis and she came to the decision that it would be easier for the band to replace her than her husband. They have since gone on to produce one more album with the help of Phil Cunningham of Marion when they released their last album, Waiting For The Sirens' Call.

Hook left acrimoniously in 2007 and according to him, the band has effectively broken up. However, Sumner, Cunningham and Morris repeatedly denied that the band was over, and that if Hook no longer wanted to be in the band, that was his choice. Hook has since threatened to take legal action if they attempt to continue as New Order. In 2009, Sumner, Morris and Cunningham announced that they did not plan on continuing on as New Order without Hook. However, in September 2011 it was announced that they will reform as New Order for two concerts in October (Brussels and Paris), without Hook but with Gillian Gilbert. Hook's replacement is Tom Chapman, who is also in Bad Lieutenant with Sumner, Morris and Cunningham. The charity gigs in Brussels and Paris were very successful and New Order decided to go on tour in 2012. They played various concerts all over the world and also some big festivals in the summer.

Discography (studio albums):
Movement (1981)
Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)
Low-Life (1985)
Brotherhood (1986)
Technique (1989)
Republic (1993)
Get Ready (2001)
Waiting for the Sirens' Call (2005)
Lost Sirens (2013)
Music Complete (2015)

Collaborations and other projects:
Shortly after the split, Sumner and Cunningham formed Bad Lieutenant. The band's debut album Never Cry Another Tear, released in 2009, features Morris on drums on several tracks, although he is not an official member of the band and has committed to continue musical projects with Gillian Gilbert. The band's various solo projects understandably seemed to contain elements of the New Order 'sound', and gave some clues as to each member's contribution to the band.

Bernard Sumner worked with Johnny Marr (formerly of The Smiths) and Neil Tennant (of The Pet Shop Boys) in the 'supergroup', Electronic. Peter Hook formed the bands Revenge and, later, Monaco. These projects gained some commercial success. Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert recorded two albums of songs as The Other Two, and also did scoring work for film and television.

Each of New Order's four original members have, at various times, acted as producers and/or guest musicians under the moniker of Be Music for a myriad of Factory labelmates and other artists, including: Section 25, A Certain Ratio, Happy Mondays, Paul Haig, The Stockholm Monsters, The Stone Roses, and Stanton Miranda. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

Go West are a British pop group. The duo formed in London, UK in 1982, with Peter Cox and Richard Drummie. Go West quickly had a publishing deal and possessed a portastudio, but lacked a band or recording company. Peter and Richard decided, with support from John Glover, their manager, to find a musical producer, and record just two of their songs. The tracks We Close Our Eyes and Call Me found Go West developing a record deal with Chrysalis Records. The songwriting duo specialised in radio friendly, white soul sounds.

Boom Crash Opera are a pop-rock band formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1985. Initially based around the songwriting partnership of Richard Pleasance (Guitar/Bass/Vocals 1985 - 1992) and Peter Farnan (Guitar/Bass/Keys/Vocals) Boom Crash Opera also includes Dale Ryder (Lead Vocals), Peter Maslen (Drums), Greg 'Spock' O'Connor (Keys/Guitar) and Ian Tilley (Bass/Vocals 1992 - Present).

Boom Crash Opera where quickly signed to WEA records Australia and in 1986 released their debut single 'Great Wall'. The single reached number 5 on the ARIA National charts. Their self titled debut album, released in 1987, (Produced by Steve Brown and Alex Sadkin) went Gold and also featured the follow up singles 'Hands Up In The Air', 'City Flat' and 'Her Charity'.

Following on from the success of their debut in 1989 they released the top 10 single 'Onion Skin' from what would become their most successful album 'These Here Are Crazy Times' (Produced by Nick Launay and Richard Pleasance). 'These Here Are Crazy Times' spent more than 12 months in the Australian National Top 40 and achieved double platinum sales. 'Onion Skin' was followed by the top 20 singles 'Get Out Of The House', 'Best Thing', 'Dancing In The Storm' and 'Talk About It'.

In 1990 they released 'Look! Listen!!'. The album featured remixed versions of songs from their first two albums plus two new songs.
It was soon after the release of 'Look! Listen!!' that Richard Pleasance was diagnosed with Tinnitus. While Richard took time off he was replaced by Mick Vallance (Bass). It was during this break in 1991 that Richard released a solo album titled 'Galleon'. Featuring the singles 'Sarah (I Miss You)' and 'Don't Cry'. The album featured some of Richards closest friends in the industry including Paul Hester and Deborah Conway. Galleon was critically acclaimed and went on to earn Richard five nominations at the ARIA Awards. Richard then toured the album with Elvis Costello. Also at this time Richard co-produced and performed on the highly successful debut album for Deborah Conway 'String Of Pearls'. Richard also co-wrote a song on the album with Deborah called 'King Of Jordan'.

In 1991 they released the EP 'Dreams On Fire' with both Richard and Mick. The EP featured the single 'Holy Water'. Though the EP didn't perform as well as their previous efforts it brought the band and Keith Forsey together. This relationship would continue when Keith would end up co-producing their next album.

In 1992 they travelled to Los Angeles and began work on the follow up to 'These Here Are Crazy Times'. Soon after they began writing and recording Richard made the decision to leave the band. Richard was replaced by Dorian West (Bass).

The band returned from L.A. and Ian Tilley (Bass) joined as the permanent replacement for Richard. In 1993 they released the single 'Bettadaze'. It was followed by their third album, the L.A. recorded 'Fabulous Beast' (Produced by Don Gehman and Keith Forsey). 'Bettadaze' was followed by the singles 'In The Morning' and 'This Isn't Love'. Though the album went Top 40 it didn't perform as well as 'These Here Are Crazy Times' and soon dropped down the charts.

After the long and fairly successful tour of 'Fabulous Beast' they took a break. It was during this time off that Peter Farnan produced the debut album for[ 'The Sharp'][1](official website), a three piece band from Collingwood in Melbourne that went on to have some success. It was also during this break that Greg 'Spock' O'Conner (Keys/Guitar) left the band.

The remaining members returned to the airwaves and record stores in 1995 with a new contract with BMG and the double album 'Born' (Produced by Peter Farnan and Neil Wiles). The album was released as a double CD package. The idea being that after a few months they would release the second CD , 'Born Again'. 'Born' marked a real turn in the sound and look of the band. Featuring the Gary Glitter sounding single 'Gimme' and the follow up single 'Tongue Tied' The album was a lot more electronic than previous releases and though 'Gimme' received generous radio airplay the album failed to ignite renewed interest in the band. Due to this lack of interest BMG scrapped the release of the second part of the album 'Born Again'. Also in 1995 Richard released the follow-up to his debut album 'Colourblind'.

In 1996 Richard teamed up with singer/songwriter Wendy Morrison. They called themselves 'Felt' and released a self titled album on Gotham/BMG records.

1997 saw the release of Boom Crash Opera's last new release 'Gizmo Mantra' (Produced by Daniel Denholm, Kalju Tonuma and Boom Crash Opera). Pulling back from the electronic sounding 'Born', 'Gizmo' was somewhat of a return to the melodic rock sounds that fans where use to. Featuring the singles 'All' and a song penned by Peter and Richard around the time of 'Dreams On Fire' called 'Dreaming Up A Fire' the album again failed to return the band to the top of the charts.

A year later BMG released 'The Best Things' a greatest hits album featuring singles from all their albums plus the song 'Soundtrack' from their unreleased album 'Born Again'.

In 2002 Robert Doyle the Opposition Leader of Victoria used the song Dancing in the Storm as his theme song at the Liberal Party of Australia State election campaign launch in November. The Band wasn't asked their permission, and would have refused if asked according to Richard Pleasance. The campaign failed, and Steve Bracks of the Australian Labor Party won the election.

Various members have had success outside of the band. Peter Farnan has produced and written with up and coming bands such as Rachael Kane and Code. Greg 'Spock' O'Conner, who designed the majority of the bands cover art, now uses his Graphic Design skills to come up with record and book covers for other artists including a photo book he is currently working on for Peter Green (PR Manager for Neil Finn).

Without doubt it is Richard Pleasance who has had the most success outside of the band. As well as producing and co-writing with Deborah Conway, Richard has also produced, arranged, played and written with acts such as Archie Roach, Paul Kelly, Suzanne Vega, James Reyne, Jon Stevens, Nick Barker, Seven Stories and Augie March. One of his biggest successes came when he wrote and produced the theme from the popular Australian television series 'SeaChange'.

In addition to his work as a record producer and score composer, Richard has composed music for a variety of documentary series and television commercials. And he has just released a new album with his new band Pleasantville. The band includes his wife, Michelle, and they recently released their debut album 'Hill of Beans' (2004).

Boom Crash Opera are still together. Though they haven't released anything since 'Gizmo Mantra' they still play the odd show. Greg and Richard have also rejoined their old band mates at some of these shows.

http://www.myspace.com/boomcrashoperabco Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.