New Order "Power, Corruption & Lies" [1983]

Well at least they're honest about how they made it in the music biz. Actually, New Order really made it when obscure English gloom-punkers Joy Division surfed the publicity that came with their Muppet-on-angel-dust-voiced lead singer committing suicide. New Order thus rose from the ashes unsteadily with the remaining mopes -- their guitarist warbling sub-pedestrian-caliber vocals and the bass player confused about whether he plays a lead instrument (he doesn't; well, he shouldn't) -- and took their brand of insipid repetition and immature perspective to the pop marketplace. Far less apropos of a title than their debut "Movement," still better would be calling this album "Heaven 17 Goes to Hell." Shimmering synth patches, programmed disco beats and all the introspection of a first-time meth user, Ian Curtis would have killed himself all over again had he been subjected to this charcoal-flavored bubblegum.