Blue Monday (date), Blue Monday (New Order song)

Blue Monday (date)

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Blue Monday (Also known as Black Monday) is a name given to a date stated, as part of a publicity campaign by Sky Travel, to be the most depressing day of the year.

This date was published in a press release under the name of Cliff Arnall, at the time a tutor at the Centre for Lifelong Learning, a Further Education centre attached to Cardiff University. Guardian columnist Dr Ben Goldacre reported that the press release was delivered substantially pre-written to a number of academics by Public Relations agency Porter Novelli, who offered them money to put their names to it.^[1] The Guardian later printed a statement from Cardiff University distancing themselves from Arnall: "Cardiff University has asked us to point out that Cliff Arnall... was a former part-time tutor at the university but left in February."^[2]
According to a press release by a mental health charity^[3], the formula is:

where weather=W, debt=d, time since Christmas=T, time since failing our new year’s resolutions=Q, low motivational levels=M and the feeling of a need to take action=N_a. 'D' is not defined in the release, nor are units.
Arnall says the date was calculated by using many factors, including: weather conditions, debt level (the difference between debt accumulated and our ability to pay), time since Christmas, time since failing our new year’s resolutions, low motivational levels and feeling of a need to take action. Writing about the calculation, Goldacre stated: ... the fact is that Cliff Arnall's equations ... fail even to make mathematical sense on their own terms.^[1]
This date allegedly falls on the Monday of the last full week of January. The date was declared by Arnall to be 24 January in 2005,^[4] 23 January in 2006,^[5] 22 January in 2007,^[6] 21 January in 2008,^[7] 19 January in 2009^[8], 18 January in 2010 and 24 January in 2011 ^[9]
There has been some confusion in 2011 over which date Blue Monday falls on, with many people claiming that it falls on the 17th.^[10]
Mr Arnall also says, in a press release commissioned by Wall's ice cream,^[11] that he has calculated the happiest day of the year - in 2005, 24 June,^[12] in 2006, 23 June,^[13] in 2008, 20 June,^[14] in 2009, 19 June^[15] and in 2010, 18th June.^[16] So far, this date has fallen close to Midsummer.

Source:  Blue Monday (date)

Blue Monday (New Order song)

"Blue Monday" is a single released in 1983 by British band New Order, and later remixed in 1988 and 1995. The song has been widely remixed and covered since its original release, and became a popular anthem in the dance club scene.

At nearly seven-and-a-half minutes, "Blue Monday" is one of the longest tracks ever to chart in the UK. It has been cited as the biggest selling 12" single of all time^[1] by the band and in the film 24 Hour Party People. Despite selling well it was not eligible for an official gold disc because Factory Records was not a member of the British Phonographic Industry association. However, the Official UK Chart Company (UK Singles Chart) has estimated its total UK sales at over one million. In the all-time UK best-selling singles chart, published in 2002, "Blue Monday" came 76th.

The song begins with a distinctive semiquaver kick drum intro, programmed on an Oberheim DMX drum machine.^[2] Gillian Gilbert eventually fades in a sequencer melody. According to band interviews in NewOrderStory, she did so at the wrong time, so the melody is out of sync with the beat; however, the band considered it to be a happy accident that contributed to the track's charm. The verse section features the song's signature throbbing synth bass line, played by a Moog Source, overlaid with Peter Hook's bass guitar leads. The synth bass line was sequenced on a Powertran Sequencer home built by Bernard.^[3] Bernard Sumner delivers the lyrics in a deadpan manner. "Blue Monday" is an atypical hit song in that it does not feature a standard verse-chorus structure. After a lengthy introduction, the first and second verses are contiguous and are separated from the third verse only by a brief series of sound effects. A short breakdown section follows the third verse, which leads to an extended outro.

"Blue Monday" is often seen as one of the most important crossover tracks of the 1980s pop music scene. Synthpop had been a major force in British popular music for several years, but "Blue Monday" was arguably the first British dance record to exhibit an obvious influence from the New York club scene, particularly the work of producers like Arthur Baker (who collaborated on New Order's follow-up single "Confusion").

According to Bernard Sumner, "Blue Monday" was influenced by four songs: the arrangement came from "Dirty Talk", by Klein + M.B.O.; the signature bassline with octaves came from Sylvester's disco classic, "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)"; the house beat came from "Our Love", by Donna Summer; and the long keyboard pad on the intro and outro was sampled from the Kraftwerk song "Uranium", from the Radio-Activity album.^[4] In an interview for Channel 4's countdown of the biggest selling UK singles, the band claimed to have written the song in response to crowd disappointment at the fact that they never played encores. This song, they say, allowed them to return to the stage, press play on a synthesiser and leave the stage again. An example of this happening appears on New Order's concert video Pumped Full of Drugs.

Source: Blue Monday (New Order song)

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The History Behind MLK Day

While Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968, it took until 1983 for Martin Luther King day to become a holiday. The history behind MLK Day and how did it become a holiday is a story of persistence.

Congressman John Conyers of Michigan was the first person to propose legislation for a commemorative holiday honoring the peace and freedom fighter King. He began his push for the holiday shortly after the assassination and re-submitted the request each legislative year. Public pressure finally took hold in 1982 and 1983 with civil marches in Washington. Congress passed the legislation and President Ronald Reagan signed it into law November 2, 1983. The compromise that was made to give it more favor was moving the date from January 15th, King's birthday, to the third Monday in January. This gave more space between New Year's Day and the holiday.

While the legislation was signed into law in 1983, the federal government did not officially celebrate the date until 1986. By 1989, 44 states had adopted the day as a state holiday. It took until 1993 for some form of MLK Day to be celebrated in all 50 states. In 1999, New Hampshire became the last state to offer  MLK Day as a paid holiday, replacing an existing Civil Rights Day in its calendar. South Carolina was the last state to make the day a paid holiday for all of its state employees. Prior to that, they had the choice between MLK Day and one of three Confederate-related holidays to choose from.

Now, almost 30 years after the original legislation was signed, the commemorative day has turned into a day of service and volunteerism. Spurred on by the actions of Pennsylvania Senator Wolford and Atlanta Congressman John Lewis, the King Holiday and Service Act was signed by President Clinton in August of 1994. This act honors Dr. King with a call to action of Americans to transform MLK Day into a day of civil action. What a way to celebrate the work of a noted peace maker and reform seeker like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Source:The History Behind MLK Day

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