New Order

By this time, the group was heavily influenced by the Balearic house sounds of Ibiza and the acid house tunes making their way into the Haçienda. Technique was released in February 1989. The album debuted at number one in the UK and contained a mix of the acid house influence (as on "Fine Time", the opening track) and a more traditional guitar-bass-drums sound on others (such as the single "Run"). The album is a blend of occasionally upbeat, accessible music coupled with blunt, poignant lyrics inspired by Sumner's failed marriage.

Several tracks on this album have attained seminal status for example "Vanishing Point" which was used as the theme tune to the BBC1 TV series "Making Out" - for which the band also composed additional incidental music.

New Order recorded the official song of the England national football team's 1990 World Cup campaign, "World in Motion," under the ad-hoc band name EnglandNewOrder. The song, co-written with comedian Keith Allen, was a number one UK hit, and the now-famous John Barnes rap was also recorded by Paul Gascoigne and Peter Beardsley. These versions have not been made available for release.

At around the same time, Bernard Sumner teamed up with fellow Mancunian Johnny Marr for the Electronic project (also enlisting the help of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys), while Peter Hook in retaliation[citation needed] started a project called Revenge, each of them leaving New Order but continuing to make New Order-style recordings.

Unusually for such a major group, New Order never had a formal contract with their label Factory Records. (This was in fact the label's standard practice until the mid-1980s. According to Factory's co-founder Tony Wilson, "All our bands are free to f*** off whenever they please", a pledge he made by writing it in his own blood). Because of this, the group (rather than Factory Records) legally owned all their own recorded material. This has often been cited, not least by Wilson himself, as the main reason London Records' offer to buy the ailing label in 1992 fell through.