"Crystal" is a song by English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band New Order. The song was released on 13 August 2001 as the first single from their seventh studio album, '' Get Ready'' (2001). It entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at number eight, attracting considerable attention and critical praise as the band's comeback single, their first original since 1993. The song also found success internationally, peaking at number three in Canada, number seven in Finland, and reaching the top 50 in Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Sweden. "Crystal" appears as the first track on the album in a different version than the single release, with an extended intro and

coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...

Release

Singer-guitarist

Bernard Sumner Bernard Sumner (born 4 January 1956) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, and Electronic. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the post ...

originally gave the song to German record label Mastermind for Success, and it was recorded by label artist Corvin Dalek. However, DJ

Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...

heard the song and declared it to be the best New Order single since " Blue Monday", leading Sumner to reconsider the gift and have New Order record and release it. A version of the single was also released in Japan to promote the release of the New Order DVD ''316'', and has a different cover that resembles the ''316'' cover. B-sides for the single were 4 live audio tracks taken from the DVD. The single was

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

d by a variety of remixes, and an original song titled "Behind Closed Doors". All versions feature extensive backing vocals from Dawn Zee, mostly wordless. Zee has continued to perform with New Order on all their successive studio albums. After the song was released, a remix contest was held in which there were thousands of entries around the world.

Critical reception

Joe Tangari of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' called the song as "possibly one of New Order's best singles". ''

Drowned in Sound ''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums. History ''D ...

'' rated it a 9/10 and described it as "fantastic" and the "confident, strutting return of a band that knows that the music industry has missed it." ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

'' placed the song at number ten in the list of their top ten best New Order songs.

Promotion

The main music video, set to the album version, was directed by

Johan Renck Bo Johan Renck (born 5 December 1966) is a Swedish director of music videos, TV and film. He was originally a singer-songwriter from 1991 to 2001, using the moniker Stakka Bo, and had an international hit with his single " Here We Go" in 1993. Ren ...

, produced by Nicola Doring through London production company Jane Fuller Associates and cinematographed by Fredrik Callinggård. It does not feature New Order; instead, it depicts a younger band miming to New Order's music and words. At the end, a large number of people come on stage to pull them off-stage. The fictional band is named "The Killers" (the name appears on the bass drum in the video). This name later inspired a real band of the same name, who lifted a number of elements of the layout of the set in the "Crystal" video for their own video "

Somebody Told Me "Somebody Told Me" is a song by American rock band the Killers. It was released as the second official single from the group's debut studio album ''Hot Fuss'' (2004), and was written by band members Brandon Flowers, Mark Stoermer, Dave Keuning ...

". In 2005, at Scotland's

T in the Park T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused ...

festival, New Order performed the song with The Killers' frontman

Brandon Flowers Brandon Richard Flowers (born June 21, 1981) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and philanthropist, best known as the lead singer, keyboardist, and occasional bassist of the Las Vegas-based rock band the Killers. In addition to his w ...

singing the main vocals in a guest performance. In 2013, at a gig in Manchester,

joined The Killers onstage to perform the song. Also, in 2013 Brandon Flowers joined New Order in Bogota, Colombia, to perform this song. When The Killers were on-stage, Sumner joined them to play "

Shadowplay Shadow play refers to shadow puppetry or shadow theatre. Shadowplay, Shadow Play or The Shadow Play may refer to: Literature * ''Shadowplay'' (novel), 2007 novel by Tad Williams *''Shadowplay'', 1990 novel by Jo Clayton *''Shadowplay'', 1993 nove ...

", a

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...

song covered by The Killers. Additionally, in March 2016, at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, New Order performed "Crystal" with The Killers' frontman

singing the main vocals in a guest performance. The

DVD single A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

contains an alternate music video, set to the "Special Circumstances Mix (Digweed & Muir Bedrock Radio Edit)" of the song. Directed and produced by

Gina Birch Gina Birch is an English musician and filmmaker, best known as a founding member of post-punk rock band, the Raincoats. Born in Nottingham, Birch attended Nottingham High School for Girls, and later the Hornsey School of Art, where she formed ...

and Simon Tyszko, the video depicts a motorcycle ride through city streets at night, viewed through two side-by-side shots filmed with sub miniature video cameras mounted in boots. The cover art for the CD and DVD shows actress and model

Nicolette Krebitz Nicolette Krebitz is a German director, actress, model, and singer. She is often credited as Coco in her creative works. Life and work Nicolette Krebitz made her film debut at age eleven. Later, she hosted television and radio shows for childr ...

with her trousers below her knees.

Track listings

* Numerous "Crystal" 12-inch records were released, with the Bedrock, Lee Coombs and John Creamer & Stephane K remixes each released on individual 12-inch singles.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2001 singles 2001 songs The Killers London Records singles Music videos directed by Johan Renck New Order (band) songs Reprise Records singles