New Order： Run — New Order： Run

JUL 01 1989 · 12:00

New Order： Run — New Order： Run (1989) Director: Robert Frank Era: Late-80s Post-Punk/Alternative Dance Crossover (1989) - Peak Madchester/Balearic era; Factory Records at commercial zenith; New Order bridging indie-rock and dance-floor cultures on the Technique album cycle. High. One of the most artistically distinguished videos in New Order's catalogue and in Factory Records' broader output, by virtue of Robert Frank's authorial standing as a 20th-century master of documentary photography and film. The production bridges Beat Generation visual culture, New York art-world institution, and the peak of British alternative dance — a convergence of rare cultural specificity. The legal history surrounding the underlying track adds further archival significance. Context: Released in August 1989 as the final single from New Order's landmark fifth album Technique, 'Run' arrived at a pivotal cultural moment: Factory Records and the Haçienda were at the epicentre of the nascent rave and Madchester scenes, while New Order themselves bridged post-punk guitar tradition and acid house dance culture. By commissioning Robert Frank — whose Beat Generation film Pull My Daisy and photobook The Americans were canonical works of American counterculture — Factory and New Order signalled a high-art, anti-commercial ethos that distinguished them from mainstream MTV production values of the era. The video's New York setting, incorporating Peter Saville's gallery installation, further embedded the work within the transatlantic Factory/art-world network. The single would later become legally notable: John Denver's publishing company filed a lawsuit alleging the guitar break too closely resembled 'Leaving on a Jet Plane,' and the case was settled out of court, permanently restricting the single's re-release. Director notes: Confirmed via IMDB (tt0201900) and IMVDb. Produced by Michael Shamberg. Frank structured the video to visually differentiate the song's verses from its choruses. A cameraman was dispatched with a 16mm camera to capture varied New York City exteriors and interiors. Video artist Gretchen Bender, Frank's girlfriend at the time, served as editor. Designer Peter Saville's concurrent exhibition at the White Columns gallery on Spring Street, New York, was incorporated as on-screen set dressing. The production deliberately mixed video and film formats. The single was released by Factory Records on 28 August 1989 as the third single from New Order's fifth studio album Technique. The album version of the track is titled simply 'Run'; the single was remixed by Scott Litt and retitled 'Run 2'.