This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: – ···scholar·JSTOR(January 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
"Touched by the Hand of God" was a single released by New Order on 7 December 1987. The song was originally recorded for the soundtrack to the film Salvation! and the version released as a single was remixed by Arthur Baker. The B-side was a dub remix, titled "Touched by the Hand of Dub", and the release had the catalogue number FAC 193; its production is credited to New Order.[2]
Although not a track taken from a studio album, "Touched by the Hand of God" appears on the 2008 Collector's Edition of New Order's album Brotherhood in its remix version, on the 1994 compilation The Best of New Order and in remixed form on 1995's The Rest of New Order. In the US, the song was released as the B-side to the group's following single "Blue Monday 1988", though it was billed as a double A-side on the BillboardHot Dance Club Play and Maxi-Singles charts.
The video that accompanied the song was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, and parodied glam metal groups of the same period, with the band miming to the music while wearing long wigs and leather clothing. The video also contains a love scene that is intercut with the performance shots, and stars and Bill Paxton.[citation needed] The concept was proposed by manager Rob Gretton, and was inspired by the band having seen the clichés of then-popular videos on MTV while touring America. Bassist Peter Hook said in a 2000 interview that one of the bands that served as inspiration for the spoof video was Mötley Crüe, whose song “Girls, Girls, Girls” played in heavy rotation on MTV at the time.[3]