Release

It was the second and final single that also appeared on the group's album release of the same year, Low-Life

Low-Life

Low-Life is the third studio album by English rock band New Order. Released in May 1985 by Qwest Records, Low-Life is considered to be among New Order's strongest work, displaying the moment in which the band completed its transformation from post-punk hold-overs to dance rock pioneers...

. The B-side

A-side and B-side

A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

 is a remix of the A-side titled "Dub-vulture". A seven inch edit of the Robie remix taken from the Benelux version of the "Sub-culture" single appears on the group's 1987 compilation, Substance.

The song has stirred some controversy with attempts to understand the lyrics being unsubstantiated by the group itself, particularly the use of the word shaft with its possible sexual connotations; i.e. "You'll realize you can't shaft without someone else".

John Robie

John Robie

John Robie is an American musician and record producer, widely credited as the driving force behind many of the most successful songs from the early 80's electro boom and is best known for his work with the New York record producer Arthur Baker.-Early years:...

's 12" and 7" single mixes provides a significant departure from the album version, using prominent vocals which feature Ish Ledesma of Foxy

Foxy (band)

Foxy is a Latin Dance/disco group formed in 1976 in Miami, Florida.The group consisted of vocalist-guitarist Ish "Angel" Ledesma , percussionist Richard "Richie" Puente, keyboardist Charlie Murciano, bass guitarist Arnold Paseiro and drummer Joe Galdo...

 and Oxo

OXO (band)

OXO was an American dance rock band created in 1983 by Ish 'Angel' Ledesma, the former lead singer of Foxy He formed OXO with guitarist Orlando Nuñez, bass player Frank Garcia, and drummer Freddy Alwag...

 with female backing singers. The version of the song Bernard sings in the remix has an altered line (whether it was intentional or not is unclear), changing the second verse's line "A view without a room" into "A room without a view". The remix was not very well received and garnered more attention for Robie's extensive rework, that managed to be less-club friendly than the original album version despite his attempts to input greater melodic range. In spite of the poor reaction and sales, New Order and Robie collaborated together for the band's next two singles "Shellshock

Shellshock (song)

"Shellshock" is a single released by British group New Order in March 1986. The song originally appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Pretty in Pink one month prior to its single release...

" and "State of the Nation" B-side "Shame of the Nation".

Artwork

"Sub-culture" has only a regular black sleeve, as graphic designer Peter Saville reportedly deemed the mix of the song unworthy of his talents. Saville's input was present only in a P/S/A (Peter Saville Associates) credit for typography

Typography

Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...

.

US 12" - Qwest 0-20390

1. "Sub-culture" (remix) – 7:26
2. "Sub-vulture" – 7:57
3. "Sub-culture" – 4:57 (Original album version)

UK 7" free with Record Mirror

Record Mirror

Record Mirror was a British weekly pop music newspaper, founded by Isadore Green and featured, news articles, interviews, record charts, record reviews, concert reviews, letters from readers and photographs. The paper became respected by both mainstream pop music fans and serious record collectors...

- RM2

1. New Order: "Sub-culture" (exclusive remix) – 4:14
2. Raymonde: "Jennifer Wants" (exclusive track) – 2:02
3. Hipsway
   Hipsway
   Hipsway were a Scottish pop/rock band.The band was formed in Glasgow in 1984 by ex-Altered Images guitarist Johnny McElhone on bass, and featuring Grahame Skinner , and Harry Travers . Skinner and Travers had been members of the band Kites with Paul McGrath and Ian McGreevy before Hipsway formed...
   
   : "Bad Thing Longing" (preview from their forthcoming album) – 4:09
4. Adventures: "Walk Away Renee" (specially recorded for RM) – 3:11

Chart positions

Chart (1985)	Peak position
New Zealand RIANZ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...  Singles Chart	29
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	63
UK Independent Singles Chart UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play	35
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales Hot Dance Singles Sales Hot Dance Singles Sales is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States, established in 1985. It measures the sale of commercially released singles that deal with dance music and remixes...	18