I wear my Joy Division clothing quite often. I have been sporting them at most of the concerts where the band is an artist from the 80’s, so I’m not surprised when people compliment me or ask where I bought what I’m wearing. In the last two or three years, there has been a marked increase in compliments outside of a musical venue such as a concert or record store. Whether it be at a restaurant or retail clothing store, my shirts have drawn some attention.
In my most recent quest to add more vintage rock t-shirts to my collection, I searched on eBay for bands like Roxy Music, The Fixx and of course Joy Division. I noticed that there has been an abundance of the shirts with the “Unknown Pleasures” album cover. It became clear to me why the shirts were so popular. Sellers were using photos of Kristen Stewart wearing said shirt (in addition to a “Love Will Tear Us Apart” one), with captions like, “As see on Bella”. Although I am not a fan myself, I never want to begrudge anyone of their love for the Twilight movie saga. I also think it’s awesome that Kristen Stewart has fanstastic taste in music (she also wears shirts of groups like Minor Threat and The Clash). But it does make me wonder if others following in her fashionable footsteps truly understands the depth of the music behind the shirt, and what actually happened to Joy Division, their lead singer, and the band they eventually became.
Another search produced an even more interesting discovery, which really brought to light that not everyone knows or understands the history behind Joy Division. Disney produced a shirt of their most famous mouse in the style of Peter Saville’s graphic called the “Waves Mickey Mouse Tee”. The description even read “Inspired by the iconic sleeve of Joy Division’s ‘Unknown Pleasures’ album, this Waves Mickey Mouse Tee incorporates Mickey’s image within the graphic of the pulse of a star. That’s appropriate given few stars have made bigger waves than Mickey!” In an online article on My Fox Philly (seen here), the shirt was removed from the Disney online store on January 25, 2012, possibly after the discovery of what happened to lead singer Ian Curtis (who committed suicide in May 1980, right before their first US tour) or that their song lyrics are far from anything that would be played at the “happiest place on earth” (When routine bites hard/and ambitions are low/when resentment rides high/but emotions won’t grow).
Perhaps I’m a purist when it comes to how and why I wear vintage rock t-shirts or listen to the music that I do. Knowing that there are people out there who are wearing Joy Division shirts without understanding the history makes me want to sit them all down and beg them to listen to songs like “Transmission”, “Atmosphere”, “Digital” or “Disorder”. I would have them watch the Joy Division biopic “Control” by Anton Corbjin, read the memoirs of Ian’s widow, Deborah Curtis, called “Touching From a Distance”, or even just make them aware that Joy Division was the predecessor to the well-known group New Order, who are considered by many a musical icon of the 80’s and one of the forefathers of electronica (along with Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk). But if Kristen Stewart drives a new and broader audience to discover the musical genius that was Ian Curtis and perhaps other music in this genre and time period, then maybe this resurgence of Joy Division’s popularity was not all for naught.
The most amazing homage to Joy Division I found was on The Illustrated Nail by Sophie Harris-Greensdale. I definitely know where I’ll be making a stop to get a mani-pedi when I’m London this summer.
(Photos courtesy of Pop Sugar, My Fox Philly and The Illustrated Nail. “These Days” is a song by Joy Division.)