You may remember a Mickey Mouse shirt from a few days back from this post.
With the very coy subtitle, “What does it mean?” Apparently it means that the shirt is no longer for sale. Basically, the shirt is based on an album cover from a band called “Joy Division.” Unfortunately, the lead singer of the band committed suicide in 1980 after a long battle with epilepsy. The name of the band also comes from Nazi lore. I don’t recommend looking it up. The shirt has been pulled from theme park shelves and is no longer for sale online.
Whoops.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
I had to go look it up…where’s the brain bleach when you need it?
Ok, now I want one.
Wow, what a weird decision by Disney though.
I guess I’m dense…what is the issue with the shirt that made them remove it?
I’m assuming copyrighted material, the lead singer of the band committed suicide, and the name of the band in the first place comes from Nazi lore. I don’t recommend looking it up.
But $200 on ebay?? Josh, you should have grabbed 10 of them!
I still like the design. I had no idea of the hidden meaning. I bet some one at Disney will be in trouble over this….
Yeah, it does look like mountains, or waves, or something.
I never associated Joy Division with antisemitism, I guess when I first heard them it was before Wikipedia. I knew Ian had killed himself , so I guess no Nirvana inspired merchandise for Disney .
I will assume whoever chose that design is now seeking employment.
And I guess Stephen Morris the bands former drummer was not consulted abut the tee and he is none too thrilled.
“Ex Joy Division and current New Order drummer, Stephen Morris has hit out at the shirt that Disney claims was ‘inspired’ by the band’s classic Unknown Pleasures album artwork.
“I was quite angry when I first saw it. No one asked us. They’re trading off the band and our album cover, but get away with it by apparently saying the design was ‘inspired’ by us. I don’t like the design at all. It’s horrible. I can’t imagine any Joy Division fans wearing it. Or anyone for that matter. Clearly, no one investigated the history of the band before coming up with this idea. It’s bizarre.” said Morris
You know when you tell people that you wouldn’t recommend looking something up, that they’re going to look….pass the brain bleach this way….
No, I really meant that I don’t recommend looking it up.
I will not look it up. There are old Dr. Phil shows I wish I’d never seen too. In my brain forever. And yet I can’t come up with quotes from my favorite TV shows when people ask me for them (they do…long story).
Too bad, I had already looked this up based on the post the other day. As a big fan of the subsequent incarnation of the band, New Order, this t-shirt was cool to me. This blogger has some pretty good evidence that the design comes a astronomical graph of pulsar pulses: http://adamcap.com/2011/05/history-of-joy-division-unknown-pleasures-album-art/. Not that Disney was going for pulsar Micket, I admit…
I had to look it up when you posted the shirt the other day, I’ve never heard of them and tought it was an unusual choice for a Disney shirt after I figured out what Joy Division was. Almost sounded like a charity name to me. Had I not seen it here I would have never known and I actually thought the shirt was really cook and was planning on getting one for my husband. Ooops.
The plot thickens… excerpt from a non-easywdw.com site below about this design:
A rather simple search on Google turns up a fascinating article by Adam Capriola, who at one time also had the idea to lampoon the album’s image. What Capriola did when the inspiration hit was inspiring in it of itself. Fearing the potential of copyright infringement backlash, Capriola did an amazing amount of inquiries and research and learned that the image which debuted in 1979 actually appeared in the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy, which is where Joy Division drummer Stephen Morris reportedly found it and suggested it as the cover’s primary design. The design, which is actually a computer-generated representation of the the first observed pulsar, was actually first published in Scientific American in 1971. More details, photographs and the amount of research put in by Capriola can be found here: http://bit.ly/wbcX6I
The story never ends here, however, and it appears that Mighty Fine Tees, a Disney licensee, has put its pinky on the pulsar pulse and introduced its own, multi-Mickey, technicolor tee which is currently available on the welovefine.com website.
I have to tell you, I was a huge joy division and new order fan and I would totally wear that shirt. Joy division was I guess what you would call an alternative band, back before alternative meant mainstream, so to have a Mickey mouse/joy division shirt is totally ironic. I love it.
Ireally did enjoy Joy Division and New Order , I actually met New Order when they were performing at The Orpheum in Boston. They were a very nice group of guys and lady. I never heard anything anti semitic in their lyrics nor have I ever read any interviews with them where they espoused those beliefs. I have been trying to research and find something where they affiliated themselves with the neonazi movement. I found this on a blog and thought it was interesting
“On their live album, Bernard Sumner can be heard saying, “You all forgot Rudolf Hess.”
Rudolf Hess acted as Adolf Hitler’s Deputy, although he quickly fell out of Hitler’s favor once Hitler began consolidating power.
Hess fled to Scotland after the war broke out in attempt to score a Peace Settlement with the British (He even offered to return all the land Germany had conquered), but was subsequently arrested, and died in prison in 1987.
There are numerous reasons why Joy Division may have had interest in Hess. Hess was completely isolated in solitary confinement by the British after his capture. He was also thought to be insane. Many of Joy Division’s songs focus on isolation, insanity etc.”
The blogger also stated that most neonazis are more than happy to share their beliefs and points of view, something that Joy Division and New Order never did. I am not ready to add that label to 2 bands I really liked.
I didn’t mentioned that New Order is to date my favorite Band, I first heard them in 1983 and something about their work has always stuck with me to this day.
Triseb,
I also would put New Order as one of my favorite bands. When I saw them perform in Boston next to me were some guys from Manchester, UK. I talked wit them a bit and found out they were friends of the band . They invited us back stage and we got to hang out. We were 3 young ladies and they were completely respectful and kind to us. I was on cloud 9 for months!!!
Triseb,
Just listened to “Age of Consent’ one of the best songs ever.