Yesterday saw mixed reactions to Disney’s release of the the Mickey Mouse’s Unknown Pleasures T Shirt, a manipulation of Joy Division’s original album art. I then heard a discussion on the Richard Bacon show about the sacrilege of people wearing band T shirts when they have never heard of the band. Art and Imagery has always been a part of music but it doesn’t mean that it has to be strictly entwined, however is their a line to be crossed when the commercial aspect of the imagery undermines the values of the artist associated or designed it?
Joy Division took their name from a prostitution wing of a Nazi concentration camp, and Disney has made it’s name from prostituting many classic stories, so the link is actually quite appropriate.
Jason E Cooper 