1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

And they come with extra-long laces so you can hang yourself...

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by TigerVols, Jun 8, 2007.

  1. TigerVols

    TigerVols Well-Known Member

    Joy Division sneakers in the works

    06/07/2007 7:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
    Dotmusic

    From a press release:

    A pair of sneakers inspired by Joy Division are set for production, it has been confirmed.

    The manufacturer, New Balance, isawaiting final clearance on making the shoes, which are based on the artwork to the band's landmark 1979 album Unknown Pleasures.

    The sneakers feature the distinctive ripples on the sole and tongue and are embossed with the catalogue number Fact 10, after Joy Division's seminal record label, Factory Records.

    American artist Dylan Adair has designed the sneakers, which, if released, will coincide with a new film based around the life of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis.

    The premiere of Control, directed by Anton Corbijn, received a rapturous critical reception at the Cannes Film Festival last month.
     
  2. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    Never heard of them. Had to do an Internet search just to discover who they were.
     
  3. ThomsonONE

    ThomsonONE Member

    Alley - Joy Division is the band that started the post punk/Manchester scene. They influenced just about every band out of the north of England in the '80s. Rent the movie "24 hour Party People" to get the story.

    Nice to see Joy Division getting some much deserved attention, but how many people that know the band will buy these sneakers? Doesn't make much sense to me.
     
  4. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Never heard of Joy Division?

    I don't know how old you are, but I can sort of see that. They flew under the radar screen, but I think they are a band a lot of other musicians paid attention to. For my money, they were the best, most interesting band ever that didn't catch on in a hugely commercial way, although they weren't under our radar screen when I was in H.S.... and we were listening to their stuff a few years after they had broken up for all intents and purposes (their peak was when I was in Jr. H.S). There was always something dangerous and mysterious and unknown about Ian Curtis, and the music was so experimental and dark. I listen to Joy Division now--a song like Love Will Tear Us Apart, which was probably their most mainstream song, or better yet, Isolation--and I don't really know what I ever liked about it. I just know that I am drawn to it and I come back to it over and over again. I consider it "head space" music. I lose myself in it and my mind floats 1,000 miles a way in a really dark place.

    A really interesting thing about Joy Division is that after Ian Curtis bailed on the band, the remaining members pretty much reformed as New Order. And New Order's synthesizer sound and beats were just way different, and "pop-like" in comparison. I wouldn't characterize New Order as upbeat, although it certainly is compared to Joy Division. But New Order's music is catchy in a way that Joy Division's wasn't. The two bands are both really interesting, and two of my favorites (I listen to New Order all the time--when I am exercising and I am at peak mental exhaustion and looking for something to keep me going, if Bizarre Love Triangle comes on, I start gaining new energy. New Order is easily one of my top five favorite bands), but they couldn't have been more different.

    Definitely check out Joy Division. I'd say that 1) It isn't for everyone, and 2) It might be an acquired taste. But they were very avant garde and creative.
     
  5. Jones

    Jones Active Member

    Now that's a quality thread head, Tigger.
     
  6. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    I'm 36, so I don't know if that puts me out of the realm of needing to know who they are. However, my knowledge of bands is rather limited. I've always been a fan of a song, not a band, so stuff like this could easily have flown under my radar.
     
  7. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    Also, both the names Joy Division and New Order were copped from the Nazis -- not that the bands' sympathies lied with them.
     
  8. westcoastvol

    westcoastvol Active Member

    Sing it!

    I...like walking in the park
    Especially at night
    In my Joy Division kicks!
     
  9. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    Absolutely correct. In fact, Factory Records was the driving force behind the entire "Madchester" scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Joy Division was their first big act, then the band morphed into New Order after Curtis' death and became a commercial success. The scene didn't really take off, though, until the rise of Happy Mondays (a Factory band) and other Manc bands like James, Inspiral Carpets, and Stone Roses (that weren't signed to Factory.)

    The scene centered around the Haçienda, a club that gave famous DJs Paul Oakenfold, Mike Pickering and Graeme Park their shot at stardom. The club was owned by New Order and actually had its own catalog number (FAC 51, IIRC). Of course, Ecstacy fueled the dancing, and soon the drugs and the gang wars forced the clientele out. Happy Mondays decided they liked heroin better than making good music, Factory went bankrupt, and the whole scene collapsed.

    I went to the Haçienda numerous times on holiday (I even met the red-haired bloke from Simply Red there) and still own a long sleeve T-shirt I bought there in 1990.

    (The Haçienda no longer exists; the building was sadly torn down in 1997.)

    It was a fun scene while it lasted and I don't think we've seen one like it since.
     
  10. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    Wow. Where the hell was I all this time? I've never heard of a single name in that post.
     
  11. TigerVols

    TigerVols Well-Known Member

    Broken clock, ya know?
     
  12. HC

    HC Well-Known Member

    I find this interesting because New Balance is one of the few (if only) leading sports shoe company that hasn't used celebrity endorsements. They're the only shoe I ever buy because they actually fit. If you have a foot that isn't the standard width they're one of the few that offers a variety of widths.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page