The (re)marketing of disability in pop: Ian Curtis and Joy Division

Abstract

In this article we examine the relatively new use of disability as a marketing device in pop music. Our analysis makes specific reference to how the career of Ian Curtis and Joy Division has become overshadowed by his epilepsy, depression and subsequent suicide, with comparison between early press and promotional materials from 1979-1980 and more recent materials created to promote reissues and films about Curtis. It also references other relevant individuals from the pop music sphere and marketing campaigns created around them that ignore or highlight issues of disability.Using these examples, we examine the ways in which messages about disability are packaged and presented within pop marketing discourses and discuss the issue of 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable' disability identities in pop, which have been created through a largely marketing-driven discourse. Finally, we briefly explore how the deployment of 'disabled' identities impacts on the musicians so identified, as opposed to on the sales of products.

Fell on Black Days: Analyzing the Song Lyrics of Chris Cornell for Insight into Depression and Suicide

“…Common across these reports is a narrative of personal suffering expressed through lyrics that helps authenticate the songwriters as artists and connect with audiences. Unfortunately, the seriousness of the personal suffering expressed in lyrics tends to be romanticized, under-recognized, or mismanaged by others [ 18 , 34 , 35 , 36 ]. As Cornell writes autobiographically in “Outshined,” appearances that exude self-confidence belie an inner world of misery and self-loathing (“ I’m looking California and feeling Minnesota ”).…”

Transmissions: Sonic markers of difference in the sound of Joy Division

“…(Toynbee 2000: 34) Curtis's presence on stage, then, was in many ways directly linked to aspects of his personal life. At the same time, if, as suggested by Reynolds (2009) as well as Waltz and James (2009), Joy Division audiences were generally unaware of the underlying 'medical truth' (Waltz and James 2009: 372), the frightening ambivalence to which Toynbee refers would have been perceived as almost otherworldly rather than immediate. This had implications for the music and, by extension, the band's sound.…”

“…First, I explore the contextual framework through which the story of Joy Division was shaped. As noted by Mitzi Waltz and Martin James (2009), Joy Division has been marketed through two distinct approaches. Originally, Factory Records promoted the band as an authentic, selfreflexive alternative to punk rock (thereby post-punk) with a focus on the collective: 'Factory, an imprint whose owner Tony Wilson revelled in the concept of the whole being greater than the individual, was about the concept in its entirety; individual artists were a part of the concept' (Waltz and James 2009: 370).…”

Epilepsi og stigma i populærmusikk

“…The punk and postpunk era was partly devoted to disinhibited behaviour, madness and «freaking out» on stage. His seizures were hailed as somewhat freakish, but also as an illustration of the unpredictable aspects of epilepsy (5). At the same time he was a highly respected artist, an icon, who with his means of artistic expression and characteristic bari- …”