Fandom, Image and Authenticity Pop Music, Culture and Identity Series Editors: Steve Clark, University of Tokyo, Japan, Tristanne Connolly, St Jerome’s, University of Waterloo, Canada, and Jason Whittaker, Falmouth University, UK Advisory Board: Chris Best, University College Falmouth, UK, Audrey Faine, Vice President of Marketing, CBS Records, Gavin Hayes, Musician, USA, John Hutnyk, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, Allan F. Moore, University of Surrey, UK, Ryan Moore, Florida Atlantic University, USA, Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, University of East London, UK, John Phillips, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Cristina Ruotolo, San Francisco, USA, Karl Simms, University of Liverpool, UK, Will Straw, McGill University, Canada, and Steve Waksman, Smith College, USA Pop music lasts. A form all too often assumed to be transient, commercial, and mass-cultural has proven itself durable, tenacious, and continually evolving. As such, it has become a crucial component in defining various forms of identity (individual and collective) as influenced by factors such as nation, class, gender, ethnicity, location/situation, and historical period. Pop Music, Culture and Identity investigates the implications of this greatly enhanced status. Particular attention will be paid to issues such as the ico- nography of celebrity, the ever-expanding archive, the nature of the perfor- mance-event, the parameters of generational memory, and the impact of new technologies on global marketing. In particular, the series aims to highlight interdisciplinary approaches and incorporate the informed testimony of the fan alongside a challenging diversity of academic methodologies. Jennifer Otter Bickerdike FANDOM, IMAGE AND AUTHENTICITY Joy Devotion and the Second Lives of Kurt Cobain and Ian Curtis Rosemary Overall AFFECTIVE INTENSITIES IN EXTREME MUSIC SCENCES Cases from Australia and Japan Pop Music, Culture and Identity Series Standing Order ISBN 978–1–137–03381–9 (hardback) (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England Fandom, Image and Authenticity Joy Devotion and the Second Lives of Kurt Cobain and Ian Curtis Jennifer Otter Bickerdike Senior Lecturer, University of East London, UK © Jennifer Otter Bickerdike 2014 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-39352-4 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-48360-0 ISBN 978-1-137-39353-1 (eBook) DOI10.1057/9781137393531 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 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To my biggest heroes – my grandparents, John Delaware Otter and Jeanette Weld Otter I love you and miss you every day This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Figures ix Acknowledgements xi Introduction 1 Tears dry on their own 1 That thing called authenticity 7 Methodology 11 Literary frameworks 13 Chapter 1 17 Joy Division tribute bands 17 Tattoo you – the hyperreal and object fetishism of the body 22 Image, tribute and death 28 Chapter 2 33 The cult of Curtis 33 Poster boy 38 Rock’n’roll romanticism 43 Chapter 3 48 Hagiography 48 Chapter 4 66 Branding of the ‘Hyperreal’ 66 Consuming Curtis and Cobain: the branding of death 67 Love will keep us in popular culture? 71 Omnipresence 75 Mickey Division 78 Necro-fever 82 Chapter 5 89 I want to own your memory 89 Commercial Kurt 93 Chapter 6 103 Joy Division documentaries 105 The fiction of Joy Division 110 Cinema Cobain 116 Character Kurt 120 vii viii Contents Chapter 7 126 Dark tourism and sonic pilgrimage 126 JFK as framework 127 Online voyeurs vs. real-time traveller: the paragon/ paradox of Ian Curtis 130 First journey to Macclesfield 131 Trip to Père Lachaise 135 Dating Ian Curtis 137 Do-it-yourself (DIY) 138 The prime real estate of Ian Curtis 140 77 Barton Street 140 The Curtis grave 142 Trinkets, tributes and trash 148 Seattle calling: Kurt Cobain 154 Viretta Park 157 Kurt’s house: 171 Lake Washington Blvd 164 Aberdeen 165 Conclusion 170 Notes 175 Bibliography 183 Index 190 List of Figures I.1 Media people wait for ‘something’ to happen outside Amy Winehouse’s home, the day after her body was found, Camden Square, Camden, London, July 2011 5 I.2 Reporters creating a story in Camden Square, July 2011 6 1.1 Mike Parkinson, May 18, 2010, Macclesfield cemetery and crematorium 24 1.2 Sarah Edington, May 18, 2010, Macclesfield cemetery and crematorium 25 5.1 ‘Bench’ by Graham Dolphin, 2010, London 101 7.1 Macclesfield cemetery and crematorium, 2009 132 7.2 Map of Macclesfield cemetery and crematorium, created by Lydia Bevan, 2012 134 7.3 77 Barton Street, Macclesfield, 2010 141 7.4 Thirtieth anniversary of Ian Curtis’s death, May 18, 2010, Macclesfield 143 7.5 Trash or tribute, Macclesfield cemetery and crematorium, 2010 145 7.6 When the party’s over – one month after the thirtieth anniversary of Curtis’s death 146 7.7 Touching from a Distance, left on the Ian Curtis Memorial Stone, 2009 149 7.8 Touching from a Distance, after bitter winter storms, 2010 150 7.9 Framed picture of Ian Curtis left at his grave, 2009 151 7.10 Postcard from Australian fan, as delivered to Ian Curtis’s grave, 2010 152 7.11 Viretta Park, Seattle, April 2011 161 7.12 Rose left on ‘Kurt’s Bench’ in Viretta Park, Seattle, April 2011 163 ix