Table Of ContentFandom, 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
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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
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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,
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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.
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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
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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
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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
