chaos and COUTURE

Lots of Couture.  Very little Chaos.   There was a lot said about this exhibit at the MET before it even opened.  The costume gala was dedicated to it. There were very few in attendance that got the memo. Madonna did wear her Tartan.  

Bricolage (Garbage Bag Clothing)

Without Vivian Westwood and her shops, there would have been no chaos at all.  Granted, as Deborah Harry said, these clothes were old when they wore them.  They recycled and reused.  Nothing survived.  Something had to, but if it did, the curators didn’t find it.  They recreated the bathroom at CBGB’s (which looked much cleaner than I remember it) but couldn’t get their hands on one of Joey Ramone’s leather jackets?  (Not enough chaos in a leather jacket?) They couldn’t exhibit photos of Deborah Harry in all her garbage bag glory?  She was genius at making anything look good on her.  I saw Blondie several times in the 1970’s and she was the coolest person on the planet.  Nobody came close. Except for a magnet in the gift shop, there wasn’t any representation of her.  There is a whole runway (it does look like a runway) of clothes constructed of garbage bags, but they were all done recently, none worn by Ms Harry.  They totally ignored Siouxsie Sioux. 

Moth Eaten Chanel

The London punks were way more colorful than those in NY and that’s basically what commandeers the chaos part of the show.  Tartan prints and lots of T Shirts with writing and pop culture images compromise Westwood’s contribution.   What looks like a moth eaten Chanel suit is donned by the model in the exhibit posters. In person, the outfit looks plain stupid.  It was dated this year, which might mean it was created especially for the  MET.

Only one Stephen Sprouse piece exhibited?  Granted his first collection didn’t come out until 1983/84, which by that time Punk was evolving into New Wave and the look was evolving from what it had been in 1976.   Sprouse was a big influence on the pop, fashion and the music scene. His first runway show was at the Ritz, a downtown nightclub now Webster Hall and it was set to the music of Siouxsie and the Banshees.  Andy Warhol was a fan and Keith Haring became a collaborator. 

I had great expectations for the exhibit, which were lessened by friends who had seen the show prior to my viewing.  It didn’t meet the lowered expectations. It was a disappointment.   The video is so large and grainy that you’d have to be a football field away to actually see it.  Did we really need to see video footage of a shirtless Sid Vicious? No clothes, but he was wearing the padlock around his neck and the gallery was labeled hardware. It's a stretch.   I can’t recall who was quoted, but he said that Sid could not remove it, because he lost the key. Now that is punk. 

Hardware + The Shirtless Sid

Punk:  Chaos to Couture is at the MET until August 14th. 

Unknown Pleasures

Chances are you are British if you saw Joy Division live. They had a tour of the US planned, but they never made it here, another short lived band-span (just like the Sex Pistols).  I don't even think the band existed for 3 years. 

Peter Hook's book (I had to say that), Unknown Pleasures does a great job of capturing the exciting, but limited time he lived as a member of Joy Division.  I felt like I had a bird eye's view of what it's like to be a 20 year old in a band gaining momentum in England in the late 70's.   Read this book to get insight into their recording process, the trials and tribulations of performing live (when a show wasn’t cancelled) and the dynamics of a band. 

Peter owns his behavior.   He lets his immature self shine through.  I think a lot of people forget just how young and inexperienced these musicians were.  It was interesting reading this book back to back with Rotten.  They occur in the same time period and they were the same age when starting their bands.  In the case of Joy Division, they had a manager who cared and got them an exceptional record deal even by today’s standards.  (The band’s royalty rate was 58% to Factory Records 42%.  The band didn’t get an advance, but retained financial and creative control.)   We all know that The Sex Pistols manager Malcolm MacLaren didn’t have a clue and no one saw any money.  Not that the members of Joy Division got rich from record sales.  Money came later. 

There is plenty in the book about Ian Curtis, the band’s lead singer who suffered from epileptic seizures and killed himself on the eve of the band’s US tour.  Ian underplayed his illness and band members went along with him.  They just wanted to play music to make enough money to quit their day jobs. 

Martin Hannett, their record producer believed for a record to have a lasting effect and impact it has to have clarity and separation.  Joy Division’s records certainly have that.  Originally Peter and Barney hated the sound of their album Unknown Pleasures.  They wanted it harder and harsher, sounding more punk, which was hitting its peak at that time.  Martin had an interesting way of recording the drums:  which was one drum at a time, meaning the snare drum part was recorded by itself, the bass drum part by itself, etc.  I can’t imagine the music having the same feel or a musician being able to play that way.  That being said, Martin definitely carved out a distinct sound for the band. 

There is a thread of humor in Unknown Pleasures.  Peter in a typical British way takes a piss on everything including himself.  Apparently Martin wasn’t a fan of his and he describes Martin’s feelings about being in the studio.  “He used to get pissed off with us, especially me and Barney; we were about as welcome as a dog at a bowling alley.”  It should be noted that Martin was an eccentric. 

There does seem to be many similar band experiences in 1970’s England (mainly in the Manchester area). This is what I’ve taken away from reading these memoirs. 

1. Apparently no one properly drives a car in England.
2. Practical jokes were constantly played on each other.  I read a lot of “let’s jape their room” or “jape their bus”.  Jape is archaic for an act of mischief.  We need to revive the word. 
3. Bands experienced lots of cancelled shows, whether it was due to band reputation or circumstances.  I doubt that either Joy Division or The Sex Pistols put in their 10,000 hours.  There wasn’t enough time and venues were limited.

There is a lot of recap and redundancy in the book.  It almost reads like a self-help book in that each chapter has a timeline review.  It’s filler.  I could have done without it.  If you’re a die-hard fan of the band, you will love Peter for writing an anecdote on every song.    Peter put me in his shoes and I think that’s what made this book such a good read.  




On a packaging note:  If you are old enough to remember Joy Division when they were a band, you might get this reference.  The book looks like a 3/4" video tape.