Peter Hook Says Disney’s Joy Division Shirts Can Reunite Band

Love will tear us apart, but some Mickey Mouse shirts can bring Joy Division back together? Peter “Hooky” Hook, in an interview with Rolling Stone, thinks so. Yesterday, Disney pulled Mickey Mouse t-shirts with a graphic based on the cover of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, and about it, the bassist said: "Because of the amount of money I’ve spent in Disneyland I think they owe me something without a shadow of a doubt. […] I do wish I’d done the Joy Division oven gloves.”

He additionally finds the shirts semi-ironic – but not in a hipster sort of way. He explained: "The fact that Joy Division only existed for three years, from 1977 to 1980, and we can still make international headlines has to be more than a compliment. But it's an odd situation we find ourselves in as Joy Division and New Order, because when we originally started out, we didn’t believe in self-promotion of any kind – we never got involved with merchandise."

“Mickey Mouse” is a British slang term for bootlegged items, and according to Hook, Joy Division and New Order are the most bootlegged bands in history. He added: “But it’s a hell of a compliment to be bootlegged by someone like Disney."

He elaborated: "I’m used to Mickey Mouse shirts – I see them outside of every gig we do. In England we call them Mickey Mouse when they’re bootlegged, so I am used to some horrendous ones. Generally what we do in England is when somebody does something like this, and most people do it inadvertently, we just ask for a donation to an epilepsy charity or a children’s charity just to make good. So I’m sure Disney can stretch to a little gesture like that. "

While Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, and Gillian Gilbert reunited, Hook is battling his former bandmates over the use of “New Order,” as he is no longer with the band. These shirts, he says, could be a point for him to meet with the rest of the group: "Life is too short to be at loggerheads like this. And you never know, this might be just the thing that brings me, Bernard and Stephen together to have a laugh and a drink. And maybe Walt can achieve what no amount of people seem to be able to do in the world, and bring Joy Division back together."