Music
15 Oct 21

Joy Division album cover reworked into a climate mural

The Unknown Pleasures inspired art work comes a few months after Music Declares Emergency launched a t-shirt campaign with the logo.

The iconic artwork for Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures album by Peter Saville has been reworked into a climate mural to raise funds for Music Declares Emergency's No Music On A Dead Planet.

Originally based on an image of radio waves from pulsar CP 1919, the re-envisioned piece displays flat and lifeless waves to “symbolise the eternal silence of a dead planet”. The piece is close to a mural of Saville himself and footballer Marcus Rashford.

MDE has been leading a wide campaign calling for “urgent action on climate” ahead of the COP26 UN Climate Conference in Glasgow.

Earlier this year, MDE launched a t-shirt campaign with the logo, which has been supported by Billie Eilish and Foals.

“The truth of the matter is that the world is in terrible trouble now and if we don’t look to address the climate emergency facing the planet immediately then ourselves and all future generations face tremendous problems,” Joy Division bassist Peter Hook said. “If everyone can look to make changes, we could all have a huge impact.”

Music Declares Emergency founder and Savages’ drummer Fay Milton spoke on the organisation's goals, stating, “There’s such a short period of time to make the changes we need to make, and to make people wake up and realise that there isn’t time for everyone to change everything they do.

“To use Greta Thunberg’s analogy, the house is on fire, and there isn’t time for whoever started the fire with their cigarette to quit smoking before saying the house is on fire – it’s on fire now, and we need to fix this. Let’s change our lifestyles, let’s fly less, let’s use less plastic – but ultimately what’s needed is a governmental response.”

She added: “People are getting used to the word 'emergency’, but we shouldn’t – it really, really is an emergency. Every single day that we’re not doing something, it’s putting the world in more danger.”

The campaign has shirts designed by Thom Yorke and Radiohead collaborator Stanley Donwood, as well as others. Their most recent designs feature The 1975's rectangle logo, bearing the 'No Music On A Dead Planet' slogan alongside the words, "The 1975 for MDE."

The band helped fans recycle old 1975 t-shirts by printing new logos on them at a pop-up shop at Reading Festival in 2019.

MDE hosted a free panel in April titled 'Music in the Climate Crisis' that questioned how record labels, record stores, and artists can respond to the climate crisis.

Founded in July 2019, Music Declares Emergency is an independent group that encourages the music industry to drive forward public understanding of the climate emergency and pressure governments to take immediate action on climate and biodiversity loss.

The UMA Entertainment Group is also celebrating music and sustainability during COP26 with a music event featuring Aurora and Groove Armada during Beyond The Green, a three-day COP26 fringe festival.

Read more on Music Declares Emergency here.