It’s hard to say that punk ever died, given that both its distinctly non-hippie anti-authoritarian spirit and its fashion sensibilities have survived over four decades now, but its ongoing vigor doesn’t stop its own lifelong adherents from proclaiming it dead anyway. Some would pin the death of punk on the Sex Pistols’ Winterland concert. Others still peg the death of punk at the time of death of a given leading figure from that scene (much of that sort of sentiment accompanied the recent passing of Tommy Erdelyi, the last original Ramone—definitely a very sad milestone), evidently blind to the reality that a sufficiently compelling ethos will survive the last gasps of its originators. But if boring social media poutrage is our metric, punk dies anew literally every time a goofy punk-related consumer product hits the shelves, whether it’s Sex Pistols credit cards or Sex Pistols shoes. It’s invariably a lot of semi-coherent hurfdurf about rebellion being co-opted for corporate consumer products that ignores the plain fact that all those Ramones, Sex Pistols, Clash and DEVO albums have themselves always been corporate consumer products.

Look for those exact comment threads to be repeated today, as Converse has announced two styles of Chuck Taylors—inarguably one of punk’s go-to uniform items—honoring the Clash. More specifically, their issue this week is pegged to the 40th anniversary of the 100 Club Punk Special festival, a historically significant two day event at which the Clash appeared with the Sex Pistols. The bill also featured Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Damned, and the Buzzcocks. Seriously, what would you give to be able to time-travel for that? Both of the shoe designs feature skull motifs that featured in the band’s graphics, a pink pair wallpapered with the “Radio Clash” skull-and-lightining-bolt imagery, and a black leather pair with the artwork from the “Straight to Hell” single stitched in.
 

 
More after the jump…

 
In a huge, forehead-slappy piece of holy-shit-why-has-this-not-been-done-before news, there are now Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers with built-in wah pedals—no external hardware, just move your foot and voila, psychedelia. The concept goes back a few years, to a “Chuck Hack” event, when the design firm Critical Mass unveiled a prototype. That version was wired—you had to plug the shoe in, as the videos below will show. Since then, CuteCircuit has made a Bluetooth version.

We’re unable to find any information on when these will be made available to the public, but since half the guitarists I know wear Chucks anyway, I can’t imagine this product would fail.

After the jump, watch the Critical Mass concept video, followed by a demonstration by J Mascis…

 
Converse has unveiled a new line of Chuck Taylor sneakers with Sex Pistols iconography on them. There are four pairs of Chuck Taylor hightops available and two pairs of Chuck Taylor low tops. The sneakers are priced from $65 to $80. There is also a related line of shirts ($35 each) and a bomber jacket ($140).
 

 
The new products are available for purchase on the Converse website.

At this stage in history, it’s hard to get too outraged over yet another corporate appropriation of the original punk rock movement, but we thought you ought to know anyway. Back to your regular programming.
 

Chuck Taylor All Star Sex Pistols “Parchment” $70
 

Chuck Taylor All Star Sex Pistols “Thunder” $75
 

Chuck Taylor All Star Sex Pistols “White” $75
 
Much more Sex Pistols products from Converse after the jump…..

Well, this is what they were going for.
 
The Converse “Chuck Taylor” All-Star has, for half a century, been the official shoe of “cool.”

In recent years, it’s become commonplace for shoe companies, including Converse, to issue limited edition pairs in homage to pop culture figures or bands. For example, these spiffy Clash kicks:
 

 
Earlier this year Dangerous Minds told you about a badass collection of Andy Warhol-inspired Chucks.

It’s also become commonplace for individual artists to paint “blank canvas” Chucks and offer them up for sale on Etsy or Ebay, which is where we found these Brian Eno Ambient 1 shoes.

Certainly Ambient 1:Music For Airports is an album worthy of homage. Eno’s landmark minimalist sound sculpture holds a place in history as one of the most influential albums ever recorded. Indeed it should be celebrated.

So, here they are. One artist’s, uh, struggle at capturing the subtle majesty of Eno’s masterpiece:
 

“Hi. These are new and unused beautifully professionally done unisex custom all star converse size 8.5 in acrylic waterproof paint . Thanks.”
 

 

 
Starting bid is ONLY 50.00 GBP (approximately US $75.24)! Who could resist, right?

Continues after the jump…

 
The Chuck Taylor All-Star is an iconic American shoe that comes pre-loaded with rebel cache, so it’s kind of astonishing that Andy Warhol never made a series of drawings or screen prints celebrating it—at least none I’ve been able to find, and the man drew PLENTY of shoes. But though Warhol is no longer with us, the Warhol Foundation and Converse have teamed up to do the inverse, and now you can get Chucks emblazoned with iconic Warhol works for $70-$90 a pair. (Indulge me in an alter-kaker moment—these used to be such an attractive sartorial option not just because they look perfectly timeless, but because they were cheap as dirt. Nike took over the Converse company in 2003, and suddenly the simple canvas wonders cost as much as any sneaker. Also: sweatshops!) My favorite pair, the Black Bean Soup high top, is a bit cheaper on Amazon, so I’m fairly tempted, as my current pair of Chucks is starting to fall apart. Though they may still have a decent year left in them—like blue jeans and concert tees, I’ve always felt like Chucks looked all the cooler once they got to be a bit thrashed.
 

 

 

 

 

 
via Tasting Table