Les Fleurs de Malc
Malcolm McLaren combined the vim of old-fashioned music biz shysters like Larry Parnes with the intellectual uproar of Guy Debord and those spikey thinkers from a century back. You would never accuse him of sleepwalking. He was schooled by his fierce grandmother and by a questing, art college ethos. He wasn't strong on finishing a project, but Malcolm was a proper firestarter.
He was such a vibrant and contrary soul that you can only find bits of the shrapnel in books like England's Dreaming, Up They Rise and England's Dreaming. Alternately, there's a Sex Pistols book by Fred and Judy Vermorel that relates the day-to-day stress, inspiration and unintentional havoc from the days of Johnny Rotten. When McLaren revised the story with The Great Rock And Roll Swindle, he sounded smug. Actually, those Jubilee antics had been really alarming.
Even if he hadn't given punk a deal of bravado, you would still have to give Malcolm some credit for fusing attitude to early hip hop and Burundi beats, to waltzes, samplers and Puccini. At his best, he could sell any number of frisky ideas, and alongside Vivienne Westwood and Jamie Reid, it was indeed a supreme team. He showed us the pretty vacancy of 1977, but he also prompted so many other adventures. We owe him.
Comment number 1.
At 11:55 9th Apr 2010, colin brown wrote:A lot of truth in those comments, and describing Malc as a firestarter has got to be spot on. Whilst I remember him for having many great ideas - Bow Wow Wow's Burundi stuff, cassette only releases, bringing classical and hip hop together with pop/rock - I can't help feeling that he himself would have ben dissatisfied that none of these things had anywhere near the same impact that the Pistols had.
I also have the feeling that he was a pretty nasty piece of work, although I suppose many successful people are! In addition to the books you mentioned, Nick Kent's new book provides an intersting insight into Malcolm's personality and modus operandi, albeit a very subjective one.
Still, when all's said, his death marks the passing of one more of our youth's iconic figures, which probably affects many of us for different reasons. I guess the Jamie Reid Swastika Eyes artwork that adorns one of the walls in my house confirms the impact the 'supreme team' had on me....
PS nice Baudelaire reference!
Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)