By Bruce Edwin
The undisputed godfather of punk, Malcolm McLaren died Thursday,
April 8th, 2010. He was 64. The cause of his death was by a form
of cancer caused usually by asbestos exposure. Having been sick
for over 6 months, he died in a hospital in Switzerland, though
lived in New York and London. His life partner, Korean American
Young Kim, and his son, Joe Corre, were at his side.
Malcolm McLaren did not tell the press of his illness. In
February, he flew to New York for a book release before returning
to Switzerland for further treatment. Malcolm’s partner Ms
Kim told the newspaper The Independent: "We were there with him
when he passed away. He was diagnosed with cancer in October. He
was very active until the end of February when his tumor became
very aggressive. He just went very quickly. He said he wanted to
be buried at Highgate cemetery. We are now taking steps to try to
make that happen."
Malcolm achieved early in his life; ticking off as many people as
he could with a snotty, dirty kind or rock and roll drenched in
anarchy, sweat, and mucked up fashion, that all smeared together
was called punk rock. The name itself which used to be an insult
called to working class British youth.
Malcolm McLaren famously quoted what his grandmother once told
him, she said, “To be bad is good; to be good is simply
boring.” With that ethos, the stage was set for a young
Malcolm to grow up and lead an underground social movement of
misfits known as punk rock. The art provocateur Malcolm reveled
in art school in London during the early days of punk before he
got twice kicked out, ditching working for the man by joining
wild child Vivienne Westwood in the formation of their store Let
It Rock, and later changing its name to Sex, the name for an anti-fashion, S&M styled shop
that catered to kids including Joey Ramone, Billy (not yet then)
Idol, and the pack that would go on to be Sid Vicious and Johnny
Rotten- the Sex Pistols.
Dame Vivienne Westwood, his former partner, stated,
“Malcolm McLaren was a very charismatic, special and
talented person. When we were young (…) I fell in love
with Malcolm, I thought he was beautiful and I still do.”
Subnormal Magazine, renown as a global punk zine in the early
90’s states, “The 60’s had Warhol, the
70’s had McLaren, and we all have the Sex Pistols. Malcolm
McLaren was pure genius. His influence on the punk scene- and
consequently, on youth culture from the 70’s up till now
and beyond- was massive. It may take an atomic bomb and another
revolution for his shoes to be filled again.”
Supposedly knowing more at the time about creating shocking art
and causing a riot then business - as a creator in the so-called
Situationist art scene that strove for provocation on the
streets- Malcolm McLaren decided to start managing the bands,
applying his anarchistic aesthetic to a mainstream rock and roll
scene that had become safe and hum drum. He and Vivienne were
already giving the punks their look; safety pins, trousers with
the crotch ripped out, leather, spikes, studs, chains, padlocks,
handcuffs, and of course, anarchy symbols used heavily by
comrades like Emma Goldman back in the mid to late
1800’s.
And so as a band manager and press agent guru, he brought to the
surface of the heap of the music industry, first the New York
Dolls, and then a band called The Sex Pistols that he helped name
after the store. Later on would he bring boiling to the top the
band Generation X, led by heart throb Billy Idol, the former
which became the unwarranted name for a bunch of rebel youth, and
later Adam and the Ants whose cross dressing, make up wearing
ways paved the way for Boy George and the Culture Club, who was
an Adam Ant fan. Malcolm last most notably brought us the female
new wave band Bow Wow Wow.
Malcolm created music himself, delving in to experimental, spoken
word with jazz, trip hop, and even opera. He helped popularize
the merging of styles and cultures through music including rock,
Caribbean rhythm, reggae, and hip hop. He wrote, painted,
published, documented, and made the hippest scenes in many
numbers of decades. He made obscure films in the style of dada
and pop art. In the end, he even hooked up with Hollywood icons
Quentin Tarantino to help score Kill Bill, and others, made some
T.V. appearances, produced some films, and furthered his
legend.
But Malcolm McLaren’s greatest mark on the world was The
Sex Pistols, which, with the over the top menace of Sid Vicious
and Johnny Rotten, rounded out Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and
earlier before Sid, Glen Matlock. Most know the story by now;
Sid’s girlfriend was a groupie. Nancy Spungen was also a
junkie, and so was Sid two years before meeting her of his own
account. Both were on a downward spiral. Sid signed a paper
stating he stabbed her but did not mean to kill her – she
died. A few others around at that time stated a drug buy had
occurred the same night and that Sid was out cold while Nancy
tried to fight off the drug dealers who tried to make off with
their cash and the drugs. Sid tried to kill himself a w ek or so
later, ended up in a psych ward, and four months later, overdosed
fatally on heroin given to him by his own mother. The Sex Pistols
were dead – for now. Johnny Rotten aka John Lydon
notoriously hated Malcolm McLaren due to business matters and
other reasons, and as a result, the global punk scene,
identifying with the voice of the Sex Pistols, rather than their
manager, mostly hated Malcolm too. Few however could deny his
importance, and Rotten, after winning full rights to the
name along with the band back from McLaren, finally cashed in
more on his own.
On the day that Malcolm McLaren died, the voice that he brought
to terrorize the world with “Anarchy in the U.K,”
Johnny Rotten, finally buried the hatchet. Johnny Rotten stated,
“Malcolm McLaren RIP. For me Malc was always entertaining,
and I hope you remember that. Above all else he was an
entertainer and I will miss him, and so should you."
Check out the coverage on the Sex Pistols from one of our back
issues here as follows: SeX
PisTOLs
This page and article only is anti-copyright, 2010, Subnormal
Magazine. Reprints or re-posts must be in full, unedited, and
link back to this site. Punk’s not dead.