lazypadawan (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lazypadawan) wrote2010-04-09 07:25 pm
lazypadawan) wrote2010-04-09 07:25 pm
Entry tags:
OT: Malcolm McLaren
As I tweeted yesterday, the death of former Sex Pistols impresario Malcolm McLaren made me feel old. Granted, McLaren was old enough to be my dad but it's yet another background figure in the pop culture world I grew up in who has gone off to the Other Side. All of the punk rock guys seem to either have died really young or turned out to have been surprisingly old (but not that old) once their obits were written; case in point was the death of The Cramps frontman Lux Interior last year. How could he have been in his 60s? I saw him perform in a g-string during a show in 1990.
Anyway, McLaren was an interesting figure. He was to '70s British punk rock what Bill Graham was to the San Francisco hippie music scene in the '60s. He had always been considered both a visionary and a villain, depending on who you talk to. He did not invent punk. He and his then-partner, couture designer Vivienne Westwood, ran a clothing store. He saw a golden opportunity when he saw the New York Dolls in the early '70s. He became their manager and proceeded to run the legendary band into the ground. Undeterred, McLaren and Westwood changed the name of their London store to Sex and started hawking bondage-inspired clothing, ripped up stuff rife with safety pins...you know, ye olde punk aesthetic. He figured the best way to promote their wares was to create a scene that wanted them. That's right, kids. It was about capitalism, not anarchy. So he put together the Sex Pistols with an eye more toward outrage and image rather than talent. So what if they couldn't play anything? It's not hard to learn three cords, is it? According to legend, McLaren picked John Lydon (re-christened Johnny Rotten) purely because of his "I Hate Pink Floyd" t-shirt, his bad teeth, and green hair.
McLaren's gambit worked. The Sex Pistols shocked and frightened the general public, the tabloids couldn't stop writing about them, and the kids loved them. Countless unemployed British teenagers formed their own bands in the Pistols' wake. Soon, McLaren's orbit would read like a Who's Who of that era: shop employee Chrissie Hynde, Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, Siouxsie Sioux, Billy Idol, Adam Ant, etc.. The Pistols imploded and McLaren ended up in a feud with Rotten for years afterwards; the latter accused McLaren of ripping him and his bandmates off.
McLaren kept on looking for the next big thing. He managed Adam and the Ants, then he found his almost discovery, Boy George. Some former Ants were formed into a new band, Bow Wow Wow, and Boy George--then just a club kid--was McLaren's first choice for lead singer. For some reason it didn't pan out, so McLaren found someone even more outrageous...a 14-year-old Burmese immigrant named Annabella Lwin, who was pimped out as some kind of exotic teenage sex kitten. Bow Wow Wow of course scored a big hit with "I Want Candy" in 1982. He briefly managed the Red Hot Chili Peppers early on in their career. As a solo artist, he knocked off African music three years before Paul Simon did with "Graceland." Personally, I loved his 1989 album "Waltz Darling," which featured "Deep In Vogue" a year before Madonna hopped on the "strike a pose" bandwagon.
Many of McLaren's proteges found success for at least a time. The Sex Pistols live on as rock legends, which is kind of ironic if you think about it. Westwood continues to be one of the fashion industry's top designers, and McLaren's son runs the pricey lingerie line Agent Provocateur. He understood the flim-flam that goes with rock 'n roll and pop as well as the connection with fashion and if you want evidence that lives on, look at Madonna's 27-year career or Lady Gaga.
Anyway, McLaren was an interesting figure. He was to '70s British punk rock what Bill Graham was to the San Francisco hippie music scene in the '60s. He had always been considered both a visionary and a villain, depending on who you talk to. He did not invent punk. He and his then-partner, couture designer Vivienne Westwood, ran a clothing store. He saw a golden opportunity when he saw the New York Dolls in the early '70s. He became their manager and proceeded to run the legendary band into the ground. Undeterred, McLaren and Westwood changed the name of their London store to Sex and started hawking bondage-inspired clothing, ripped up stuff rife with safety pins...you know, ye olde punk aesthetic. He figured the best way to promote their wares was to create a scene that wanted them. That's right, kids. It was about capitalism, not anarchy. So he put together the Sex Pistols with an eye more toward outrage and image rather than talent. So what if they couldn't play anything? It's not hard to learn three cords, is it? According to legend, McLaren picked John Lydon (re-christened Johnny Rotten) purely because of his "I Hate Pink Floyd" t-shirt, his bad teeth, and green hair.
McLaren's gambit worked. The Sex Pistols shocked and frightened the general public, the tabloids couldn't stop writing about them, and the kids loved them. Countless unemployed British teenagers formed their own bands in the Pistols' wake. Soon, McLaren's orbit would read like a Who's Who of that era: shop employee Chrissie Hynde, Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, Siouxsie Sioux, Billy Idol, Adam Ant, etc.. The Pistols imploded and McLaren ended up in a feud with Rotten for years afterwards; the latter accused McLaren of ripping him and his bandmates off.
McLaren kept on looking for the next big thing. He managed Adam and the Ants, then he found his almost discovery, Boy George. Some former Ants were formed into a new band, Bow Wow Wow, and Boy George--then just a club kid--was McLaren's first choice for lead singer. For some reason it didn't pan out, so McLaren found someone even more outrageous...a 14-year-old Burmese immigrant named Annabella Lwin, who was pimped out as some kind of exotic teenage sex kitten. Bow Wow Wow of course scored a big hit with "I Want Candy" in 1982. He briefly managed the Red Hot Chili Peppers early on in their career. As a solo artist, he knocked off African music three years before Paul Simon did with "Graceland." Personally, I loved his 1989 album "Waltz Darling," which featured "Deep In Vogue" a year before Madonna hopped on the "strike a pose" bandwagon.
Many of McLaren's proteges found success for at least a time. The Sex Pistols live on as rock legends, which is kind of ironic if you think about it. Westwood continues to be one of the fashion industry's top designers, and McLaren's son runs the pricey lingerie line Agent Provocateur. He understood the flim-flam that goes with rock 'n roll and pop as well as the connection with fashion and if you want evidence that lives on, look at Madonna's 27-year career or Lady Gaga.