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MCLAREN IN THE PITS

Along the way he made some pop records for himself that could be listened to and enjoyed

Malcolm McLaren has rolled into the pits one last time at an untimely 64. Mesothelioma. The godfather of the Sex Pistols, grandfather to Agent Provocateur, an ex Mr Vivienne Westwood, an inventor of bow wow wow and boy did he give Adam Ant the biggest leg up ever. Along the way he made some pop records for himself that could be listened to and enjoyed. There's the New York Dolls dalliance, the shops, the shameless self-promotion when there was no shame in shameless-self promotion. It would be shameful now, but of course now he's not doing it. Now it would take a team of media consultants and they'd still get it wrong. By consensus. Malcolm McLaren was a renaissance man when they were thin on the ground. He was a human sampler, a masher upper before mash ups were. Recently, finding myself at a wildly popular Curryoake evening,  I wondered still, had Malcolm McLaren got a hand in it? It's going to be so big in Little India.

I can't tell you whether there would be an outsideleft.com, I can't tell you whether I'd be happier if I'd never heard of him back when I was a kid. I can't blame him for everything can I? All of the good things would most likely be gone, never have happened. No London, Los Angeles, no St. Leonards, no Kirk, no Ron & Nancy, but, on the other hand, look at well, I won't say, some people I know who've never heard of the guy. They do nothing never endeavor and have very nice lives. So maybe without Malcolm McLaren's influence, I might have never tried to do anything ever. Maybe then I'd be happy now.

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About the Author
Hamilton High
Hamilton High was born on Doheny Ave in the gutter, is a poet, writer and observer of popular culture. Likes fashion and cares less for style. He's on the move, he's an alter ego and we hardly ever hear from him. (biography/all stories)

 

 

MUSIC ARCHIVE

Our Band Could Be Your Business Model The Jesus Record, the Hail Mary, and the Arc of the Covenant Clean Living and the Point of Indie Rock Honey, Don't Walk Out on Drive-By Truckers White - Welcome to the Real World The Limit as x Approaches Tortoise Because We are all Like That: Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte Depressing Dubliners, The XX Way Five Great Love Songs of 2009 (so far) Brotherhoods of Breath - Moroccan Sufi Trance Today The Kids Hate Dirty Projectors Crispy Pig Wilco: For Your Love Michael Jackson and plunderphonics Patterson Hood: Common Man as Hell Meet the Lemonheads' Tape Case Late for Church Bob Log III's Shit is Perfect Telepathe: The Sinister Side of The Real Bang Bang Kirk Kirk Kirk Does Rufus Rufus Rufus R.I.P. Jay Bennett Brinkley, Ark. and Other Assorted Love Songs : Bob Frank & John Murry It Hugs Back: They've Got It Imagine the Horrors 300 Words From London: Me, I'm All Smiles - Echo and the Bunnymen Live Creosote on my Soul Grand Duchy: I Got You, Babe My Love Re-explodes: The Dukes of Stratosphear return Micachu and Black Dice: Rip Up Your Love The Drones: Supercargo of Suffering Nostalgia Sweeping Away The Veils Preaching to the Choir: Phil Kline and Arvo Pärt Bow Wow Wow! - Mighty Doglude The Living Jandek Aural Dream Door; Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande Stop Me If You've Heard This Dinosaur Joke Before: Morrissey and U2 Goddamn Lonely Love: M. Ward, Lucinda Williams, and Jason Isbell Heralds of the Groove: The Budos Band Trading the Bellowed Anthems for the 60-cycle Hum
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