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April 11, 2010

John Lydon and Vivienne Westwood (et. al.) Speak of the Devil: Malcolm McLaren BBC News

Malcolm McLaren pictured in 1977

Figures from the music world and friends remember former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, who has died of cancer at the age of 64.

JOHN LYDON, MUSICIAN
John Lydon

John Lydon made his name as anarchic lead singer of the Sex Pistols, and was better known as Johnny Rotten. He signed his written tribute to McLaren in that name.

"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."

DAME VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, FASHION DESIGNER
Dame Vivienne Westwood

Dame Vivienne Westwood was formerly McLaren's partner. The couple have a son, Joseph Corre. The pair opened the shop Sex together, which showcased her designs.

"When we were young and I fell in love with Malcolm, I thought he was beautiful and I still do. The thought of him dead is really something very sad. We hadn't been in touch for a long time."

JOSEPH CORRE, FASHION DESIGNER

Joseph Corre, 42, is the son of Malcolm McClaren and Dame Vivienne Westwood and founded the lingerie brand Agent Provocateur.

"He was the original punk rocker and revolutionised the world. He's somebody I'm incredibly proud of. He's a real beacon of a man for people to look up to."

JAH WOBBLE, MUSICIAN

Jah Wobble - real name John Wardle - was the original bass player in John Lydon's band Public Image Limited, and had known McLaren during the height of the punk era.

"You can't deny he was very important. He was a very interesting character. He was a likeable rogue. Not without faults, but we all have our faults. But the faults made him better.

The fact that he wasn't actually a very good businessman made it more fun. He had a great sense of fun. His sense of humour was a great redeeming factor."

JULIEN TEMPLE, FILM-MAKER
Julien Temple

Julien Temple directed Sex Pistols film The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle.

"Malcolm was an incredible catalyst. At that time to be in the room with him was just to be bombarded with energy.

He was an amazing teacher. Teachers are lucky to inspire one or two people in their class, but Malcolm really inspired generations across the world.

He was a phenomenal force to be reckoned with in the late 70s and early 80s."

SYLVAIN SYLVAIN, MUSICIAN
Sylvain Sylvain

Sylvain Sylvain, a founding member of punk rock band the New York Dolls, says he first met McLaren in 1971. The band are planning to dedicate a song to him at their forthcoming London concert.

"Malcolm opened up the doors for punk music around the world. He was a visionary and took what was going on in New York City and made it global. He was a massive influence on everyone who ever had a punk shop or a punk band. His passing represents the final chapter in an era when music was exciting."

JON SAVAGE, MUSIC JOURNALIST

Music writer Jon Savage penned England's Dreaming, a history of the punk rock movement.

"Without Malcolm McLaren there would not have been any British punk. He's one of the rare individuals who had a huge impact on the cultural and social life of this nation.

I hope he'll be remembered with fondness. He was a complex character, a contradictory character. He could be very charming, he could be very cruel, but he mattered and he put something together that was extraordinary.

What he did with fashion and music was extraordinary. He was a revolutionary."

TONY PARSONS, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR

Commentator Tony Parsons wrote a tribute to Malcolm McLaren in The Mirror.

"Malcolm gave us our haircuts, our direction and even our clothes. He gave us our look and our swagger.

There was a destructive, mindless side to his nature.

The Sex Pistols could have been a great band had he not kicked out songwriter Glen Matlock and replaced him with the sub-moronic Vicious.

Such was life with Malcolm. It was usually controversial, and often wild. But it was never dull. I will miss him."

NEIL SPENCER, JOURNALIST

Neil Spencer was editor of music magazine the NME during the 1970s and the first person to review the Sex Pistols.

"Malcolm was a loveable rogue but he wasn't always loveable either. One of this things was to outrage people and he didn't care how he did it."

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    Malcolm McLaren In pictures: BBC

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    Malcolm McLaren Sex Pistols Man Punk Rocker Tributes BBC News

    Malcolm McLaren (file pic: 2004)
    Malcolm McLaren was at the forefront of the punk movement

    Sex Pistol John Lydon and designer Vivienne Westwood have led the tributes to the punk band's former manager Malcolm McLaren, who has died aged 64.

    Lydon's tribute, signed using his band name Johnny Rotten, said McLaren was "above all else ... an entertainer".

    McLaren's ex-partner Dame Vivienne described him as a "very charismatic, special and talented person".

    McLaren died in a Swiss hospital on Thursday, after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer last October.

    When we were young and I fell in love with Malcolm, I thought he was beautiful and I still do
    Vivienne Westwood

    McLaren and Dame Vivienne's son, Joseph Corre, said his father was "the original punk rocker" who "revolutionised the world".

    "He's somebody I'm incredibly proud of. He's a real beacon of a man for people to look up to," he added.

    Mr Corre, who founded the lingerie brand Agent Provocateur, said funeral arrangements were not yet made but his father had wanted to be buried in Highgate Cemetery, north London.

    McLaren had been diagnosed with mesothelioma in October.

    Young Kim, 38, McLaren's partner of 12 years, said the family were "devastated" by his death and he would be "sorely missed".

    "He was a great artist who changed the world," she added.

    Westwood paid tribute to her former partner and said Joe and her other son Ben were with McLaren when he died.

    Malcolm McLaren
    What he did with fashion and music was extraordinary. He was a revolutionary
    Jon Savage

    "When we were young and I fell in love with Malcolm, I thought he was beautiful and I still do.

    "The thought of him dead is really something very sad."

    Lydon said: "I will miss him, and so should you."

    The music industry has been vocal in its tributes, with Creation Records founder Alan McGee describing his late friend as a "visionary".

    Music journalist Jon Savage said: "Without Malcolm McLaren there would not have been any British punk.

    "He's one of the rare individuals who had a huge impact on the cultural and social life of this nation."

    FROM BBC RADIO 5 LIVE


    Savage, who wrote a definitive history of the Sex Pistols and punk, England's Dreaming, said McLaren was a "complex" and "contradictory" character who had influenced British culture in many ways.

    "What he did with fashion and music was extraordinary. He was a revolutionary."

    McLAREN'S INFLUENCE
    Lizo Mzimba
    Lizo Mzimba, Entertainment correspondent, BBC News

    Malcolm McLaren will be remembered as a figure who had a tremendous influence on British culture.

    In terms of music, punk was one of the most important developments of modern times. And without Malcolm McLaren, punk may never have exploded in the way that it did.

    He was instrumental in selling the idea and image of punk to the public, especially through the Sex Pistols. He helped to create the band's unique look as well as their publicity-attracting attitude.

    McLaren famously organised a boat trip down London's River Thames so the Sex Pistols could perform their version of God Save The Queen outside the Houses of Parliament, during the week that the Queen was celebrating her Silver Jubilee.

    The boat was raided by the police, and McLaren was arrested. The headlines that inevitably followed helped to fortify his and the band's controversial reputation.

    For many artists he embodied the idea they could successfully challenge the musical establishment. It is an idea that inspired a generation of musicians, and still endures today.

    The BBC's creative director Alan Yentob said: "Without Malcolm, despite what people say, the punk era would never have been the kind of focus that it did become.

    "Malcolm loved the idea of it and it was he, who, in a way, sold the idea to the public and understood what it meant."

    He said: "He was always ready to say something provocative.

    "I think he famously said that his grandmother told him you needed to be a bad boy to survive - it was good to be bad. He wanted to shock and surprise you."

    McLaren emerged from art school in the 1960s and, with Westwood, set up Let It Rock - a fashion store in London specialising in rubber and leather fetish gear.

    It was later, infamously, renamed "Sex" and he and Westwood defined punk fashion.

    McLaren was involved in putting the Sex Pistols together in 1975 and under his management the band courted controversy.

    After their debut single Anarchy in the UK was released in December 1976, the band gained notoriety when they swore on Bill Grundy's TV show.

    Their concerts faced difficulties with promoters and authorities and they were fired by both EMI and A&M record companies.

    In 1977, their single God Save the Queen was banned by the BBC. The band broke up at the end of a US tour in January 1978 and McLaren then created his disputed film version of the Sex Pistols' story, the Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle.

    But there was a falling out with the band members and he later lost a court case over royalties.

    McLaren also managed a number of other bands, including the New York Dolls and Bow Wow Wow, before producing his own records including the much-sampled track Double Dutch from the 1983 album Duck Rock.

    Sylvain Sylvain, founder member of New York Dolls, said McLaren "really was a piece of sugar" who would be remembered as a "cool guy".

    The band's singer David Johansen described McLaren as "such a marvellous amalgam of exuberation, sensuality, culture and literacy".

    After retreating from the music scene, McLaren dabbled in politics and at one point toyed with the idea of entering the race to be mayor of London.

    In 2007, he pulled out of an appearance on the reality show I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here, after changing his mind about the show.

    Between December last year and this January, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead hosted an exhibition by McLaren of "musical paintings" on the issue of sex.

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      Les Fleurs de Malc: BBC - Stuart Bailie

      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.

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