malcolm mclaren, RIP
Malcolm McLaren may have been a rock-n-roll swindler (among other things), and I owe him my sanity. Let me explain.
In 1983, I was a lonely angry not-quite-yet-a-teenager. i was small for my age, and a late bloomer (puberty didn’t really kick in until summer 1984). i hated my parents, my school, and everything else. I liked rock-n-roll and metal, but none of it really spoke to me: how deeply involved can a kid get in a Dio song, when none of the lyrics make any sense*?
When i began gravitating toward punk rock and hardcore, the Dead Kennedys was the first band that lit the fuse, but it was the Sex Pistols, the band that Mclaren managed, that blew my fucking mind.
i immediately began learning their songs, beginning with “problems”:
Continuing into “Bodies”:
her name was pauline, she lived in a tree…
and then “Submission”:
Thanks so much Malcom. I know you ripped the band off and I don’t know if you and Johnny ever spoke to each other again, but you helped the Sex Pistols become a world-famous punk rock band, and for that this grown-up is eternally grateful.
*i totally love Dio, and this version of Holy Diver by KillSwitch Engage is almost as good as the original, and it even has Dio in the video: I dare you not to rock out.
