Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm McLaren (born January 22, 1946) is a British impresario and self-publicist who is best known as being the manager of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols.

Early years

McLaren was born to Pete McLaren and Emmy Isaacs in 1946 but raised by his grandmother, Rose Corre Isaacs, in Stoke Newington, London, after his father left when he was two. McLaren's family were diamond traders. His mother Emmy had married Martin Levi, a man working in London's rag trade, and McLaren and his stepfather did not get on.[1] He was educated by his grandmother until 1955 who then forced him to seek employment. After a series of jobs (including one as a wine taster), he went on to attend several Art Colleges through the 1960's, being expelled from several before leaving school entirely in 1971. It was during this time he began to design clothing, a talent he would later utilise when he became a boutique owner.

He had been attracted to the Situationist International movement, which promoted absurdist and provocative actions as a way of enacting social change. In 1968 McLaren had tried unsuccessfully to travel to Paris to take part in the demonstrations there. McLaren would later adopt Situationist ideas into his promotion for the various pop and rock groups he was soon to become involved with.

The New York Dolls and SEX

In 1971 McLaren and his partner, the designer Vivienne Westwood, opened a London clothing shop called Let It Rock on the Kings Road. The shop sold Teddy Boy clothes and McLaren and Westwood also designed clothing for theatrical and cinematic productions such as That'll Be The Day and Mahler. Let It Rock proved a success but McLaren grew to become disillusioned with the style of shop due to problems with the Teddy Boys who were the shops main customers.

McLaren travelled to New York City for a boutique fair in 1974 and it was there that he first saw the New York Dolls. He convinced the band that he could do a better job of managing and promoting them. McLaren designed red leather costumes for the group and utilized a Soviet style hammer and sickle motif for their stage show as a provocative feature in promoting them. This ploy was not successful and the Dolls soon broke up. However, it was while he was managing the Dolls that he first saw the Neon Boys perform. The Neon Boys included Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell, who were later to form Television. In May 1975 McLaren returned to Britain after the Dolls' breakup and took what he had seen and experienced in New York with him.

McLaren had been greatly impressed with Hell's torn clothing, studded dog collars and leather jackets, and with Hell's dissolute attitude. According to Hell, McLaren approached him and Verlaine about being their manager, but they were not interested.

McLaren decided to change Let It Rock from a shop which sold 1950s clothes to one which sold bondage and fetish clothing, including clothing designed by Westwood using the new 'punk' look McLaren had seen in New York. Let It Rock was renamed SEX and began to attract many of London's disenfranchised youth who were attracted by the rebellious nature of the shop.

The Sex Pistols

By 1975 McLaren had started to manage The Strand, the band who would later become the Sex Pistols. During this year the band changed direction and McLaren saw his chance to bring the 'punk' scene he saw in America to London.

After finding a new lead singer in Johnny Rotten after an audition in SEX, the band was renamed The Sex Pistols (McLaren stating he wanted them to sound like "sexy young assassins") and the line-up consisted of Rotten, Steve Jones, Paul Cook and SEX employee Glen Matlock. The band played a few small gigs before eventually becoming sought after by record companies and were eventually signed (with a large advance) by EMI in 1976. However after a notorious appearance on Bill Grundy's Today programme in December 1976 the band made themselves nationally known across the UK. The Pistols had been booked to be a last minute replacement on the Grundy show, and their appearance ended in a shower of obscenities which gave them (and Punk) a reputation for causing trouble. The band were fired by EMI in January 1977 and were signed to A&M Records for another large advance on 10 March 1977. After signing the contract outside Buckingham Palace the band returned to A&M's offices for a party which ended in the band causing chaos. The Sex Pistols were sacked from A&M on March 16 1977.

File:Malcolm McLaren - You Need Hands single picture cover.jpg

The picture cover of McLaren's 1979 single: You Need Hands - taken from the film The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle

After this the band signed their last deal with Virgin Records in May 1977. Through Virgin the band released God Save the Queen during the week of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. At the time the UK was still respectful of the Royal Family and releasing what was seen as an attack of the Queen was seen as an attack upon the establishment. McLaren organised a boat trip down the Thames where the Sex Pistols would perform their music outside Houses of Parliament. This ended up with the boat being raided by the police and McLaren himself was arrested and the event saw more national publicity for McLaren and the band.

The band released their album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols in October 1977 and played their last UK gig before embarking upon an American tour in January 1978. This tour saw the band split up after a series of arguments within the band. During his time managing the band McLaren was accused by band members (most notably by John Lydon) of mis-managing them and refusing to pay them when asked for money. However McLaren has stated that he had planned out the entire path of the Sex Pistols and in the film, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle he set this plan out. The film was criticised for being too skewed towards McLaren and for being a launchpad for McLaren's future career in music as a performer (he performs the Max Bygraves song You Need Hands in the film) as well as a manager.

McLaren kept the rights for the Sex Pistols until John Lydon took him to court in the 1980s to win the rights from McLaren. Lydon won and gained complete control from McLaren in 1987. McLaren and Lydon have refused to speak to each other since the band split and in the 2000 film, The Filth and the Fury, the surviving members of the Sex Pistols put their version of events on film.

Post Pistols management

After the Pistols breakup McLaren managed Adam & the Ants and transformed them into more of a pop band rather than the post-punk band they were previously. McLaren also helped form Bow Wow Wow using the original Ants. Bow Wow Wow were fronted by the 15 year old Annabella Lwin who was controversially pictured nude on the cover of the band's See Jungle!... album.

Musical career

In 1983 McLaren released Duck Rock, an album which mixed up influences from Africa and America, including hip-hop. The album proved to be highly influential in bringing hip-hop to a wider audience in the UK. Two of the singles from the album ("Buffalo Girls" and "Double Dutch") became major chart hits on both sides of the Atlantic. McLaren released several other albums after this but none were as successful as Duck Rock.

Later career

McLaren attempted to make a film called Fashion Beast which was scripted by comic book writer Alan Moore during the 1980s. The film was never made, however McLaren has been involved with other film and television projects including The Ghosts of Oxford Street for Channel 4 in 1989.

In 1984 McLaren had a U.K. top-20 single based on the opera Madame Butterfly.

In summer of 1989, he had a Top 20 hit in Germany with his Vogueing-influenced single Waltz Darling.

In 1998, he created a band called Jungk, consisting of three Asian females intended to emulate appeal of the then popular Spice Girls. However, this project was not a commercial success.

During 2000, there was speculation that he might stand to be elected as Mayor of London [2], although ultimately he did not run. He had an exhibition of some autobiographical work at the German Zentrum fuer Kunst und Medientechnologie called "Casino of Authenticity and Karaoke" about which he gave this interview (audio of it).

In 2003 he heard Bitpop and Chip music and wrote the article "8-Bit Punk" championing 8-bit music. It also notes a planned release in that style by McLaren.

His song About Her, based on She's Not There by The Zombies, rose to prominence when used by director Quentin Tarantino in Tarantino's movie Kill Bill Vol. 2, but he was accused of plagiarism for this song in 2005 for allegedly copying the work of a French musician. He was cleared of the charges in November 2005 when the court in Angers, France threw out the case.

Discography

Duck Rock (1983)
Fans (1985)
Waltz Darling (1989)
Paris (1997)
Buffalo Gals Back to Skool (1999)

External links