Althouse: "It was wonderful to be able to sell something that was horrible... We made ugliness beautiful."

April 8, 2010

"It was wonderful to be able to sell something that was horrible... We made ugliness beautiful."

Malcolm McLaren on punk rock, etc.:

The man who sold The Sex Pistols is dead, now, at 64.

19 comments:

mRed said...: Tonight, I will once again sing "Who Killed Bambi?" to my pets.

They never understood "Friggin' In The Riggin'".; 4/8/10, 4:54 PM
jag said...: This quote could very well define post modern culture.; 4/8/10, 5:34 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Say what you will, the Sex Pistol's songs hold up very well over time. And Malcom was a hell of a promoter.; 4/8/10, 5:39 PM
Revenant said...: He created Bow Wow Wow by replacing Adam Ant with a teenaged girl. Personally, I liked Bow Wow Wow a lot more than the Sex Pistols.; 4/8/10, 5:46 PM
KCFleming said...: "The man who sold The Sex Pistols is dead, now, at 64."

We won't still need him.
We won't still feed him.; 4/8/10, 5:59 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Adam Ant, where is he now?; 4/8/10, 6:02 PM
Fred4Pres said...: God Save The Queen.

I Want Candy

Price Charming; 4/8/10, 6:26 PM
traditionalguy said...: Frankly, I don't care. That is ugly, but he chose ugly for his life work.; 4/8/10, 6:40 PM
veni vidi vici said...: All that scratchin' is making me itch...

...Too much o' that snow white.; 4/8/10, 6:46 PM
Bob_R said...: Do you have to be such a fool to market something as outrageously wonderful as punk rock? It has been clear from day one that the man was an idiot, but maybe that was what was required to manage the Sex Pistols. A lot smarter people have contributed a lot less to art.; 4/8/10, 7:32 PM
Saul said...: The Pistols are one of rock's greatest acts. Steve Jones and Paul Cook are great musicians. Lydon's lyrics are amazing. Mattlock is a solid bass player.

They only put out one record, but as Lydon has often said, "We did it right the first time."; 4/8/10, 7:45 PM
Saul said...: "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" - Johnny Rotten; 4/8/10, 7:47 PM
reader_iam said...: Wow. Weird to think how faraway those days really are, however blink-of-an-eye they seem.

Yes, I know that's a trite comment to make. The thing is, much of life IS trite, especially the truths part--something I didn't get as much as I thought I did at an earlier time.; 4/8/10, 7:54 PM
veni vidi vici said...: Duck Rock, Double Dutch, the immortal Buffalo Gals...

and later, the odd Madame Butterfly and others.

Malcolm McLaren was terrific. Over the past 15-20 years or so, he had been rumored off and on to be working on a film biography/story of Led Zeppelin, which would have undoubtedly been quite interesting.

RIP to one of the classics.

wv: "datices" -- the cake.; 4/8/10, 8:47 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Isn't mesothelioma associated with asbestos? I wonder how he would have been exposed to that.; 4/8/10, 8:58 PM
Wince said...: With no hard feelings toward the New York Dolls, of course.

...you're condemned to eternal bullshit...

New York (NSFW)

an imitation from new york
you're made in japan
from cheese and chalk
you're hippy tarts hero
'cos you put on a bad show
you put on a bad show
oh don't it show
still oh out on those pills
oh do you remember

think it's well playing max's kansas
you're looking bored
and you're acting flash
with nothing in your gut
you better keep yer mouth shut
you better keep yer mouth shut
in a rut
still oh out on those pills
do the sambo

you four years on
you still look the same
i think about time
you changed your brain
you're just a pile of shit
you're coming to this
ya poor little faggot
you're sealed with a kiss
kiss this

think it's swell playing in japan
when everybody knows japan is a dishpan
you're just a pile of shit
you're coming to this
you poor little faggot
you're sealed with a kiss
still oh out on those pills
cheap thrills anadins aspros anything
you're condemned to eternal bullshit
you're sealed with a kiss
kiss this
a kiss a kiss you're sealed with a kiss
a looking for a kiss you're coming to this
i wanna kiss anything oh kiss this eh boy; 4/8/10, 10:24 PM
Anonymous said...: As a young man looking to get into a bit of mischief in those days, it was exhilarating to rush down to the local record store to purchase the latest Sex Pistols 45 RPM single each time they were released.
Then, we'd play them over and over again on our mono players.

We were rebelling against everything.

What a colossal waste of time that was.; 4/9/10, 8:30 AM
Robert Cook said...: The Sex Pistols were great and Malcom McLaren--(his instrumentality to the Sex Pistols disputed by Lydon)--was a flamboyant and necessary manager and artistic theorizer for them who gave them cachet, (although Lydon's lyrics gave them substance and his magnetic negativity made them electrifying), but he claims too much to say he was "responsible" for punk rock.

While English punk rock developed its own, more political, aspect, the English musicians were all influenced by American bands that foreshadowed punk--such as the Stooges and the Velvet Underground and the NY Dolls, (who McLaren briefly managed at their end), among others--and those who established the NY "underground" rock scene of the mid-70s, centered around CBGBs and Max's Kansas City, which came to be known, not very accurately, as a "punk scene"--such as The Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, Television, The Heartbreakers, (who introduced heroin to the English punk scene)--and so on.; 4/9/10, 10:11 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Jazz is Paris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8J-O_HWul8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuRe46kRpmc&feature=related; 4/9/10, 8:57 PM