Malcolm McLaren Snuffs it at 64

For the past year or so, US TV has been inundated by ads from ambulance-chasing lawyers begging for business from mesothelioma sufferers. This is a lung cancer brought on by exposure to asbestos. Somehow, it seems fitting that there is money-grubbing going on about this disease that took the life of Malcolm McLaren yesterday. As manager of the Sex Pistols, he didn't know what he was doing, didn't realize what he had achieved, didn't realize when he had ruined it, and entertained immensely along the way. Mr. McLaren's executor should call a 1-800 lawyer.

Naturally, Mr. McLaren is best remembered for the Sex Pistols, but he was also manager of New York Dolls, Adam Ant and Bow Wow Wow. His own recordings were amusing -- "Buffalo Gals" mixed an American folk tune with rap, "Madame Butterfly" mixed Puccini's finest aria with drum machines, atmospheric synthesizers and spoken verses. In recent years, he received rather hefty royalty checks from Mariah Carey and Eminem for samples of his stuff they had used.

Trained in various art schools, Mr. McLaren worked in other media too. He got his start in fashion, he ended his career as a TV caricature of himself, and in between, seemed to think everything was performance art. For example, he spent a brief time as a motivational speaker. One wonders who paid to hear him and whether he said anything that would make any sense to someone who would attend such an event.

His real mark in the arts was the Sex Pistols, though. Not because of their music, over which he had little control, but because of his theatrics around it all. Sailing up and down the Thames during the Queen's Silver Jubilee playing the anti-monarchist "God Save the Queen" (which was banned by the BBC and the Independent Broadcast Authority) was high art -- ensuring that he got arrested during the police raid was merely his signature on the piece.

Like most artists, Mr. McLaren had no idea how things were going to turn out; he just started them up to see where they went. The Pistols tour of America summed it up. Rather than play in places like New York and Chicago, he took them to Dixie. Pandemonium sums it up. By the time the band made it to culturally friendly San Francisco, it was over. As Johnny Rotten said as he left the stage there, "Do you ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" Had Mr. McLaren been a real music manager, the band might have stayed together. He wasn't interested in that. He was interested in the theatre backstage.

Johnny Rotten is now John Lydon, and he and Malcolm have been on tour together and been on opposite ends of a legal battle (which Mr. McLaren lost). The singer once called Mr. McLaren, "The most evil man in the world." Last night, he 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."

© Copyright 2010 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.

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