BYE BYE Malcolm

...you can almost hear Jonny Rotten snarl.......he probably did at some point!

But today, Malcolm Mclaren was laid to rest in Highgate Cemetery along with such luminaries as Douglas Adams, Jacon Bronowski, Charles Cruft, Michael Cruft, alexander Litvinenko, Sir Ralph Richardson, Max Wall.................

And of course the most famous internee, Karl Marx!

For those of a certain age, which means me, Malcolm Mclaren was something of an influence, even if it was what he kicked off and not for who he was.

I guess that each generation has their equivalent to "Punk", that is at the age of  between 14 and possibly 17, whatever is the latest thing, is the only thing! Maybe the age will change, but through modern history, the "flappers and the Charleston" in the 20's, the Jazz of the 50's, "Nice", the Rock and Roll of the late 50's and 60's, the beatles, the hippy fest of 67, the glam/Heavy rock years, Mods, Skins, Ska, Madchester, Hip Hop, Rapetc. etc.etc.

Well for me, I'd been into Rock, some would say heavy rock, Deep Purple, Led Zep, Floydd as well as Blues, mainly in the form of Rory Gallagher.

But in 1977, October 1977 to be exact, an album came out that changes the music scene forever.

"Never mind the bollocks...........here's the sex pistols"

Yes, there had been punk records released prior to this, the Sex Pistols had already released "Anarchy in the UK" as a single on a couple of different labels.

But the album was the killer album that kickied it all off. Clash fans may disagree, the first Clash Album was released in February 1977, but they did'nt have the marketing machine, the PR nouse that one Malcolm Mclaren clearly had.

Whilst Bernie Rhodes, the Clash manager was getting his band playing clubs around the UK, recording in between gigs, Macolm's boys were getting themselves banned, getting in the headlines and simply not playing!

Infamously, on 1st December 1976, they appeared on the Bill Grundy show, an early evening live show, akin to the "One Show", but for London only. The rest is history, suffice to say the attitude and language upset a lot of people, one "lorry driver from Dagenham" was so incensed at what he saw that he put his boot through the television screen!

Althoguh we didn't see it, it was only seen in London, we saw reports in the paper, it was something that set "our world" alight!

Was it Malcolm's idea to cause trouble on that show? Reports suggest that he was shitting himself and thought it was all over!

Was it incompetence on his part and pure fluke that he made a success with his famed "Cash from Chaos" strategy?

Well he made money out of cancelled contracts with EMI and A&M, follwed by a shrewd move of one Richard Branson to sign them, no mean publicity seeker himself, he obviously saw beyond the music!

But actually, the music was good. Of it's time, obviously, but despite the punk ethic that anyone could get up and play, the Pistols pre Sid were a tight unit.

Listen to Nevermind the Bollocks, the playing is good, very good and maybe Chris Spedding did help Steve Jones with some of the guitar work, but if anyone doubts Steve Jones' ability, watch the "Classic Albums" TV programme which shows how the album was recorded!

If you need further evidence of what a band they could have been, see the "There'll always be an England " gig at the Brixton Academy. Awesome.

Yes, Sid Vicious was a punk and looked good for the band. I've always been a devotee of Sid, my Dad once asked me who this Sid Bishop was! He was that famous!

But he could'nt play and that was in essence Malcolm's preference. He didn't want to build a musical legacy, he wanted to make an artistic/PR statement. He was an artist........maybe even a Performance Artist, maybe a piss artist.

He famously gave us the New York dolls, Bow Wow Wow, was instrumental in starting Adam and the Ants on their way and also for an 80's skipping craze, imported from the USA.

Malcolm, thanks for the memories and providing so much entertainment, even if it was by mistake.

Oh, and don't give Karl Marx too much hassle!