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April 8, 2010, 2:29 PM
Malcolm McLaren, Impresario and Rock Music Manager, Is Dead
By DAVE ITZKOFF

Pascal Guyot/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Malcolm McLaren in 2006.
2:45 p.m. | Updated
Malcolm McLaren, the impresario, promoter and self-promoter who once claimed to have invented punk rock, and who assembled and managed the youthful, unruly members of the Sex Pistols, the breakthrough British punk band, has died. He was 64. His companion of many years, Young Kim, confirmed that Mr. McLaren died on Thursday, and said that he died of mesothelioma at a hospital in Switzerland.

In the 1970s, Mr. McLaren returned to his native London from New York, where he had briefly managed the New York Dolls in the waning days of that band’s career. With his business partner and girlfriend at the time, Vivienne Westwood, they renamed their clothing shop Sex, and Mr. McLaren set about putting together his own rock act of untested British youth, which became the Sex Pistols.

Fronted by John Lydon — whose repugnant appearance and Irish background earned him the stage name Johnny Rotten — with Steve Jones (guitar), Paul Cook (drums) and Sid Vicious (a bassist who replaced original member Glen Matlock), the Sex Pistols terrified traditional music sensibilities with songs like “Anarchy in the U.K.” and “God Save the Queen,” and fueled Mr. McLaren’s flair for over-the-top spectacle: he arranged for the band to sign its contract with A&M Records outside Buckingham Palace, and organized a private boat performance of their “God Save the Queen” on the Thames that was quickly shut down by the police, cementing the group’s rebellious reputation.

As a solo artist, Mr. McLaren released genre-defying albums like “Duck Rock” in 1983 and “Waltz Darling” in 1989, and remained a perennial presence in the worlds of art and fashion.

A full obituary will follow.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/malcolm-mclaren-impresario-and-rock-music-manager-is-dead/

I can't help but notice that everyone is following the old "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything" rule.

Well...me too.

RIP.

OK, so did he die in Switzerland or New York? A report over on the rival 'Tell Me' message board states he passed away in New York.

Wikipedia says it was mesothelioma which if true means in 99.9% cases is caused by exposure to asbestos.

Tumbled wrote on Apr 8^th, 2010 at 3:50pm:

Wikipedia says it was mesothelioma which if true means in 99.9% cases is caused by exposure to asbestos.

News stories seem to be evenly divided between death in New York and death in Switzerland. Strange.

Jesus Christ wrote on Apr 8^th, 2010 at 3:15pm:

I can't help but notice that everyone is following the old "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything" rule.

Well...me too.

RIP.

You like me, may be wondering, what if anything Johnny may say about him.... did you hear PIL is touring...

Oddly enough I watched a clip of PiL doing 'Rise' on Kimmel last night.
Then read this news...

Here's The Independent's obit.

RIP, Malcolm.

RIP Malcolm, due to this the Radio Programme tomorrow will be about him instead of "The Electric Prunes" I was the intended guest for the prunes and they extended me the invitation for Malcolm but I declined as I don't know much about him and I don't like punks at all after an experience in NYC when I tried to attend a Plasmatics show

ANyway the Electric Prunes and this voodoo boy will be on the air on friday April 16th instead

such very sad news - a genius, in my humble opinion.

RIP

There should not be any R.I.P.'ing for Mr. McLaren until there is atonement for Mr. John Ritchie.....

R.I.P. Mr. McLaren, I wonder how John Lydon feels now about his statement that he wished that you were dead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujYp4g0_f2A

johnny's been quite the diplomat...or damning with faint praise

http://www.nme.com/news/john-lydon/50579

Heart Of Stone wrote on Apr 9^th, 2010 at 5:45am:

...I wonder how John Lydon feels now about his statement that he wished that you were dead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujYp4g0_f2A

Vindicated?

lotsajizz wrote on Apr 9^th, 2010 at 3:05am:

There should not be any R.I.P.'ing for Mr. McLaren until there is atonement for Mr. John Ritchie.....

it's a fine line IMO. Sid made choices that Malcolm exploited for personal gain, very complicit IMO, but... the genius and other work, makes it hard to pigeon hole him... just my tow cents. I do, still have alot of anger, I thought sid was awesome... I wore his image on my leather MC jacket for most of the 80's...

Didn't Malcolm have a hit single ? That name sounds familiar.

"Electric Prunes" OH MY.............

"In 1984 Mr. McLaren released the album “Fans,” a mixture of opera and urban music,
which included the hit single “Madame Butterfly.”

College years....

'Buffalo Gals' and 'Double Dutch' were hit singles in the UK.

Pdog wrote on Apr 9^th, 2010 at 9:19am:

lotsajizz wrote on Apr 9^th, 2010 at 3:05am:

There should not be any R.I.P.'ing for Mr. McLaren until there is atonement for Mr. John Ritchie.....

What did you think was awesome about him? Besides his image, I mean. Che looked good on a t-shirt too.

Didn't Malcom give us Bow Wow Wow too?

Jesus Christ wrote on Apr 9^th, 2010 at 2:24pm:

Didn't Malcom give us Bow Wow Wow too?

Yes.

Sorry, Pdog, mate, but IMO, Vicious was a talentless fuck. McLaren could have picked any junkie stumbling around London and dolled him up in designer clobber. Glen Matlock deserves all the respect. When I think of the Pistols and listen to Never Mind The Bolllocks, that knob just doesn’t register.

Honky Tonk Man wrote on Apr 9^th, 2010 at 5:36pm:

From watching a VH1 special on the making of Never mind the Bollocks, Vicious never played a note on the record, Steve Jones said he (Vicious) was in the hospital which he was glad of, to keep him away from being involved, he was all image, no talent.

RIP - But you know that, somewhere, John Lydon is grinning.

Read Lydon's autobio, "No Dogs, No Blacks, No Irish" for reasons.

I had Stuart Sutcliffe's image on my leather jacket.

Honky Tonk Man wrote on Apr 9^th, 2010 at 5:36pm:

Why you apologizing, I didn't say he was talented. He was, as Malcolm named him, the Gimmick... He was also rotten's best mate. His stroy is a sad one, and he was a great performer IMO... not the same as being a talented musician...

Jesus Christ wrote on Apr 9^th, 2010 at 2:24pm:

Pdog wrote on Apr 9^th, 2010 at 9:19am:

lotsajizz wrote on Apr 9^th, 2010 at 3:05am:

There should not be any R.I.P.'ing for Mr. McLaren until there is atonement for Mr. John Ritchie.....

What did you think was awesome about him? Besides his image, I mean. Che looked good on a t-shirt too.

Didn't Malcom give us Bow Wow Wow too?

The persona... I think he was an asshole, in retrospect... but when I was a teenaged kid, stuff like that seemed cool... on point, I think Keith was the same way, as a junkie, but at one time, the junkie mystique was appealing... sid had a presence, and when he wasn't with Spungen and smacked out, he had alot of potential to be a star, even without much musicianship... From all I've heard, he was a cool guy before the dope took over.

New York Dolls’ Sylvain Sylvain Remembers Malcolm McLaren
4/12/10, 3:27 pm EST

[/size]Recording artist, manager of the Sex Pistols, provocateur, fashion designer, impresario —Malcolm McLaren, who died of cancer April 8th at 64 was all those things. He was also, briefly, the manager of the New York Dolls just before their breakup in 1975. Dolls guitarist Sylvain Sylvain spoke with Rolling Stone about his encounters with McLaren. “I always thought the most important member of the Sex Pistols was Malcolm McLaren,” Sylvain says. “When they got back together in the ’90s, I thought, ‘They’re missing their most important star, and that was Malcolm.’ ”

When did you first meet McLaren?

It was at a clothing trade show back in 1971 in New York City. I had a knitwear company, and he and Vivienne [Westwood] were down at the end of the hallway with their clothing line Let It Rock, which was basically rockabilly clothing. Malcolm had this long blond pompadour, long sideburns and white baggy pants. He was like Jerry Lee Lewis, really cool looking. On the last day of trade shows, designers sell their samples, so I said to David Johansen and Johnny Thunders, “You gotta come over.” So we bought some things from Malcolm and Vivienne and invited them down to see us at the Mercer Arts Center. He fell in love with the New York Dolls, and we fell in love with them. Vivienne would tell us, “You boys look so much better in women’s clothing.”

How did he end up managing the Dolls later?

In 1975, I saw him at the Chelsea Hotel and I had a long face. He asked me what was going on and I said, “Things aren’t going so good. We’re about to break up.” He was really sad and said, “I’d love to help you guys.” He became our personal manager. He got us a loft on 23rd Street in Chelsea and we started practicing and writing songs and came up with the red-patent-leather show. We all started wearing red — red shoes, red pants — and Malcolm said, “Why don’t you put up a red flag?” Which was a brilliant idea. Of course, it was the final blow of the New York Dolls. A famous New Yorker said to me, “Now you’re gonna do the Communist thing?” No one really got it. It was art for art’s sake.

Why did Malcolm champion the Dolls so much?

Because it was raw. It was a slap in the industry’s face. He saw that in us. He saw that you didn’t have to be a great singer or to be like Jeff Beck to call yourself a guitarist. It was the love of different and weird. And, if you’re not weird, maybe you should be! Malcolm didn’t follow the crowd — that wasn’t him.

What happened after the Dolls collapsed during that tour?

We were in Florida and they all went home, and me and Malcolm were left down there. He rented a Plymouth station wagon for the tour, and I said, “Have you ever been to New Orleans?” We drove there and went to clubs and record stores. Somehow he called up Allen Toussaint and we managed to meet him at his studio. There Allen was, playing the piano and saying, “If you boys ever need a recording studio, think of us.” It was just amazing what Malcolm could do. When we got back to New York, we went to the warehouse he had with Vivienne. They were into their bondage trip — a lot of rubber and all kinds of stuff. I took him around to my friends. We went to Debbie Harry’s house and sold her stuff right out of the back of the station wagon, like spiked high-heel shoes and black patent leather. He was a great salesman.

Is it true he wanted you to front the Sex Pistols?

He said to me, “Don’t worry.” He said the Sex Pistols were gonna be my band and he wrote me this seven-page letter that’s now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He said, “This is gonna be your band! It’s going to be called the Sex Pistols!” He had some photos from a photo booth and on the back of them he would write things like, “We’re thinking of calling this one Johnny Rotten. He can’t sing, but he can definitely sing better than David Johansen!” I just never went, basically. I signed to RCA and had my own band. I used to describe that letter to my friends and they would say, “Sylvain’s full of shit.” When my mom died in 1991, I found it while cleaning her apartment in Brooklyn. On the back he wrote, “Please give this to your son, from a friend in England.”

What was McLaren’s contribution to punk?

He loved Richard Hell’s ripped T-shirt and the whole attitude. When he went back home to London, he packaged it and introduced it to the whole world. He knew you had to package things and impact them with the whole five fingers. He did that so well and so naturally. We might’ve discovered it and invented it, but he put it on the map. I was in China recently and there were all these punk shops. Can you imagine that ever being? If it weren’t for Malcolm, that wouldn’t have happened.

So what his legacy?

He had the goods, as they say. In the clothing business, you have to be five years ahead of yourself and come up with tomorrow’s goods today. You have to be able to read the future. He did that so well. And what I learned from Malcolm is: If you don’t toot your own horn, no one is gonna do it for you.

Link: http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2010/04/12/new-york-dolls-sylvain-sylvain-remembers-malcolm-mclaren/

Thanks for that great article GTRM, Sylvain & David Johansen are the only two left alive in the Dolls to remember.

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http://rocksoff.org/cgi-bin/messageboard/YaBB.pl GENERAL >> MAIN BOARD >> Malcolm McLaren is Dead http://rocksoff.org/cgi-bin/messageboard/YaBB.pl?num=1270753819 Message started by Pdog on Apr 8^th, 2010 at 2:10pm