Malcolm McLaren
Encyclopedia
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English performer, impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...

, self-publicist and manager
Talent manager
A talent manager, also known as an artist manager or band manager, is an individual or company who guides the professional career of artists in the entertainment industry...

 of the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...

 and the New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...

. As a solo artist, McLaren had an innovative career which helped introduce hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...

 to the United Kingdom.

Early years

McLaren was born to Pete McLaren, a Scottish engineer, and Emmy Isaacs in post-World War II North London. His father left when he was two and he was raised by his maternal grandmother, Rose Corre Isaacs, the formerly wealthy daughter of Portuguese Sephardic Jewish
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardim who have their main ethnic origins within the Jewish communities of the Iberian peninsula and who shaped communities mainly in Western Europe and the Americas from the late 16th century on...

 diamond dealers, in Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...

. McLaren told Andrew Denton
Andrew Denton
Andrew Christopher Denton is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie-nominated television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television interview program Enough Rope. He is known for his comedy and interviewing technique...

 on Enough Rope, that his grandmother always said to him, "To be bad is good... to be good is simply boring". In The Ghosts of Oxford Street he says Charles Clore
Charles Clore
Sir Charles Clore was a British financier, retail and property magnate and philanthropist.-Career:Charles Clore owned, through Sears Holdings, the British Shoe Corporation and Selfridges department store, as well as investing heavily in property.He owned Jowett Cars Ltd from 1945-1947 where he was...

 (who bought Selfridges
Selfridges
Selfridges, AKA Selfridges & Co, is a chain of high end department stores in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge. The flagship store in London's Oxford Street is the second largest shop in the UK and was opened on 15 March 1909.More recently, three other stores have been...

) became his mother's lover. When he was six, McLaren's mother married Martin Levi, a man working in London's rag trade. When McLaren was in his forties, a Sunday newspaper found Pete McLaren in an English "greasy spoon garage".

McLaren's stepfather and mother owned a rag factory in London's East End called Eve Edwards London Limited. They lived well but McLaren and his stepfather never got along. He left home in his teens. Following a series of jobs (including one as a wine taster), he went on to attend several art college
Art school
Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...

s through the 1960s, being expelled from several before leaving education entirely in 1971. It was during this time that he began to design clothing, a talent he would later use when he became a boutique owner.

He had been attracted to the Situationist movement, particularly King Mob
King Mob
King Mob was a radical group endeavouring to contribute to worldwide proletarian social revolution, based in London during the 1970s.It was a cultural mutation of the Situationists and the anarchist group Motherfuckers. They sought to emphasize the cultural anarchy and disorder being ignored in...

, 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. Instead, with Jamie Reid
Jamie Reid
Jamie Reid is a British artist and anarchist with connections to the Situationists. His work, featuring letters cut from newspaper headlines in the style of a ransom note, came close to defining the image of punk rock, particularly in the UK...

, he took part in a student occupation of Croydon Art School
Croydon College
Croydon College, established in 1895, is a Further Education and Higher Education institution in the London Borough of Croydon.Located in East Croydon, it is made up of a Further Education College and a Higher Education College.- Further Education :...

. McLaren would later adopt the movement's ideas into his promotion for the various pop and rock groups with whom he was soon to involve himself.

New York Dolls, Vivienne Westwood and SEX

In 1971, McLaren and his girlfriend, the designer Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood
Dame Vivienne Westwood, DBE, RDI is a British fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.-Early life:...

, opened a London clothing shop called Let It Rock, on Kings Road
Kings Road
King's Road or Kings Road, known popularly as The King's Road or The KR, is a major, well-known street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both in west London, England...

. The shop sold Teddy Boy
Teddy Boy
The British Teddy Boy subculture is typified by young men wearing clothes that were partly inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period, styles which Savile Row tailors had attempted to re-introduce in Britain after World War II...

 clothes and McLaren and Westwood also designed clothing for theatrical and cinematic productions such as That'll Be The Day
That'll Be The Day (film)
That'll Be the Day is a 1973 British film starring David Essex and Ringo Starr, written by Ray Connolly and directed by Claude Whatham. It is set in the late '50s/early '60s and was partially filmed on the Isle of Wight. A sequel, Stardust, was released in 1974.-Plot summary:Jim MacLaine's mother...

and Mahler
Mahler (film)
Mahler is a 1974 biographical film based on the life of composer Gustav Mahler. It was written and directed by Ken Russell for Goodtimes Enterprises, and starred Robert Powell as Gustav Mahler and Georgina Hale as Alma Mahler...

. Let It Rock proved a success but McLaren grew disillusioned with the style of shop owing to problems with the Teddy Boys who were the shop's main customers.

McLaren travelled to New York City for a boutique fair in 1972, having already met the group the New York Dolls
New York Dolls
The New York Dolls is an American rock band, formed in New York in 1971. The band's protopunk sound prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era; their visual style influenced the look of many new wave and 1980s-era glam metal groups, and they began the local New York scene that later...

. That year he renamed the outlet at 430 Kings Road Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die and supplied the group with stage wear. In 1975, McLaren designed red patent leather costumes for the New York Dolls and used a Soviet-style hammer and sickle motif for their stage show, as a provocative means of promoting them. This ploy was not successful and the Dolls soon broke up. In April 1975, McLaren returned to Britain, by which time he had renamed the shop SEX
SEX (boutique)
SEX was a boutique run by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood at 430 King's Road, London between 1974 and 1976. It specialized in clothing that defined the look of the punk movement.-History:...

, selling punk and S&M inspired clothing. In December 1976, Sex was renamed "Seditionaries". In 1980 it was reopened under the name "World's End".

Sex Pistols

By 1976, McLaren had started to manage The Strand, the band that later became the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...

. He soon convinced them to kick guitarist/songwriter Wally Nightingale
Wally Nightingale
Wally Nightingale, born Warwick Alan Nightingale in West Kensington, was an English musician. He was best known as the guitarist and founder of the band that eventually became the Sex Pistols. According to guitarist Steve Jones, Nightingale left the band in 1975 after Malcolm McLaren agreed to...

 out of the band and also introduced them to bassist Glen Matlock
Glen Matlock
Glen Matlock is an English bass guitarist most famous for being in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. Drummer Paul Cook has said that Matlock came up with much of the music for the band's songs and most of the lyrics, while lead singer Johnny Rotten made some adjustments...

 (who worked in SEX). His assistant, Bernie Rhodes (soon to be manager of The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...

), spotted John Lydon
John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...

 who was then sporting green hair, and torn clothes with the words "I hate" scribbled on his Pink Floyd shirt. His appearance and attitude impressed McLaren, and Lydon, now dubbed "Johnny Rotten", was brought in to audition as a new frontman. Rotten joined, and the band was renamed The Sex Pistols (McLaren stated he wanted them to sound like "sexy young assassins").

NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

– November 1976

In May 1977, the band released "God Save the Queen
God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols song)
"God Save the Queen" is a song by the English punk rock band The Sex Pistols. It was released as the band's second single and was featured on their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The song was released during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977...

" during the week of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee
Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II marked the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other Commonwealth realms...

. McLaren organised a boat trip down the Thames where the Sex Pistols would perform their music outside the Houses of Parliament
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...

. The boat was raided by the police and McLaren was arrested, thus achieving his goal: to obtain publicity.

The band released their album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols is the only studio album by the highly influential and controversial English punk rock band The Sex Pistols...

in October 1977 and played their last UK gig before embarking upon a US tour in January 1978. During his time managing the band McLaren was accused by band members (most notably by John Lydon
John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...

) of mismanaging them and refusing to pay them when they asked him for money. McLaren stated that he had planned out the entire path of the Sex Pistols, and in the film, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle is a mockumentary film directed by Julien Temple and produced by Don Boyd and Jeremy Thomas about the British punk rock band Sex Pistols....

, he set this plan out. McLaren kept the Sex Pistols' contract rights until Lydon took him to court in the 1980s to win the rights and unpaid revenues from McLaren. Lydon won and gained complete control from McLaren in 1987. McLaren and Lydon refused to speak to each other after the band split. In the 2000 film, The Filth and the Fury
The Filth and the Fury
The Filth and the Fury is a 2000 rockumentary film about the Sex Pistols directed by Julien Temple.-About the film:The Filth and the Fury is the second movie Julien Temple made about The Sex Pistols. His first effort was The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, which was released in British cinemas on 15...

, the surviving members of the Sex Pistols put their version of events on film.

Other artists

McLaren was approached by Adam Ant
Adam Ant
Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...

 to manage Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants were a British rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original group, which existed from 1977 to 1980, became notable as a cult band marking the transition from the late-1970s punk rock era to the post-punk and New Wave era...

, following their debut album release in late 1979. Shortly thereafter three members of the band left to form Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow were an English 1980s New Wave band created by Malcolm McLaren to promote his and business partner Vivienne Westwood's New Romantic fashion lines.The group's music is described as having an "African-derived drum sound".-History:...

, under McLaren's management. McLaren continued to manage Ant as he found new band members for Adam and the Ants and worked on a new sound. McLaren was later to manage Jimmy The Hoover
Jimmy The Hoover
Jimmy The Hoover were a British pop band, who had a hit single with "Tantalise ". It would be their only hit, reaching number 18 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1983....

, formed in 1982, who gained a support slot on a Bow Wow Wow tour.

Bow Wow Wow was originally created to promote clothing designed by Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood
Dame Vivienne Westwood, DBE, RDI is a British fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.-Early life:...

, and McLaren continued to exploit the band members, pressuring the underage lead singer to pose nude for the underage sex magazine he had created entitled Chicken, a reference to the magazine's underage content.

Solo musical career

In 1983, McLaren released Duck Rock
Duck Rock
Duck Rock is an album released by British impresario Malcolm McLaren In 1983. The album mixes up styles from South Africa, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, and the US, including hip hop. The album proved to be highly influential in bringing hip hop to a wider audience in the UK...

, an album which, in collaboration with producer and co-writer Trevor Horn
Trevor Horn
Trevor Charles Horn CBE is an English pop music record producer, songwriter, musician and singer. He was born in Houghton-le-Spring in north-east England....

 and The World's Famous Supreme Team (a duo of Hip-Hop radio disc jockeys from New York City – See Divine, The Mastermind and Just Allah, The Superstar – who then hosted a prominent Hip-Hop/classic R&B show on WHBI 105.9 FM and who were also among the first DJs to introduce the art of scratching
Scratching
Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the late 1980s, it has been used...

 to the world), mixed up influences from Africa and the Americas, including hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

. 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 Gals
Buffalo Gals (Malcolm McLaren song)
Buffalo Gals is a hip-hop single released by Malcolm McLaren & the World's Famous Supreme Team as a single in 1982 and on their 1983 album Duck Rock. The song is composed of extensive scratching with calls from square dancing...

" and "Double Dutch
Double Dutch (song)
"Double Dutch" is a 1983 single by Malcolm McLaren. It is taken from his debut album Duck Rock. "Double Dutch" is the follow-up to his successful debut single, "Buffalo Gals", and reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, making it his highest-charting single release...

") became top-10 hits in the UK, with "Buffalo Gals" a minor hit in some major cities in the U.S. Duck Rock
Duck Rock
Duck Rock is an album released by British impresario Malcolm McLaren In 1983. The album mixes up styles from South Africa, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, and the US, including hip hop. The album proved to be highly influential in bringing hip hop to a wider audience in the UK...

features clips of "The World's Famous Supreme Team Show" throughout the course of the album between songs, as well special vocal appearances from the duo themselves.

He then turned to electronic music and opera in the 1984 single "Madame Butterfly", based on the opera. The track is arranged with drum machines, atmospheric synthesisers and spoken verses. It reached No.13 in the UK and No.16 in Australia. The producer of the single, Stephen Hague
Stephen Hague
Stephen Hague is an American music producer most active with various British acts in the 1980s. He was an influential figure in the synthpop movement.-Early career:...

, became a much sought after producer in the techno pop genre following his work with McLaren on the following full length LP, Fans
Fans (Malcolm McLaren album)
-More tracks:# "Madam Butterfly "# "Madam Butterfly "# "Carmen "# "Death of Butterfly "-Personnel:* Timothy McFarland – Conductor and Operatic Coordinator* Malcolm McLaren – Production...

.

McLaren's 1989 album Waltz Darling
Waltz Darling
-Personnel:* "Bootsy" Collins - Production * Mary Kessler - Production * Robbie Kilgore - Production * David LeBolt - Production * Malcolm McLaren - Production* Phil Ramone - Production...

, was a funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

/disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

/vogueing
Vogue (dance)
Vogue or voguing is a highly stylized, modern house dance that evolved out of the Harlem ballroom scene in the 1960s. It gained mainstream exposure when it was featured in Madonna's song and video "Vogue" , and when showcased in the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning...

 inspired album. Waltz Darling incorporated elements of his former albums, i.e. spoken verses, string arrangements and eclectic mix of genres but featured such prominent musicians as Bootsy Collins
Bootsy Collins
William Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American funk bassist, singer, and songwriter.Rising to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the '70s, Collins's driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk...

 and Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...

 with a glitzy, Louisiana-style production aimed at the US market. The singles, "Waltz Darling" and "Something's Jumpin' in Your Shirt" became top-20 radio hits in Europe, with the single "Deep in Vogue
Deep in Vogue
"Deep in Vogue" is a 1989 dance single by Malcolm McLaren and the Bootzilla Orchestra featuring Lourdes and Willie Ninja. The song was lifted from his fourth album Waltz Darling. The single was McLaren's fourth entry on the dance play charts and his only number one. "Deep in Vogue" was number one...

" bringing voguing to the attention of the world long before Madonna did.

In 1992, McLaren co-wrote the song "Carry On Columbus
Carry On Columbus
Carry On Columbus is the 31st and last film in the Carry On series, following 1978's Carry On Emmannuelle. The only main series regulars present are Jim Dale , Bernard Cribbins , Leslie Phillips , Jon Pertwee and June Whitfield...

" for the feature film of the same name. The song plays over the end credits of the film. In 1994, he recorded the concept album Paris
Paris (Malcolm McLaren album)
Paris is a double-CD by Malcolm McLaren released in 1994.-Disc one:# "Mon Dié Sénié" – 4:30# "Walking With Satie" – 4:03# "Père Lachaise" – 3:41# "Miles And Miles Of Miles Davis" – 2:04# "Jazz Is Paris" – 5:15# "Rue Dauphine" – 3:26...

, with French artists such as Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...

 and Françoise Hardy
Françoise Hardy
Françoise Madeleine Hardy is a French singer, actress and astrologer. Hardy is an iconic figure in fashion, music and style. She is married to the singer and movie actor Jacques Dutronc.-Biography:...

.

In 1998, McLaren released Buffalo Gals Back 2 Skool (Virgin Records), an album featuring hip hop artists like Rakim, KRS-One, De La Soul and producer Henri Scars Struck revisiting tracks from the original Duck Rock album. In addition, that year, he created a band called Jungk. This project was not a commercial success. Also in 1997/1998, he released a track called "The Bell Song". Various remixes were released on 12" singles.

His song "About Her", based on "She's Not There" by The Zombies
The Zombies
The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...

, rose to prominence when used by director Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...

 in Kill Bill Vol. 2. He was accused of plagiarism for this song in 2005 for allegedly copying the work of a French musician, but was cleared of the charges in November 2005 when the court in Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....

, France threw out the case. The song uses Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...

's "St. Louis Blues" by repeatedly playing the verse, "My man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea."

McLaren's solo work, particularly from the Duck Rock period, has also been sampled by other artists. In 1999, a group called Dope Smugglaz had a UK top twenty hit with the track "Double Double Dutch" which made extensive use of samples from McLaren's original "Double Dutch". In 1997, Mariah Carey's "Honey
Honey (Mariah Carey song)
"Honey" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey from her sixth studio album, Butterfly. It was released as the lead single from the album on August 26, 1997 by Columbia Records. The song was written by Carey, Puff Daddy, Q-Tip and Stevie J, all of whom served as the song's producers...

" and "Honey (Bad boy remix)" sample "Hey DJ
Hey DJ
"Hey! DJ" is a song by the World's Famous Supreme Team. Writing is credited to Larry Price, Malcolm McLaren, Ronald Larkins Jr. and Stephen Hague. Released on 12" in 1984 on Island Records, there were three mixes included...

" In 2002, Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...

 released a track called "Without Me
Without Me
"Without Me" is a rap song by American rapper Eminem. It was released as the lead single from his fourth studio album titled The Eminem Show in 2002, and re-released on his greatest-hits compilation album Curtain Call: The Hits in 2005....

", which sampled McLaren's song, "Buffalo Gals". In 2007, McLaren's song "World's Famous" was sampled by R&B singer Amerie
Amerie
Amerie Mi Marie Rogers , known professionally as Amerie or Ameriie, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She debuted in 2002 with the album All I Have, primarily co-written and produced by Rich Harrison, and was well-received in the urban market...

 on the song, "Some Like It", from her album Because I Love It
Because I Love It
Because I Love It is the third studio album by American R&B singer-songwriter Amerie. Originally set for an autumn 2006 release, and originally to be called None of the Above, the album was released in the United Kingdom on May 14, 2007. The album was released in the U.S. on different dates to...

.

In 2006, author Paul Gorman
Paul Gorman
Paul Gorman is an English writer.-Career:From 1978, Gorman worked on weekly news for trade publications. In 1983, Gorman won the Periodical Publishers Association award for campaigning journalism for a series of investigative food industry articles and in 1990 was appointed west coast bureau chief...

 published his book The Look: Adventures In Rock & Pop Fashion
The Look: Adventures In Rock & Pop Fashion
Published in May 2006 by Adelita, The Look: Adventures In Rock & Pop Fashion is Paul Gorman's definitive account of the inter-connected developments of style and popular music from Elvis Presley to the present day....

with a foreword and contributions from McLaren. The book included a CD featuring the track "Deux" from the Paris Remixes album.

British Airways advertisements

In 1989, McLaren and composer Yanni
Yanni
Yanni , born Yiannis Hrysomallis is a Greek self-taught pianist, keyboardist, and composer who has spent most of his life in the United States.He earned Grammy nominations for his 1992 album, Dare to Dream, and the 1993 follow-up, In My Time...

 arranged The Flower Duet
The Flower Duet
The Flower Duet is a famous duet for sopranos from Léo Delibes' opera Lakmé, first performed in Paris in 1883. The duet takes place in Act 1 of the three act opera, between characters Lakmé, the daughter of a Brahmin priest, and her servant Mallika, as they go to gather flowers by a river...

 into a work called Aria. The 'Flower Duet' theme, taken from the French opera Lakmé
Lakmé
Lakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. Delibes wrote the score during 1881–82 with its first performance on 14 April 1883 at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Set in British India in the mid 19th century, Lakmé is based on the 1880 novel...

by Léo Delibes, had already been used by composer Howard Blake
Howard Blake
Howard Blake, OBE is an English composer , particularly noted for his film scores, although he is prolific in several fields of classical and light music...

 to accompany British Airways commercials since 1984. However, from 1989 McLaren and Yanni further arranged the Flower Duet and it featured in BA's "World's favourite Airline" global advertising campaign of the 1980s and 1990s.

Other projects

During the 1980s, McLaren attempted to make a film called Fashion Beast, from a script by comic-book writer Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...

. McLaren took the project to New York City in 1986, and was for a time funded through NYC-based nightlife impresario and producer Robert Boykin. Avenue Pictures recommended screenwriter Steve Means to rewrite the Alan Moore script. This was contracted and several drafts written, but the process slowed down with the physical deterioration of producer Boykin, who subsequently died in 1988. McLaren declared the project "an orphan." The film was never made, but McLaren was involved with other film and television projects, including The Ghosts of Oxford Street, made for Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 in 1991. This musical history of London's Oxford Street
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...

 was directed and narrated by McLaren and included performances by The Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays are an English alternative rock band from Salford, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1980, the band's original line-up was Shaun Ryder on lead vocals, his brother Paul Ryder on bass, lead guitarist Mark Day, keyboardist Paul Davis, and drummer Gary Whelan...

, Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...

, Rebel MC, Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty MacColl
Kirsty Anna MacColl was an English singer-songwriter.MacColl scored several pop hits from the early 1980s to the early 1990s...

, John Altman
John Altman (composer)
John Altman is a British film composer, music arranger, orchestrator and conductor.-Biography:Altman was introduced to the music of the 1930s and 1940s at an early age by an uncle who arranged and composed music for big bands and conducted for Judy Garland, the Marx Brothers, and Laurel and Hardy,...

 and Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....

. McLaren was also one of the producers for the film adaptation of Fast Food Nation
Fast Food Nation
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is a book by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser that examines the local and global influence of the United States fast food industry....

, which premiered on 19 May 2006 at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

 and was released in late 2006.

McLaren approached the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...

 in 1985, early in their career, expressing interest in managing them, and reinventing the group. After hearing a short live set, McLaren was "clearly unimpressed" according to Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis. He then proposed to reinvent the group by having them dress in neon surfer-punk clothing, and have them play really stripped-down, basic 1950s rock n' roll, with all of the emphasis on Kiedis. Although Kiedis was flattered to be considered, he and the band rejected the offer. Kiedis recalled the event, saying "It was like the Wizard of Oz had spoken, and what he had said was too ludicrous to take seriously", as his proposition was too different from the band's musical style.

In an issue of New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....

published on 20 December 1999, an article titled "My Vision for London" included the McLaren Manifesto, and there was speculation that McLaren might stand to be elected as Mayor of London
Mayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...

, although ultimately he did not run.

McLaren had a 2005 exhibition of some autobiographical work at the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (Center for Arts and Media Karlsruhe) in Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

, Germany called Casino of Authenticity and Karaoke. This installation had originally been part of the Bonnefanten's
Bonnefanten Museum
The Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht, Netherlands is the foremost museum of fine art and contemporary art in the province of Limburg.-History:The museum was founded in 1884 as the historical and archaeological museum of the Dutch province of Limburg...

 1999 exhibit Smaak – On Taste in Maastricht. In 2003, he wrote the article "8-Bit Punk" championing 8-bit music. He also appeared on This Spartan Life
This Spartan Life
This Spartan Life is an award-winning talk show created by Bong + Dern Productions and produced and directed by Chris Burke, who hosts the show under the pseudonym Damian Lacedaemion...

, a popular machinima
Machinima
Machinima is the use of real-time 3D computer graphics rendering engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation...

 which frequently uses 8-bit music, and he also discussed the topic.

In 2006, McLaren presented the documentary series Malcolm McLaren's Musical Map of London for BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

, followed in 2007 by Malcolm McLaren's Life and Times in L.A. Also in 2007, McLaren competed in a reality TV show for ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 titled The Baron. The series was due to be shown in August 2007, but was postponed owing to the death of fellow contestant actor Mike Reid
Mike Reid (entertainer)
Michael Reid was an English comedian, actor, author and occasional television presenter from Hackney in east London, who is best remembered for playing the role of Frank Butcher in EastEnders and hosting the popular children's TV show Runaround...

 shortly after filming was completed. It was eventually broadcast starting on 24 April 2008. McLaren came last in the competition, which was won by Reid. It was announced on 7 November 2007 that McLaren would be one of the contestants in the seventh series of the ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, set in the outback of Australia and premiering on British television on Monday 12 November 2007, but he pulled out the day he had flown to Australia. He told press "it is fake", that he didn't know any of the other celebrities and quite frankly, "he didn't have the time". He was replaced by Katie Hopkins
Katie Hopkins
Katie Hopkins is a British reality television contestant, businesswoman and journalist, best known for her 2007 appearance on the third UK series of TV reality programme The Apprentice, in which contestants compete for a £100,000-a-year job working for British businessman Sir Alan Sugar. Hopkins...

.

In January 2008, McLaren featured as one of the 'celebrity hijackers' in the UK TV series Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack
Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack
Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack was an E4 temporary replacement to Celebrity Big Brother, a spin-off series of the British reality television programme Big Brother, airing on E4, with a number of closely associated programmes also airing on the same channel...

, which was broadcast on E4. In his hijack, he encouraged the housemates to remove their clothes, daub themselves in paint and produce an artwork using only their bodies and a bicycle. Also in 2008, New York City public arts group Creative Time
Creative Time
Creative Time is a New York-based nonprofit arts organization. It was founded in 1973 to support the creation of innovative, site-specific, socially engaged works in the public realm, especially in vacant spaces of historical and architectural interest...

 premiered nine pieces of Malcolm's 21-part sound painting series Shallow via MTV's massive HD screen in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...

. The series, which originally premiered at Art 39 Basel in June, was the first instalment of an on-going public arts content partnership between Creative Time
Creative Time
Creative Time is a New York-based nonprofit arts organization. It was founded in 1973 to support the creation of innovative, site-specific, socially engaged works in the public realm, especially in vacant spaces of historical and architectural interest...

 and MTV.
The complete version of 'Shallow 1–21' was given its full US museum premiere in the Morris Gallery of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), in Philadelphia, from 24 October 2009 until 3 January 2010.

About his contribution to music, McLaren has said about himself: "I have been called many things: a charlatan, a con man, or, most flatteringly, the culprit responsible for turning British popular culture into nothing more than a cheap marketing gimmick. This is my chance to prove that these accusations are true." At the time of his death McLaren had just finished a new film work entitled Paris.

Later life and death

McLaren met Korean American
Korean American
Korean Americans are Americans of Korean descent, mostly from South Korea, with a small minority from North Korea...

 Young Kim at a party in Paris; she was his girlfriend for the last 12 years of his life. She moved in with him in 2002; they lived together in Paris and New York. He was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma
Peritoneal mesothelioma
Peritoneal mesothelioma is the name given to the cancer that attacks the lining of the abdomen. This type of cancer affects the lining that protects the contents of the abdomen and which also provides a lubricating fluid to enable the organs to move and work properly.The peritoneum is made of two...

 in October 2009, and died of the disease on 8 April 2010 in a hospital in Switzerland. McLaren's last words were said to be "Free Leonard Peltier
Leonard Peltier
Leonard Peltier is a Native American activist and member of the American Indian Movement . In 1977 he was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment for first degree murder in the shooting of two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents during a 1975 conflict on the Pine...

". His funeral was held on 22 April 2010 at One Marylebone Church, central London. Later that day he was buried in Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery is a cemetery located in north London, England. It is designated Grade I on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. It is divided into two parts, named the East and West cemetery....

, North London.

See also

  • Adam and the Ants
    Adam and the Ants
    Adam and the Ants were a British rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original group, which existed from 1977 to 1980, became notable as a cult band marking the transition from the late-1970s punk rock era to the post-punk and New Wave era...

  • Bow Wow Wow
    Bow Wow Wow
    Bow Wow Wow were an English 1980s New Wave band created by Malcolm McLaren to promote his and business partner Vivienne Westwood's New Romantic fashion lines.The group's music is described as having an "African-derived drum sound".-History:...

  • Jimmy The Hoover
    Jimmy The Hoover
    Jimmy The Hoover were a British pop band, who had a hit single with "Tantalise ". It would be their only hit, reaching number 18 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1983....

  • Sex Pistols
    Sex Pistols
    The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...

  • Vivienne Westwood
    Vivienne Westwood
    Dame Vivienne Westwood, DBE, RDI is a British fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.-Early life:...


Further reading

  • Bromberg, Craig
    Craig Bromberg
    Craig Bromberg is an American author, consultant, and media executive who is currently the editor in chief of including the websites and ....

    . The Wicked Ways of Malcolm McLaren. HarperCollins, 1989. ISBN 978-0-06-096204-3
  • Brown, Dalia; Graham, Rodney; Hirst, Damien and McLaren, Malcolm. Malcolm McLaren: Musical Paintings. JRP/Ringier, 2010 ISBN 978-3-03764-058-6
  • Macleay, Ian. Malcolm McLaren. John Blake, 2010. ISBN 978-1-84358-278-6
  • McLaren, Malcolm. I Will Be So Bad. Arrow. ISBN 978-0-09-927750-7
  • McLaren, Malcolm. These Are the Breaks. Booth-Clibborn Editions, 1993. ISBN 978-1-873968-01-7
  • Overbury, Steve. Guns, Cash and Rock 'n' Roll: The Managers. Mainstream Pub. , 2008. ISBN 978-1-84596-234-0
  • Punk Pistol. Sex and Seditionaries: The Incomplete Sordid Works of Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren. First Edition Pub., 2006. ISBN 978-0-9554643-1-7
  • Punk Pistol. Destroy: Westwood and McLaren Punk Rock Clothing – It's Destruction and Deconstruction. First Edition Pub., 2010. ISBN 978-0-9554643-2-4
  • Taylor, Paul. Impresario: Malcolm McLaren and the British New Wave. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1988. ISBN 978-0-262-70035-1
  • Walker, John. "Malcolm McLaren and the sources of Punk" in Cross-overs: Art into Pop/Pop into Art. London/New York: Comedia/Methuen, 1987. ISBN 978-1-85178-016-5

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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