One thing to tell for me is that I must shamefully admit that he only started to feature on my own radar in 1989, the year of the fall of the Berlin Wall, with his album Waltz Darling.
In a nutshell: born in 1946 in Stoke Newington (of all places!), and after his father leaving, he was brought up by his grandmother, part of a wealthy Portuguese Diamond dealer family, whom raised him with the motto: 'To be bad is good... to be good is simply boring' (I guess that explains the Sex Pistols bit).
When he was six, McLaren's mother married Martin Levi, a man working in London's rag trade and they lived well but Malcolm 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 colleges through the 60s, being expelled from several before leaving education entirely in '71. 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, which promoted absurdist and provocative actions as a way of enacting social change. In 1968 Malcolm tried unsuccessfully to travel to Paris to take part in the demonstrations there; instead he took part in a student occupation of Croydon Art School.
In 1971 he and his girlfriend, the designer Vivienne Westwood, opened a London clothing shop called Let It Rock, on Kings Road. The shop sold Teddy Boy clothes and McLaren and Westwood also designed clothing for theatrical and cinematic productions. Let It Rock proved a success but Malcolm grew disillusioned with the style of shop. He travelled to New York in 1972 renaming the outlet at 430 Kings Road 'Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die'. In April 1975, McLaren returned to Britain, by which time he had renamed the shop SEX, selling punk and S&M inspired clothing.
By 1976, Malcolm had started to manage The Strand, the band who would later become the Sex Pistols. He soon introduced them to bassist Glen Matlock (who worked in SEX). His assistant, Bernie Rhodes (soon to be manager of The Clash), spotted John Lydon 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 him, now nicknamed Johnny Rotten, was brought in to audition as a new frontman. Johnny joined, and the band was renamed The Sex Pistols.
In May 1977, the band released 'God Save the Queen' during the week of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. McLaren organised a boat trip down the Thames where the Sex Pistols would perform their music outside Houses of Parliament. The boat was raided by the police and McLaren was arrested, thus achieving his goal to attain publicity. More water passed down father Thames, but Malcolm kept the Sex Pistols' contract rights until Johnny took him to court in the 80s to win the rights and unpaid revenues. Johnny won and gained complete control from Malcolm in 1987. Both refused to speak to each other after the band split.
He was approached by Adam Ant to manage Adam and the Ants, following their debut album release in late 1979. Shortly after three members of the band left to form Bow Wow Wow, also under Malcolm's management. He continued to manage Ant as he found new band members for Adam and the Ants and worked on a new sound.
Bow Wow Wow was a band created solely for promotional purposes. Originally created to promote clothing designed by Vivienne Westwood, Malcolm 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.
Did I say nutshell? Well back to Malcolm and his own musical track record:
In 1983, Malcolm released Duck Rock, an album which in collaboration with The World's Famous Supreme Team (a duo of Hip-Hop radio disc jockeys from New York City) mixed up influences from Africa and the Americas, including Hip-Hop. 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' and 'Double Dutch' became top-10 hits in the UK.
He then turned to electronic music and opera in the 1984 single 'Madame Butterfly'. The track is arranged with drum machines, atmospheric synthesizers and spoken verses. The producer of the single, Stephen Hague, became a much sought after producer in the music scene, later getting involved in Madonna's rise to fame.
Malcolm's 1989 album Waltz Darling, was a funk/disco/vogueing inspired album. Waltz Darling incorporated elements of his former albums, spoken verses, string arrangements and eclectic mix of genres but featured such prominent musicians as Bootsy Collins and Jeff Beck with a glitzy, Louisiana-style production aimed at the US market. The single 'Deep in Vogue' brought 'voguing' to the attention of the world long before Madonna did.
Malcolm met Korean American Young Kim at a party in Paris, who became his girlfriend for the last 12 years of his life. She moved in with him in 2002 and they lived together in Paris and New York. He was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2009 and died of the disease on 8 April 2010 in a hospital in Switzerland. Reportedly, Malcom's death bed last words were 'Free Leonard Peltier'. He was buried in at the same place as Karl Marx, Highgate Cemetery, North London.
Malcolm McLaren & The World's Famous Supreme Team - Buffalo Gals (1982)
NZ#3, UK#9, CH#9, SWE#13, IRL#16, AT#19, DE#20, US#33
Malcolm McLaren & The Mclarenettes - Soweto (1983)
NZ#31, UK#32
Malcolm McLaren & The Ebonettes - Double Dutch (1983)
UK#3, IRL#7, NZ#10, DE#14, US#47
Malcolm McLaren & The Main Hilltopper Man - Duck for the Oyster (1983)
IRL#28, UK#54
Malcolm McLaren - Madam Butterfly (1984)
IRL#10, UK#13, NL#19, DE#36, NZ#48
Malcolm McLaren & The Bootzilla Orchestra - Waltz Darling (1989)
NZ#6, FR#18, NL#20, UK#31
Malcolm McLaren & The Bootzilla Orchestra - Something's Jumping in Your Shirt (1989)
NL#9, NZ#12, UK#29, DE#45
Malcolm McLaren & The Bootzilla Orchestra - Deep in Vogue (1989)
US#1, UK#83
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