He may have been a con-man but the dude had the intelligence to connect the dots and (for better or worse) take punk to the masses.

He was an eccentric, intelligent, charismatic character, that was willing to try new things and didn't tow the line . . . . I kinda think the world needs more like him and a few less fuckwits trying to be famous for being famous . . .

I'm locking this this thread on the audacity of saying the cro-mags are meh. there is no excuse for this behavior. I don't believe in people having "different opinions" when it comes to this band.
Yesterday via twitter a young man said this and I feel it sums up my feelings perfectly
"If you are afraid of THE CRO MAGS or dislike them for any reason, you are not my fucking friend, you are my enemy."

Flynn will back me on this 100%.

ps- dont even get me started on the judge comment.

Round the outside:



thread unlocked.

Malcom rules. RIP

RIP...

I never knew he was a pain in the neck to so many people until this thread.

I accidentally found a white label of the Buffalo Gals single in a seconds shop.
I also liked his kitchy hip house album that sampled British Airways theme song from their ad from the late 80's?. The cover design typography was the same guy who did the Stussy type that was recently reissued.

I don't wish death on anyone, but all McLaren can really be credited for is knowing what bands to check out when he was in the States.

There's so many other people who deserve a bigger footnote. so what if we lost punk's biggest swindler?



(p.s. I wish I could have locked the thread down a while back when Alex questioned my love of (early) P.i.L. - )

PIL is fine by me.

Glenn, for someone who hates punk, I find it very appropriate that you like Mclaren.

I'm amazed at the amount of disdain for McLaren, like yeah, he was THE Svengali of the 70s, but without his direct input, so much music, as we know it, would not exist.
Yeah, he was a wanker that created things, but he did create, he did make connections and say "you and you and me, will do great things" and then he claimed ownership to those things that he helped create. Dickhead move? Yes, but he wasn't the first, he certainly wasn't the last.
But regardless of all of that, without him, there would be no Sex Pistols, and without the Sex Pistols (for the record, I'm more of a Clash man myself) the musical landscape as we know it would be vastly different.
I'm willing to bet that without McLaren, even the New York Dolls wouldn't be as highly respected as they are.
That may be counter intuitive, but if he hadn't done their 3rd album and given them the push, and then bombed with that album, they may very well have gone on to create some proper shit with no one but themselves to blame, then they just would have been a laughing stock, instead of another victim of The Great Svengali.


wow... I'm on one tonight...

You bet!
Rocksteady breaking, Dondi painting the Buffalo Gals piece & World's Famous Supreme Team on the mic.
What a way to present Hip-Hop to the masses. It certainly rubbed off on me in a big way as a kid.

R.I.P Malcom



Always dreamed of having a stereo like this.
It's so iconic of the time, it should be in a museum between a Basquiat & Haring.

The meaning of punk is a personal interpretation as is the music. Same with any scene.


I wouldn't put to much stock in Lydon's whining and complaining.