Malcolm McLaren: not so very anarchic after all

I remember the New York Dolls from around 1975 after Malcolm had taken over their management the previous year. I remember particulaaly the Soviet-style red leather outfits.

However, Malcolm's name for me, and I suspect for many of my generation, was synonymous with the Sex Pistols. I was at school in late 1976 when Robert - a school friend - bought a copy of 'Anarchy in the UK' on the EMI label. He paid 30 pence for it in the cheap rack at Woolworths and then sold it to another school friend -Philip - for 35 pence about a week later and about a month before it gained any kind of notoriety. He was, of course, delighted with his mark-up but then had to endure years of mocking when, following their departure from EMI and A&M, the EMI version became a much sought-after rarity. If he'd found another copy in such good condition he probably could have bought the school and turned it into the punk venue we all wanted at the time.

Whenever I hear or read the word 'Anarchy' it always and without fail reminds me of that time. Although it only seems like yesterday I first put my copy on the turntable, the mention of MPLA,UDA and IRA adds a reminder that this was a very different time. I was going out with my first proper girlfriend - who hated the Sex Pistols and every other punk group - and the foundations of my world seemed to be changing daily. Everything certainly moved for me.

But Malcolm? Well I don't think I can really forgive him for booking the group in to venues on that first tour and then claiming they'd been banned, allegedly pulling them out at the last minute on several occasions. At least Philip (of acquisition fame) did get to hang out with Sid for a while when they were passing through our home town of Peterborough; when I say hang out, it was more like sharing a cigarette at the bus station

Like the Soviet Union and the terrorist groups, the punk tide passed without creating the waves a lot of people - including me - thought it might. Now Malcolm has gone too. He controlled our lives for a while but was pretty vacant rather than anarchic.
 

Mark Rasdall

 

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