RECLINING

Malcolm McLaren is a polarising figure for his aptitude for making money out of any craze (I still want to see footage of him getting booed in NYC for the moment when he stood on stage and supposedly took credit for inventing hip-hop) and even having a damned good go at claiming genres until late in his life (remember his media appearances to push his discovery of ‘chip music’ in 2004?). But I remain a fan of a fair chunk of his life’s work (the whole Chicken saga falls somewhere between proto-Brass Eye satire and truly sociopathic behaviour) and see it echoed time and time again in quick thinking counter moves like this or hip-hop bosses and their frequent acts of cold-blooded hustle. During the early 1980s, he was such a bizarre, self-promoting character, that every interview I’ve seen with McLaren has been magnetic. A new YouTube channel has just upped a one-hour style history lesson with the man from late 1984. Looking like some publicity-conjuring pixie in his pink polo neck, hiked-up trousers and loafers, and setting off the conversation with a bizarre waywardness in his opening pose before he seems to regain some interest, it’s worth watching, taken from footage shot for an episode of the long-gone Rock Influence TV show. After this one, I recommend watching the excellent footage of fans in the parking lot before Lynyrd Skynyrd’s December 31 1990 New Years Eve concert in San Francisco. God bless the internet.