The Remarkable Career of Malcolm McLaren

The music world has lost one of its most influential, eccentric and (at times) maddening figures. Former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren passed away on April 8, and he continues to confound and confuse in death, much as he did in life-—the announcement of his demise was compounded by conflicting reports on the location of his passing, which could have been in a clinic in Switzerland, or may have been in New York City. Just one last little dab of chaos from a man who positively thrived on pulling a strange, raucous and compelling kind of beauty from disorder.

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Malcolm McLaren R.I.P.

The music world lost one of its most charismatic figures yesterday (April 8) when former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren passed away. His influence spread far and wide, from work with the New York Dolls to the controversial near-nude pictures of 14-year-old Bow Wow Wow singer Annabella Lwin that decorated the band’s debut LP cover. McLaren also had a notable music career of his own, which principally centered on the 1983 Duck Rock album. The record helped spread the word about hip-hop to some far flung corners of the globe, and that work pinged right back to the United States as his “Buffalo Gals” single became a much-sampled staple. His other single from that album, “Double Dutch," paid warm tribute to a group of high-school age New York skipping champions, and remains a song of unbridled joy—it even pre-dates Vampire Weekend’s pilfering of “African” guitar rhythms by several decades.

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