I have been thinking of sharing this for a while, but had kind have forgotten about it.The reminder is unfortunate.
Now is time.
Situationist, impresario, fashionista, prankster, pop star and pundit.
You either loved him or loathed him.
But none of us ever knew him.
So here he is telling it as it was.
It's all here.
The obligatory raising by a crazy relative (grandma in this case), the fifties, rock n roll, fashion, the sixties, psychedelia, fashion, Vivian, The King's Road, punk, fashion, The Pistols, the pranks, money and the Internet; accompanied seamlessly by a most appropriately put together musical and reporatge riddled soundscape, perfectly synchronized and often enhancing McLaren's rather rhapsodic but surprisingly Dickensian narrative.
He was a great raconteur; quixotic, picaresque, like his life; and in the manner of Ackroyd or Sinclair he drags you along through his years; linking every event, every decision, on chance or psychogeography: always at the right place at the right time; and for McLaren, at the heart of everything, was place: London. Where else?
Born in Stoke Newington in 1946, despite his international status he never really wandered far from home.
Yes, the world probably would have been different without him; but we don't need to go into all that (save that for Jon Savage, et al...).
The fact is McLaren did it and that's enough to be grateful for.
Cheers Malcolm!
In Memoriam.Malcolm McLaren (1946-2010)
Malcolm McLaren's Map of London (2006)
A Just Radio Production; originally broadcast by BBC Radio 2, 14/01/06.
Ripped from DVD captured audio broadcast to mp3 @320kbs. 55 mins.
Take a wander with Malcolm here
