Tag Archive: sex pistols


PUNKS : PAST AND PRESENT

Malcolm McLaren RIP

Punk has always been as much about the spirit as the music – a state of mind, an attitude that you recognise as soon as you see or hear it.

Malcom McLaren was a master manipulator of others who had this Punk spirit – notably Johnny Rotten & Vivienne Westwood – but, personally, I would argue that he was not a bona fide Punk. I see him more as an entertainer – a Svengali-like attention grabber; a Warhol-like self publicist with an ego to match .

His slippery personality means that when you start talking in terms of integrity or honesty his reputation begins to become a little tarnished. Nevertheless, you can’t ignore the fact that, but for him, there would have been no Sex Pistols. His place in history is assured.

On the day he died, Anarchy In The UK was played on the radio both going and returning from a concert in Bologna by present day carriers of the flame, A Silver Mount Zion (SMZ) from Canada. Continue reading

Tony Wilson r.i.p.

Tony Wilson

Tony Wilson (20th February 1950 – 10th August 2007)

Gutted to hear of Tony Wilson’s death.

He was an opinionated loudmouth, a bullshitter and a show off but he was also a risk taking maverick who got the Sex Pistols on British TV for the first time on ‘So It Goes’, founded (and bailed out) Factory Records and The Hacienda Club to launch the Madchester scene & without him we may never have had Joy Division & New Order.

With his untimely death at 57 leaves a major legacy but a massive gap. Driven by passion rather than cash there are too few willing to put their money where their mouth is like he was.

Thanks for keeping it real, Tony!