Word In Your Attic: Around Malcolm McLaren in 10 objects
Tomorrow night (April 14) I was supposed to be appearing at London’s regular event Word In Your Ear, the live successor of the much-missed The Word magazine founded by publishing titans Mark Ellen and David Hepworth.
//Smash Hits, January 6-19, 1983//
In the era of social distancing Mark and David have come up with the online Word In Your Attic, the results of which are posted on Youtube. For the episode to coincide with the publication of my Malcolm McLaren biography they asked me talk about 10 objects relating to McLaren from my archive.
//Mayoral campaign materials, 2000//
//Seventh draft of script for Who Killed Bambi?, registered with the Writers Guild Of America on October 8, 1977//
These included the 1983 issue of Smash Hits edited by David Hepworth featuring soon-to-be Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant’s interview about Buffalo Gals and the coming of club culture, a script for the abandoned 1977 film project Who Killed Bambi?, promotional material from McLaren’s 2000 campaign to become Mayor of London and the 1974 NME article The Politics Of Flash which introduced the King’s Road boutique-owning McLaren to a wider audience.
//The Politics Of Flash by Nick Kent, photography Pennie Smith, New Musical Express, April 5, 1974//
We also talked about Joseph Losey’s 1963 film version of Robin Maugham’s 1948 novella which was based on a script by McLaren’s friend, the towering dramatist Harold Pinter. In the 1990s McLaren’s slate of projects included a musical version of the film which was intended to feature songs by such 60s luminaries as The Kinks, The Herd and The Zombies.
And I also filled Mark and David in on McLaren’s lifelong love of the British rock idol Billy Fury, whose distinctive hunch he imitated when a teenager at art school.
In the early 70s McLaren lobbied unsuccessfully for Fury to narrate his student film The Story of Oxford Street and a postcard featuring the brooding singer from his friend Patrick Casey was one of the triggers in establishing Teddy boy emporium Let It Rock at 430 King’s Road.
A few years later, when McLaren started advising the group of young musicians he named the Sex Pistols, he persuaded them to include a cover version of Fury’s 1964 single Fool’s Errand (Do You Really Love Me Too) in early practice sessions. When McLaren was visited at his Clapham flat in 1977 for a Rolling Stone profile of the Pistols and the punk scene, the late journalist Charles M. Young spotted a copy of The World Of Billy Fury in the pile of albums near the record deck. Poignantly, before McLaren made his final journey to the Swiss clinic where he died in April 2010, he listened to Fury’s music.
Watch highlights of our conversation here:
In the light of the current crisis distribution chains are seriously affected and the flow of medical supplies must take priority, so if you have ordered copies of the book they are now entering the system and should be with you soon. I’m getting reports from people who have already received it.
For those who are interested in purchasing The Life & Times Of Malcolm McLaren and wish to avoid amazon, try Blackwells or A Great Read or ask your local bookseller if they are delivering. The e-book is available to buy now at these and other sites.