Paul Gorman is…

‘Masterful and painstaking’: The Life & Times of Malcolm McLaren will be published on April 9

Mar 20th, 2020

“Within the slippery divides between disciplines and media – fashion, art, music, interiors, commerce – one finds Malcolm McLaren, roaming and creating.”
Lou Stoppard in her essay in The Life & Times Of Malcolm McLaren

Disruption to the publication of a book is extremely small beer at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has set the world in disarray, so I’m sanguine about the postponement of several events and signings which were due to occur around the publication of my biography The Life & Times Of Malcolm McLaren.

//The back of the book jacket features this 1976 portrait by photographer Joe Stevens//

Read the rest of this entry »

Just as the independent labels and self-published fanzines Paul Gorman chronicles built their own alternative economies outside the mainstream music industry, today's digital subcultures are experimenting with decentralised currencies that move value without banks or borders. Part of that wave has reached the world of sports and casino entertainment, where crypto-friendly wagering has found a particularly enthusiastic audience in Turkey under the name bitcoin bahis —a form of play that lets users stake and cash out with digital coins rather than conventional payment rails. Anyone tempted to try it should treat it strictly as entertainment, stake only money they can afford to lose, and first confirm the platform's licensing as well as the gambling rules in force in their own country.

Tags: , , , , , ,

The Gentlewoman celebrates a decade of fabulousness with special mini-edition

Feb 14th, 2020

Small is beautiful when it comes to the inventive mini-edition of The Gentlewoman, a greatest hits package celebrating the exemplary British magazine’s “10 years of fabulousness”.

During that time (after all print had been roundly declared as “dead” in 2010), editor Penny Martin and her team have consistently confounded expectations around independent print publishing and the traditional editorial stances of periodicals aimed at female readers.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,

Brave + true: Guest blog on the lure of Linder + Ludus

Feb 13th, 2020

//Flyer for Ludus performance at Cabaret Futura, London, 1981//

//One of two hand-painted t-shirts given to the author, depicting him and Linder’s sister Nettie in a lover’s embrace in 1983. No reproduction without permission//

On the eve of the opening of Linderism, a new exhibition by the great contemporary artist Linder, I’m publishing a guest post by a follower of this blog who, like many, was introduced to her work via the sleeve artwork for Buzzcocks’ 1977 single Orgasm Addict.

“To me, it was punk for the eyes rather than the ears,” writes the contributor, who has asked for anonymity and was a 17-year-old school-leaver living in south London at the time.

He went on to forge a connection with Linder by following her post-punk group Ludus and encountered many in her circle, including the pre-Smiths Steven Morrissey.

Here he tells his story and shows a selection of the artworks Linder gave him:

The message I received from the Orgasm Addict sleeve was: “Think A.N.Other way. See it as it is”. A few months later I purchased The Secret Public, Linder’s print collaboration with Jon Savage.  Again I’d never seen anything like it, hardcore pornographic imagery redirected into a cocktail of consumerist lust.

//Back page of The Secret Public, Linder + Jon Savage, 1978//

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

‘What goes into a Continental Keyhole?’ How Malcolm McLaren conjured the name ‘Kutie Jones and his Sex Pistols’ from the seamy 50s and 60s Britporn mags strewn around 430 King’s Road

Feb 10th, 2020

In October 1974 Malcolm McLaren conjured an unusual group name for four young musicians who congregated at his shop at 430 King’s Road.

//The group name as it appeared on the ‘right’ side of the You’re Gonna Wake Up t-shirt//

At the time the transition from the premises’ previous incarnation as Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die to Sex was nearing completion; in fact the teenagers Paul Cook, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock (who was also a sales assistant on Saturdays) and Wally Nightingale assisted McLaren in applying the finishing touch with the erection of the pink vinyl shop sign constructed at his direction by carpenter Vic Mead.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Perfect Binding: A psychogeographic portrait of counter-cultural Leicester from the late 50s to the early 70s

Feb 8th, 2020

//The premises of Jack English Snr’s lighting shop in Leicester’s Granby Street provide the book’s cover image//

//Will English (right) with Helen Robinson and Steph Raynor in a transport cafe c.1970. Photo by Rose Kendall//

//David Parkinson and his Messerschmitt bubble car, 1974. Photography: Will English//

Perfect Binding, the recently published book by British experimental filmmaker/broadcaster/bookseller William English, is a psychogeographic portrait of a particular strain of cultural activity in a particular place at a particular time: the Midlands city of Leicester from the 1950s to the 70s.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Extremely rare Sex Pistols/Smoking Boy shirt up for sale

Dec 16th, 2019

//T-shirt from the first run produced by Malcolm McLaren in March 1976. Photo courtesy Bonhams//

“This was my first attempt at making a Sex Pistols T-shirt. I wanted to create something of a stir”
Malcolm McLaren, 2005

An extremely rare and controversial T-shirt from the first run produced by Malcolm McLaren in the early spring of 1976 for the new group he managed, the Sex Pistols, is up for sale tomorrow at London auctioneers Bonhams.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Goth Shop: The beautiful and the damned in Spitalfields for the next 10 days

Dec 5th, 2019

//Robert, Batcave, London, 1983. Photo: Derek Ridgers//

//Fuck ceramics, Tyler Udall//

Curator and writer Faye Dowling’s latest venture is the intriguing Goth Shop, which enters the physical realm tonight as a pop-up gallery and retail outlet in London’s Spitalfields.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Bizarre semi-naked woodland Mr Freedom shoot, I was a TV, Edward Bell’s ‘The Queen Of Clapham’… Inside the infamous Curious magazine featuring David Bowie + Freddie Burretti on its cover

Dec 4th, 2019

//Cover, Curious issue 19, 1971. Photography: Brian Ward. No reproduction without permission.This copy: Paul Gorman Archive//

//Opening spread The Queen Of Clapham. Photography: Edward Bell. No reproduction without permission//

//From The Cool Kilt vs The Hot Pant. Photographer not credited. No reproduction without permission//

//Opening spread I Was A TV. Photographer not credited. No reproduction without permission//

The British sex magazine Curious was well-named: for the duration of its near-decade long run from the late 1960s it was indeed a curiosity.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A code for kicking against the pricks: THEM (Slight Return) with Peter York interview in Arena Homme +

Nov 17th, 2019

//Opening spread of my interview with Peter York, Arena Homme + Winter/Spring 2020. Portrait: David Sims//

//From the Them fashion story. Photography: Julien Martinez Leclerc; fashion: Tom Guinness//

The jury is out on this autumn’s relaunch of the print edition of venerated British style magazine The Face; as I suggested here it’s going to take more than one splashy issue to assess whether the proposition has legs as we enter the 2020s (next May will mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of The Face by Nick Logan).

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A matter of scale: New exhibition casts an intriguing and intimate light on Robyn Denny’s working practices

Oct 5th, 2019

//Maquette for Great Big Biggest Wide London, 1958. 5.6 x 61cm//

//Robyn Denny, 1961. Photo: Bernard Jacobson Gallery//

The late British abstract artist Robyn Denny is best known for his large-scale works, such as Great Big Biggest Wide London, the giant 1959 mural for menswear company Austin Reed’s Regent Street store.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , ,