Malcolm McLaren remembers the Sex Pistols and says that John Lydon would have been a dishwasher if it hadn't been for that band:

from http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 871472.ece

When I can get a word in, I tell him that Jon Savage, the author of England’s Dreaming, once told me that the one thing McLaren had not counted on was that the Sex Pistols would actually be any good. “No, never. I never thought that could be remotely possible. It never occurred to me. What occurred to me was that it didn’t matter if they were bad.”

It was a theory of his gang of art-school “conspirators”. The album cover for Sex Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks was made out of letters ripped from newspapers, as if it were a ransom note. It looked threatening but it was meant to be banal. “It was,” he says, “a fundamental thing: to connect with the banal. I remember sitting there with Jamie Reid [a fellow alumnus of Croydon Art School] and asking: ‘But is it banal enough?’ ”

Instead Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols was a sensation that torpedoed the blandness of popular culture. It was transformative, albeit at a terrible cost to some of the individuals involved. Within two years the bassist Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen were dead, Sid from a heroin overdose, Nancy from a knife plunged through her heart apparently by Sid.

I can see why Johnny “Rotten” Lydon felt used. “He was! He was terribly exploited. No denying it. I have an unquestioning acceptance of that. But all I say is these guys were looking to be used because if he hadn’t been he would just have been a dishwasher, because that is where he began life.”

McLaren has admitted that to whip up controversy on the Pistols’ tour of America in 1978 he purposely booked them to play redneck bars. Did he feel guilty? “No. You couldn’t even begin with things like that. You did not have time to breathe.” That said, 1978 and 1979 remain “etched” on him: “You cannot stop thinking about it.”

The Pistols were great. Still one of the best debut albums ever.

I agree, it wasn't before I got into CD's that I heard the album in full, but it was a jaw-dropping experience.

I remember transferring the LP onto a cassette and playing the album for people's. They were always impressed how good it was despite The Pistols bad press at the time (created intentionally we now know).

......................... and he was oh so right......................!

Thanks for saying it Geff. I wouldn't want to stir up any trouble.

The best thing Malcom did was the video for Madame Butterfly

Get real.

I love Bow Wow Wow.

You're welcome!

They sold a lot of records, & influenced a lot of punk rockers, but imo they were HORRIBLE musicians.
Great marketing, though........

You have a way of making me remember why I loathed hippies back then.

My favorite Malcolm McLaren accomplishment...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em5tC6WDpP8[/youtube]

Alan

They were not horrible musicians. Check out any recent tour. I'm not saying they're virtuosos, but I have a pro-shot show from Tokyo in 1996 and they were frickin' great and very tight.
And...Bow Wow Wow? Really? Yeah, they were great musicians. Woof!

IP, did you ever see Bow Wow Wow? All 3 of them actually were stunning players.

That's pretty much the same story he's been repeating for almost 30 years now. I love the Pistols and their raw (in)ability at playing music. I pretty much owe my entire musical journey to them (they rescued me from a top 40/pop existence. ). Started with the Pistols, branched out into listening other punk, then new wave/alternative, and so on. Like them or no, the world would be a poorer place musically if not for the Pistols and the bands they inspired, IMO.

The Sex Pistols sold a lot of albums? It took their lone studio album ten years to go gold.

Geff:
Yeah, they were good, I was just having fun with ya. Good drummer. But there were even better players than them in lots of the 80's bands.
I still have no problems with the Sex Pistols as musicians and they could play. Sid was a joke, but the rest-absolutely, and what Lydon accomplished w/ PIL was musically awesome. Surpreme players and great music-I mean, he had guys like Steve Vai, Ginger Baker, Keith Levene, Jah Wobble-wow.
The Sex Pistols were good musicians.

In the seventies, there was a Japanese band called Bow Wow.

In the eighties, a new wave band called Bow Wow Wow.

And more recently, a rapper called Bow Wow.

And they say creativity is dead in the music business.

Yes, and Bow Wow became Vow Wow to avoid confusion with Bow Wow Wow.
Wow.

I wonder if Bow Wow Wow gets booked to play shows, only to disappoint when people realize they aren't a rap act.

Oy!

I bought Lil' Bow Wow's debut, before his voice cracked. Now he's just another rapper.