Life & Times of Malcolm Mclaren

Straight off, I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. I had been waiting to read it for some time as I had seen that it was about to be published. The publication date seemed to have gotten a little bit delayed so I checked regularly to see if it was available. The audiobook wasn't out when In started so I read it over several months. I did read a lot of the book earlier in the year but I dropped off and took a break until I made a final push this week to finish it.

I think everyone knows a little about Malcolm McLaren and as his biographer notes he is always described initially as the manager of the Sex Pistols but in terms of his career, and life, that period was only a short amount of time and he did many things after that.

Of course the section on the rise of the Sex Pistols was very interesting and gave a good ground to what went on but what people who were outside of his network probably didn't know or realise was how much his shop and clothing business was related to the Sex Pistols and to the punk movement in general. His relationship with Vivian Westwood, they're parting and their parallel careers was new to me. It almost seems that once he had gotten out of at college his whole life and ambition were a series of art projects. Maybe that is what it is to be an artist. He also seem to have a great talent for persuading people to give him money to do something that he wanted to do.

There are so many episodes in this book that I will have to come back to later and I made extensive notes highlighting many paragraphs, names and most of all words used in this book. It's extremely eruditely written. I learned many new words from reading it which, I think, is a rarity for me.

I feel that I know Malcolm McLaren a little better from reading the book and as a result of all the new information I would quite often stop reading and watch YouTube to catch up with his interviews, appearances and the music that he had made and then go back to reading.

I would say that at the moment this rates as one of my favourite books. Especially as it covers the punk era and what's it led up to it that was such a whirlwind of filth and fury during my formative years. I may even listen to the audiobook when it is available.