The Life & Times of Malcolm McLaren: The Biography

How can you write 900 pages on Malcolm McLaren and keep it interesting? Well, the answer is you can’t. For a start his real relevance was in creating and selling the Sex Pistols - it was as if everything that shaped him was leading to that moment. After that he gradually receded in relevance doing nothing that commanded any serious attention for the almost 30 remaining years of his life. This biography fails to breathe life into McLaren because it’s hard to see motivation in the descriptions the author provides. He seems intent on showing McLaren as a fashion genius and I guess promoting bondage gear and gay imagery to the mainstream shows a certain savvy. But where does Vivienne Westwood (his partner) fit in this? Maybe the misogynistic view here is correct in which case McLaren certainly missed a trick given Westwood’s subsequent career, which one might argue, certainly outshines McLaren’s when it comes to fashion. McLaren was hugely important in recognising the growing youth movement born out of anger and alienation and giving it a voice in the Sex Pistols. Without McLaren the Sex Pistols and punk would not have been as they were and that is some feat. Sadly, as one who lived through it, this book fails to capture the man or the time. Avoid.

I bought this book in 2020 when it came out. I've just finished reading it. I read it outdoors through the course of two summers - not sure why, maybe I never wanted it to end. Definitely I wanted to give it the time to read it properly and to reflect on what I'd read. McLaren for me always came across as a hugely fascinating man, so fascinating that I thought the author was taking on a very ambitious project in trying to convey even a small part of what the man was about.I was 16 in 1977. Though I stumbled across McLaren in context of punk, I followed him subsequently and avidly with his various projects. Punk really isn't the sum total of the man - nowhere near - so if you're expecting the 880 pages to be all about that you'll be disappointed. This book will take you in diverse directions that, if you're a true adherent of punk's anarchist beating heart, you'll be glad to follow.In my opinion, Paul Gorman has written a book about an artist who channelled his art through a very wide range of interests - popular culture, retailing, clothing, music, advertising, popularising cultures. And underlying it all was a passion for the Situationists, which Salford boy Tony Wilson - another cultural catylist and admirer of McLaren - shared.McLaren was imaginative and visionary. He was perhaps not as confident as you might imagine but he understood zeitgeist peculiarly well. He had a feel for the past and it gave him a feel for what the future might turn out to be. Which in my book makes him a perfect contender for London mayor, so no surprise he stood for the role - on a platform that made very good sense indeed.Arguably without McLaren Paul Simon's Graceland may never have existed. His influence on the take up of world music by various musicians was very significant. And he made some extremely accessible, interesting and beautiful albums - the pinnacle of which for me is Paris.As with all good books, The Life & Times of Malcolm McLaren is thought provoking. The scope of the biography is so wide that I felt my understanding of McLaren was very much greater than I could have gained by just watching You Tube interviews and lectures, newspaper and magazine articles and the like.This is an in depth look at a very complex character, charismatic and engaging. Crucially, McLaren was also Jewish and it's meet that this Jewish man should be so influential in post war Europe carrying forward the spirit of his indomitable grandmother who first seems to have encouraged the idea in him that chaos could be a very positive thing.I firmly believe that in even as short as twenty years' time Malcolm McLaren's legacy will be re-appraised. Since McLaren's death at 64 in 2010, in my view Gorman's is the only serious book to take a detailed look at at his life and works in a non-sycophantic, honest and probably accurate way. But in the future I suspect hindsight will allow a more widespread positive overview to prevail of this artist who is so thoroughly representative of the times we've lived in.This book now is almost £23 less than I paid for it - but hey, it's given me real pleasure and made me think. The present asking price is just £7.99. If you like art, music, culture and reading about it you can't go wrong. If you like interesting mavericks who refuse to speak quietly just because they have something to say that may not be universally well received, buy this book. You won't be disappointed. Thanks, Mr Gorman, for a couple of summers of great reading.

While Malcolm Mclaren will always be best known for managing the Sex Pistols, his life before and after that period is just as interesting, as this book demonstrates. In fact, I found McLaren's early life, school, art school years, and time managing the clothes shop on the Kings Road to be just as interesting. The post Pistols Bowwowwow and Dcuk Rock albums also make for interesing reading, as does the Hollywood period, standing for mayor of London, and the Paris album.What this book tells us that McLaren approached all of these from the perspective of an artist, and aimed to create artwork via a clothes shop, via managing a rock band, or via politics. That these artworks involved people is somethign Gorman repeatedly flags up as problematic.The Sex PIstols seem a bit of an anomaly in the story, in as much as they got mainstream attention, chiefly the attention of the tabloid press. This pushed McLaren out of his art world comfort zone, and he clearly struggled at times with this. In fact, the Sex Pistols are my least favourite part of the book. John Lydon especially comes out of it surprisingly badly, not because Gorman has it in for him, but just that Gorman points out how many of Lydon's assertions are provably false, or distortions or exaggerations.Very well written, I enjoyed every minute reading this, and actually miss catching up on the next over the top adventure of Malcy

An excellent and interesting read. Good to learn about Malcolm Mclarens early days. Other reviews have complained about the lack of 'new' sex pistols info but, really, is there any more to be learned? There's great books dedicated to them out there - this one is about the man himself and is well worth a read.

Excellent read