By all accounts you were a bastard, but it was totally worth it.

Tributes for Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren

Malcolm McLaren gave the world, either directly or through inspiration, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam, The Buzzcocks, The Smiths, and a lot of bands I hold dear. He died Thursday of cancer, aged 64. Thanks, Malc, for inventing British punk as we know it!

Yeah, thanks, Malcolm (even though you can't hear me). Hi, sorry, this is Will. Can I chime in?

Yeah. Can you keep it brief though? I have laundry I need to do.

No problem. I just have to say that after watching "The Filth and the Fury" documentary, and after doing quite a lot of reading about punk, the Pistols, and British culture - I began to find Malcolm quite a repulsive figure; a man who unabashedly bilked his proteges out of money, used their insecurities to feed his fame, and enjoyed insulting, humiliating, shocking, and bullying anyone weaker than himself.

And yet - through his management of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls, his dedication to the destruction of haute couture, and his brilliant manipulation of the idiotic British press - it's hard to point to any other single figure who did more to foster the necessary destruction of normalcy in the late 70's, and who made punk power a real possibility. Doesn't matter if you like other bands better than the ones Malcolm handled - (like me - I much prefer The Clash) - they wouldn't exist without Malcolm's belief in something different and his ability to set off very public explosions.

So for me this begs the question - is it better to be a bastard, a user, a manipulator, and a selfish prick than to make NO lasting contributions to culture?

I wrestle with this question every time I sit down to fill out my tax return or call someone to "talk through our differences," and all of the hundreds of times a year I seem to say, "I'm sorry."

Okay, I'm done. Thanks, Malcolm!

Wait - who am I talking to? You really are dead.