Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The best kind of villain there is

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  • Russell Brown,

    They've arrested Malcolm!!

    About 2:55.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • bob daktari,

    wonderful read, thanks Russell

    auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 540 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    Very surprised by this one. Knew something was out of the ordinary when Paul Henry mentions Malcolm McLaren on Breakfast.

    Thinking about this earlier: I wonder if we should see the Duck Rock phase as at least as influential as the Pistols. For a lot of white suburban kids -- I was about 15 -- that was their first real exposure to breakdancing, rapping and world music. The way all that was thrown together in such a mad and lively way seemed pretty radical at the time.

    I'd also see him as one of a series of brilliant, devious and opportunistic British managers and pop star manufacturers that goes from Brian Epstein to McLaren to Tony Wilson to Simon Cowell and would take in plenty of other names along the way. The difference with McLaren is that he articulated the artifice and deception in the manufacture of pop stars -- is it a direct line from Sid Vicious to Susan Boyle?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Lydon, in the New York Times:

    “For me Malc was always entertaining, and I hope you remember that. Above all else he was an entertainer and I will miss him, and so should you.”

    I'm glad that Lydon was able to say this, given their long estrangement. It makes me sort of happy and sad.

    Or maybe that's the Elvis covers album by Shayne Carter's mum playing in the background.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Jan Farr,

    Russell - you've been everywhere, man!

    And just a reference to yesterday's blog - I watched the Ad show last night. Loved the period ad - don't think the American woman got the irony - and was disappointed with the non-outcome of the interview - some failure of analysis there I think. In fact I think that's what disappoints me about the show in general. It comes after your astute and well-analysed stuff and doesn't do well by comparison. Maybe if they rescheduled it....

    Carterton • Since Apr 2008 • 395 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    It comes after your astute and well-analysed stuff and doesn't do well by comparison. Maybe if they rescheduled it....

    Someone else might have said this on PAS, but it feels like The Ad Show -- or at least its host -- is in thrall to the industry it covers in a way that Media 7 definitely isn't. It lacks that critical edge and feels very in-house. A tendency by those in that industry to be very smug and un-selfexamining doesn't help either. Won't be watching it again.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Darlington,

    So, another little piece of me dies today then...

    Thinking about this earlier: I wonder if we should see the Duck Rock phase as at least as influential as the Pistols.

    Yeh, and even later bits such as Waltz Darling added ambience and operatic orchestralism to pop sounds which certainly influenced post-house electronica in the 90s & 00s. The guy wasn't afraid to muck about and maybe the biggest compliment to him was that his albums were never as interesting as the path they opened up for other experimenters.

    Nelson • Since Nov 2006 • 949 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    "The record companies still think that home taping is the curse of the industry. It's been one of the greatest assets that popular music has had invented for it!"

    C30, C60, C90, go!

    Policeman stopped me in my tracks
    said "Hey you, you can't tape that
    you're under arrest 'cause it's illegal"
    So I shoved him off and blew his whistle
    I'm a pirate and I keep my loot
    So I blew him out with my bazooka

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Jan Farr,

    Won't be watching it again.

    Me neither.

    Carterton • Since Apr 2008 • 395 posts Report Reply

  • BlairMacca,

    Won't be watching it again.
    Me neither

    Didn't catch it last night but when I have it seems very forced and just uncomfortable to watch, unfortunately much like Sunrise was...

    Having said that, brilliant interview with McVicar, it is about time he was held to account, espceially on his support for Bruce Emery (scary).

    It seems to be if you disagree with the SST (not to be confused with the other SST) you are on the side of the criminals, which shows how polarising the debate has fallen to on law and order

    Wellington • Since Apr 2007 • 208 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I'm impressed by how prescient McLaren was about the music industry - thanks, Russell.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    Yeh, and even later bits such as Waltz Darling added ambience and operatic orchestralism to pop sounds which certainly influenced post-house electronica in the 90s & 00s.

    The video for Waltz Darling is also notable. It features voguing, a couple of years before Madonna picked up on it.

    Not to mention it's a lush, lovely pop song.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • chris,

    Top notch post Russell. Imagining you negotiating that handshake brings a smile.

    Mawkland • Since Jan 2010 • 1302 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    McLaren's claim that he "invented punk" was spurious, self-serving crap, however. The CBGBs scene in NYC was fermenting nicely without him and the Ramones' debut was out well before any of the British punk albums.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I'm impressed by how prescient McLaren was about the music industry - thanks, Russell.

    I definitely got lucky that day.

    I've been thinking this morning that he was probably exercised about the nature of record business because he'd just come from an extended promotional visit in Australia -- he appeared on Countdown several times, got inflicted with Molly Meldrum's presence, etc.

    He eventually legged it from the record company's presence and went and met a bunch of fans outside his hotel:

    "They weren't necessarily interested in me, they were Duran Duran or Boy George fans and they thought I was the guy who could tell the addresses of all these guys and so on -- I didn't mind.

    He had them up to his hotel room, then went back to some of their houses "and they were all going mad because I was, y'know 'Buffalo Gals' and Boy George and Sid.":

    "I could see, I could physically see something could be great. Because they knew more about Boy George than Boy George knew about himself.

    "And it was like 'Well Malcolm, when Boy George comes to Australia I'm going to ask him for an autograph and if he doesn't give me one I'm gonna say, 'Well who the fuck do you think you are?'

    "I just love that kind of emotion, it's fantastic. I thought 'You're the kind of person I would like to make a record with'.

    "As a matter of fact, I think that's what I'll do as I'm talking to you. I'll probably make a record with the fans of all those groups. I think they've got more to say, somehow."

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Man he must have loved seeing how online channels gave fans stronger voices over the last decade.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • 81stcolumn,

    McLaren's claim that he "invented punk" was spurious, self-serving crap, however. The CBGBs scene in NYC was fermenting nicely without him and the Ramones' debut was out well before any of the British punk albums.

    I always get a bit niggly when this issue crops up. The Ramones are great and deeply woven into music and its law. But the punk I knew grew up in London with Vivienne Westwood and the Kings Road. I read somewhere the argument that in America punk was still really a figure of speech -in London it became a proper movement.

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I read somewhere the argument that in America punk was still really a figure of speech -in London it became a proper movement.

    And it happened before and since. Ten years after punk, Britain took house music, an utterly marginalised form in Chicago and New York, put its records in the charts and gave form to the global dance music revolution. Which eventually got back to America.

    But I'll stop before I become too much of a rock bore :-)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Rowe,

    At about the same time The Saints were inventing Punk Rock in Brisbane, they certainly weren't part of any movement.

    Sonic Youth released a tour video called 1991 The Year Punk Broke and claimed Punk as a movement didn't become mainstream in the States until the early 90s

    Lake Roxburgh, Central Ot… • Since Nov 2006 • 574 posts Report Reply

  • BlairMacca,

    Punk crossed over with the Sex Pistols. Punk never crossed over until Nirvana hit in 1991...

    Wellington • Since Apr 2007 • 208 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Easterbrook,

    I'm impressed by how prescient McLaren was about the music industry - thanks, Russell.

    Sacha beat me to it, but yeah, what he said. Swap out a few words here and there for "digital downloads" and he could have said it yesterday.


    @philip

    A tendency by those in that industry to be very smug and un-selfexamining doesn't help either.

    We smugly and un-selfexaminingly eat kittens too.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 265 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    We smugly and un-selfexaminingly eat kittens too.

    It's a scientific fact that Ponsonby's kitten population crashed in the years after Prego opened. You can draw your own conclusions.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    No reason not to call this Punk, really:

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Easterbrook,

    It's a scientific fact that Ponsonby's kitten population crashed in the years after Prego opened. You can draw your own conclusions.

    I told them that wasn't calamari...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 265 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    No reason not to call this Punk, really

    Watch out -- you'll upset Karl du Fresne:

    [Chris] Knox, who is considered a founding father of the punk movement in New Zealand, chose as his first song the Beatles’ Baby You’re A Rich Man, and made the comment that the Beatles were a punk band themselves in their Hamburg days.

    With all due respect to Knox, this sort of revisionist bullshit can’t be allowed to go unchallenged. Attempts to confer musical legitimacy on punk by claiming that the greatest pop band in history were precursors of punk won’t wash.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

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