Whatever you think of the guy, he was a legend.
Cancer
damn…
“every note that will ever be played has been played”
jerk and an asshole, but a genius and an innovator. in his own way.
Whoa this is quite a shock, but RIP Malcolm.
RIP Malcolm.
Sure was. I think Simon Cowell and all those boy/girl (pop) band svengalis owe alot to Malcom.
Damn! A real innovator and astute businessman with one foot firmly on the ground. Took no shit and did things his way.
I think I have one of his albums somewhere - but for the life of me I can’t remember the name of it.
He promoted rapping and sampling techniques long before it was popular to do so.
Sure was. I think Simon Cowell and all those boy/girl (pop) band svengalis owe alot to Malcom
Can’t say I’ll fondly remember him for this reason.
All he pioneered was the job description which entailed men like him allowing public image to take precedence over the music itself and completely exploiting talent all in the name of being a rich man’s little bitch.
Granted, he was a pioneer… but not for anything I’d remember him fondly for.
Well, his influence on punk goes without saying. But he did a lot (though not as heralded) for hiphop & pop in the 80s as well, even though most of his concepts and crossovers didn’t fare too well. Waltz Darling was particularly painful, though I sorta liked Paris from the mid 90s.
Duck Rock is just an absolute genre-spanning masterpiece (though a bit uneven). I think I was one of the only people that got the Buffalo Gals Back to Skool CD in '98 (I thought it was some semi-unofficial cash in when it came out). But yeah, Duck Rock as a concept album did a lot for hip hop, even though it only had one or two actual rapping cuts on it (aside from the interludes). Speaking of that, for better or worse, it also introduced the “skit” filler into hiphop (the novelty of which swiftly died around 1992).
A HUGE loss. What a hugely underrated talent Mr. McLaren was.
I wouldn’t really call him a ‘talent’. A good business man. They’re good at harnessing talent. I won’t say ‘exploit’ because… well, without him, some people would never have gotten the exposure or leg up they needed.
For example… Dondi White would never have gotten half the exposure he did (great graffiti artist; did the spray painting in ‘Buffalo Gals’).
Duck Rock is just an absolute genre-spanning masterpiece (though a bit uneven). I think I was one of the only people that got the Buffalo Gals Back to Skool CD in '98 (I thought it was some semi-unofficial cash in when it came out). But yeah, Duck Rock as a concept album did a lot for hip hop, even though it only had one or two actual rapping cuts on it (aside from the interludes).
Yes!!
That’s it. ‘Duck Rock’ - thought I’d never remember what it was called. That was a decent album, although totally off the wall in parts.
Indeed, good point—perhaps “talent” is too strong of a word to describe McLaren. I think he just had the incredible timing to be involved in so much cool shit in the span of a couple years when the musical landscape was changing dramatically. He’s of a visionary businessman/talent finder who was in the (very) right place(s) at the (very) right time(s) instead of being an actual talented musician/producer along the lines of, say, RZA, Trevor Horn, Brian Eno etc.
He’s of a visionary businessman/talent finder who was in the (very) right place(s) at the (very) right time(s) instead of being an actual talented musician/producer along the lines of, say, RZA, Trevor Horn, Brian Eno etc.
Yes.
It’s strange. All the obituaries I’ve heard of him are all critical, saying he was a prick and what not. I mean he didn’t kill anyone and he just died.
a mate of mine engineers (engineered!) for him. he was in the studio recently working on some new music, apparently. don’t know what exactly, but i’m sure there’s gonna be a bit of cash cow milking going on sometime soon.