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.Malcolm McLaren INTERVIEW |
Revolutionaries
are a funny thing. Figures like Fidel Castro are
propelled to greatness by idealism but are often
warped and perverted by the ravages of time. Perhaps
because he never used his genius for misdirection
to enslave a nation, Malcolm McLaren is as dangerous
and reactionary as he was thirty years ago. “I’m
no different now than when I was 16,” he admits.
“I haven’t learnt a fucking thing, I
really haven’t. I think as you get older,
you’re not wiser, you’re just more decrepit.”
What keeps him going in his 60th year are not the
memories of past success but his lack of it: “I
just adore to keep on failing,” he states
in that fabulously twisted voice. “It makes
you dare more and it creates a sense of fearlessness.
If all you’re interested in is success then
you’ll never break a single rule – it’s
as simple as that.”
But his spectacular failure is enough to bring him
to Singapore where he is promoting Fashionbeast,
a range of clothing and music on fashion website
www.yoox.com that reflects his current passion for
the lo-fi 8-bit or chip music scene. The site embraces
McLaren’s contradictory nature: vintage video
game graphics link to free music while the clothing,
all targeted at pre-teens, is decidedly high-end.
What
interested you about chip music and the 8-bit scene?
It’s just something that has been born over
the last couple of years. I was intrigued by it
because I thought it was fresh and so uncommercial,
and that’s why I thought it was cool, really
cool. I thought it was a sign of something happening
in the 21st Century that isn’t to do with
industry and therefore has more value for me in
the art world and in, what I think, is a more authentic
pop culture.
Do
you apply the same rules to the clothing line
as you do to the music?
Absolutely. The reason fashion is in the doldrums
right now is simply because it has become too
corporate. The reason for our culture becoming
moribund is simply because corporations have taken
it and used it, exploited it and now [they’re]
getting concerned because nobody’s interested
in it. How can you buy cool? It’s ridiculous.
But
isn’t rebellion out of fashion? Haven’t
the big companies already won?
This is the great malaise we face. I feel there’s
a generation that seems to be dropping out of
this physical world which corporates [sic] control
and dropping into a more lawless world which corporates
[sic] don’t control. We’re breeding
a very new generation, one that has not lifted
its head above the parapet. It’s not even
reached puberty but it’s one that is better
informed than any generation of a similar age
before and it’s a generation that is utterly
computer literate and incredibly anti-corporate.
Because the Web is their world and the Web itself
is anti-corporate, it’s lawless. That’s
why I love it.
So
what makes the 8-bit movement so revolutionary?
What you’re seeing now is the birth of new
music and narrative ideas out of a video game
culture world that began in the early 80s. This
generation right now, their roots are back in
the 1980s with the beginning of the first interactive
games. Crude, rude, bright, brash, pixilated ideas.
It doesn’t feel over-produced. It’s
like the rawness of rock & roll, the rawness
of punk rock. It’s the first music genre
invented and born on the Web.
But
isn’t it the personalities and images behind
the music that people are interested in?
I don’t really care. I was never interested
in the bands. And I say that not to be arrogant
or facetious in any way: I was always interested
in what the audience did. I always thought punk
rock wasn’t about the bands. The Sex Pistols
was not really a group, it was an idea. I didn’t
give a flying shit about the Sex Pistols. I just
cared about the idea of the Sex Pistols. It’s
the art that I care about, I don’t care
about the product.
So
what happens when your art is people? What happens
when you create genuine icons like Johnny Rotten
and Sid Vicious?
It’s always difficult to be someone who became
an icon and then realize the icon may have been
of someone else’s invention. Creating the
Sex Pistols was like making a picture. But after
you’ve finished painting the picture, you
want go on to another picture. You don’t want
to keep staying looking at the same picture for
ever and ever, you get bored shitless.
And it’s being bored shitless that McLaren
has spent his life trying to avoid. And while icons
like Johnny Rotten become trapped and resentful
in the canvas that McLaren creates for them, he
is free to walk away and experiment elsewhere. “People
have to understand that artists are not very nice,”
he offers by way of explanation.
But right now he’s fired up about Fashionbeast,
which went live at the end of November, and despite
his jet lag he still delights in baiting the audience
at the South-East Asian creativity conference with
frequent anti-Japanese jibes. When asked about the
remarks, he laughs and admits they were just there
for comedic effect and to get a reaction. Yet he
can’t resist one final gag, “I suppose
it’s because I’ve recently been reading
a lovely book called The Rape of Nanking. Absolutely
dreadful. Doesn’t make you feel terrific about
wearing Comme des Garçons.” And with
that he moves on to his next
situation.
Photograph courtesy of Beyond 2005 (Singapore)
Words by Matt Armitage |
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