Malcom Mclaren

Not often that I bang out two Celebituaries in a day, at least lately, and truth be told, I really don't have the time. I have three deadlines and taxes to finish up, no less. So what the hell, Charles? What the hell?

But Malcom Mclaren certainly deserves this. When you launch the Sex Pistols and had such an influence on music and fashion, shouldn't you get a same-day obit?

OK, so I have justified the need. But what does Malcom mean to me? It's funny. I missed the whole first wave of punk. I was 6 and just a tad too young to be down with the program. So all of the Pistols' shenanigans were missed by me. I certainly got around to it and found their limited canon very compelling, indeed. I remember this punk rock girl, Lilly, who I met at Junior Achievement in 10th grade and she turned me on to the whole scene. So that's pretty much that for the Sex Pistols.

Here's the thing with me and Malcom.

I used to spend summers in Kingston, New York at my grandmother's home. And, I remember the summer of '82 being a time for me when I was just getting into music. One day, while switching channels, I caught the last manic 30 seconds or so of "Buffalo Gals" by Mclaren. I was blown away. There seem to be a few songs from that time, "Genius of Love" and "Rapture" were a couple others that were all about white people wrapping their heads around early rap music. So, this song is a bizarre Square Dancing urban thing -- and for me, it just worked. I still play it when DJing -- and it's just a lot of fun.

So, for me, while I can appreciate the Sex Pistols -- very much so -- I am all about the Buffalo Gals. Thank you so much, Malcom. "All that scratchin' is making me itch."