RIP Malcolm McLaren: A look back at the five great songs he left behind

We may remember Malcolm McLaren, who passed away yesterday at the age of 64, as the manager of the Sex Pistols and New York Dolls, but he was also a musician and experimenter. Hell, he even created the song used in British Airways advertising for over fifteen years. His music...

By Thorin Klosowski

April 9, 2010

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "12017618",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17242653",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261320",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261321",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

We may remember Malcolm McLaren, who passed away yesterday at the age of 64, as the manager of the Sex Pistols and New York Dolls, but he was also a musician and experimenter. Hell, he even created the song used in British Airways advertising for over fifteen years. His music was eclectic, and although rarely championed here in the U.S., its diverse nature came packed with influences coming from all over the place. Here are five of our favorites.

5. "Something's Jumpin' in Your Shirt" This one's kind of a strange combo of R&B and Peter Gabriel with a hint of Paul Simon. Yeah, we realize it sounds a bit terrible, and maybe it is, but the video is weird as hell, and that's good enough for us.

4. "Soweto" If you don't get a Paul Simon vibe from this, then maybe we're listening to different Paul Simon records. Sure, it's a bit worldly, with the whole African theme and what not, but that doesn't mean we can't bob our heads to it, even if we do it a bit awkwardly.

3. "About Her" Yeah, we're aware this was used in Kill Bill Vol. 2, and yes, we're aware he was accused of plagiarism for this song (and no, not from the Zombies song that's sampled). But that doesn't mean this track isn't brimming with cool. It's always reminded us of the Proppelerheads for some reason. Man, whatever happened to that band?

2. "Double Dutch" Now we're into the real jams. You know what we love? Double dutch. Add a weird white dude doing weird shit and a crazy rhythm, and we're solid. Man, does Denver have a double dutch league yet?

1. "Buffalo Gals" See, we told you his repertoire was diverse. Here's a great old school hip-hop song. If the above video doesn't make you fall in love, then you have no heart.

Become A Member

BEFORE YOU GO...
Can you help us continue to share our stories? Since the beginning, Westword has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver — and we'd like to keep it that way. Our members allow us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls.