Malcolm Mclaren, Jonathan Richman - 1,2,3,4,5,6

I was wondering where to go next then the sad news of Malcolm Mclaren's death popped up on the rolling news screen. This could be the time to get out all my Sex Pistol references and how punk changed my life and how we really showed it to the man, but I was only 12 so not in any position to cause any sort of revolution. Punk did change my life but thats another story. There will be many writers and bloggers eulogising about Malcolm Maclaren and he, i'm sure would have loved the attention.
As with Tony Wilson, that other great imressario who passed in the last year, Malcolm's great talent seemed to be that he could spot greatness and where there wasn't greatness he could somehow manufacture greatness.
I loved the double album of the Great Rock and Roll Swindle and hey I even believed Malcolm's "it was all me wot planned it out" shtick for a minute. Yeah I loved it for Sid and Steve, I was too young to have formed opinions with historical perspectives about Nihilism and Situationist stunts, I was with my mates at lemonade parties pogoing to Friggin in the Riggin and Somethin Else (we were punk one day, then suddenly we were all skinny black ties and New Wave the next).  
But I have the Great Rock and Roll Swindle to thank for introducing me to a really terrible Sex Pistols demo, which in turn introduced me to Roadrunner by Jonathan Richman. This demo instantly gave license to this future musician to know 'no matter how bad it sounds' its good enough to record as long as you've got the attitude and no matter how simple the riff you can play for as long as you want if only you play with attitude and you mean it.
Jonathan Richman, is a fabulous troubadour and the Modern Lovers a wonderful band producing varied eclectic and intelligent music, I cherish their songs and the influence on later generations. Roadrunner was never a Punk song in the way that the Pistols et al thought of punk, and richman didn't want to trash everything he reverered the old Rock n Roll, this was a song of literally getting in the car and listening to those old tunes with top down and the wind in your hair 'with the radio on' . JR understandably doesn't dwell too much on his associations with punk rock, he grew up like everyone else even that other JR, Johnny Rotten.



footnote
I was amazed to see Jonathan Richman as himself in Something About Mary, a terrible film don't watch it.