Arson in the UK: band manager’s son burns punk relics
NEARLY 40 years ago punk impresario Malcolm McLaren and his band the Sex Pistols chartered the Queen Elizabeth tourist cruiser to sail past Parliament in a publicity stunt for a nascent movement that would have an explosive impact on music, design, fashion and even politics.
Yesterday McLaren’s son Joe Corre boarded a boat on the same River Thames and took a match to his £5 million collection of punk memorabilia, declaring that the movement was “dead”.
In the case of the original boat trip the police were called as the Pistols played and
in front of the Houses of Parliament. Officers met the motley crew at Charing Cross Pier and carted McLaren, Corre’s mother Vivienne Westwood and several other band followers off to Bow Street police station, where they were charged with obstruction, insulting behaviour and assault.
Yesterday’s event was rather less dramatic. Granted, two Pcs were in attendance, but they seemed unconcerned about any potential punk riot. Corre decided on the stunt after taking umbrage at the celebrations of punk’s 40th anniversary by cultural institutions such as the British Library and the Museum of London. He berated the fact punk had been commodified and torched items including zipped “bondage” trousers, Sex Pistols demo tapes and even a Sid Vicious doll. A fire brigade launch doused the flames.
Those watching had mixed feelings. “He shouldn’t be burning this stuff,” said Tara Woolner, 46. “There are people with less money than him who could do some good work with the proceeds if he sold it instead.”
But Lisa Dawson-Rees, 50, said: “For me punk was about a certain attitude. And that’s still there, whatever he does with his collection.”