Malcolm McLaren has passed away yesterday aged 64. Apart from conceiving punk rock culture and casting the Sex Pistols, McLaren´s contribution to 1980s youth culture was tremendous. The video to his debut-solo-work “Buffalo Gals” was the first commercial music video to show breakdancing, graffiti and scratching on afternoon television and single-handedly kick started countless hip hop careers in Europe in the early 1980s. The ensuing “Duck Rock” album, set as a fictional radio-show put the most diverse musical styles from around the world into the mix combining rap, merengue, electro funk, hillbilly and Soweto township music. Later, he fused Opera music with electro beats and released the first Voguing album. His later output wasnt as exciting as what he did between 1975-1986, but without Malcolm McLaren´s vision, Man Recordings would have probably never came to life.

Supreme NY  just released a range of shirts dedicated to one of my favourite albums of all times, the 1983 released “Duck Rock” LP by Malcolm McLaren (btw, produced by Trevor Horn). The limited edition T-Shirts feature various motifs from the “Duck Rock” album as well as the “Do You Like Scratching?” EP, both designed by Keith Haring. The motivs are all great, but I wonder why Supreme completely missed out on making a shirt with images from the “Double Dutch” single, one of the main tracks of the “Duck Rock” LP ? Hmm, maybe the song didnt represent enough old school hip hop culture for Supreme? But it was exactly the heterogenity of McLaren´s mixtape-cum-album that made “Duck Rock” so extra special. At least, we can show the video:

Malcolm McLaren is known for being the ex-husband of Vivienne Westwood and the manager cum impressario making the Sex Pistols break punk rock on a global scale. Though one thing that history books largely neglect is that McLaren brought hip hop culture to European audiences. When the video to his song “Buffalo Gals” first aired in 1983 in Europe, armies of teenagers were single handedly introduced to a) scratching b) graffiti c) breakdancing d) postmodernism – with just one magic song. The accompanying album “Duck Rock”, conceived as a ficitional NY radio station run by the two MCs of the World´s Famous Supreme Team, in which Zulu music, Salsa, Electro Funk and Hillbilly songs got synthesized into a breathtaking mix is one of my personal top 5 albums of all time. If you want to understand where Man Rec´s 360 degree music approach is rooted – check Malcolm McLaren´s “Duck Rock” (produced by Trevor Horn, with a cover illustration of Keith Haring)

I´m eagerly awaiting the release of “Duck Rock – The Movie” on DVD. Does anyone know any release date?