Malcolm's Bootleg Swindle!

Everyone has got a view on how big (or little) Malcolm McLaren's influence was on Punk. The man himself would have told you he created the whole thing, lock, stock and barrel. Lydon on the other hand will tell you he did almost nothing. Malcolm certainly made the most of it (whatever 'it' was), and had a reputation for being somewhat 'inconsistent' when retelling his story too. I'm guessing that somewhere between the two is probably more likely. However I don't think anyone can doubt that the Punk scene would have been a duller place without him. But I'm not here to debate that one - the rest of the net already seems to be doing that....

A few years back I read an article about what was at that time, the upcoming Ian Curtis biopic (if I remember rightly, casting had not even finished at that point). The article went on to say that a fabulous soundtrack was being built up for the movie, but particular praise was singled out for a bootleg remix that Malcolm McLaren had done for the project. The 'mashup' threw together Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', and Captain and Tennille's 'Love Will Keep Us Together'.... the bastardised output being titled 'Love Will Keep Us Apart'. The article must have spent a good paragraph or two saying just how great the track was.

From that moment on I was desperate to hear it, I was intrigued at how he could have made these two so very different songs sit together as one. I frequently Googled it, but never with any success. The film (and Soundtrack album) came and went, and I never again heard any mention of Malcolm's mix. But I was still curious to hear it and never quite gave up the search.

In 2009, whilst involved with something completely unrelated, I came across what appeared to be a legit personal e-mail address for Malcolm McLaren. I thought about it for a few days, and eventually decided to drop him a line about that elusive track. What's the worst that can happen I thought, he'll almost certainly ignore it anyway... Incredibly, the next day I got a reply from the man himself, and not only that, he gave me a link to download the mix too!

Unfortunately, this story doesn't quite finish on the high I had hoped for. After all that time and effort, I was actually quite disappointed by the track. I found the mix a little stodgy, and personally I didn't think it went anywhere. It was a mediocre bootleg remix at best (pretty much anything by Go-Home Productions is a far superior effort), and it made me wonder what on earth that original reviewer had seen in it in the first place. Perhaps they were blissfully unaware of the Bootleg remix phenomenon, and this was the first time they had ever heard two records fused together in such a way, so were 'blown away' by the idea, without realising it wasn't a particularly good example of a Mashup.

Still, I was very grateful to 'ol Malc (and I of course politely thanked him for his trouble without mentioning my disappointment!) and was at least relieved to have finally tracked down this tune and satisfied my curiosity. It never did get a release... Perhaps they couldn't get clearance to use one (or both) of the tracks, or maybe someone finally twigged that it actually wasn't all that good after all.

Nevertheless, this track is still a small part of his legacy, and probably one part of his career that isn't being dissected to the nth degree at this moment in time. So for what it's worth, here is that unreleased bootleg remix that Uncle Malcolm kindly sent to me, see what YOU think of it, was it just me or was it the hidden gem that some obviously thought it was?:

Oh and whilst we are at it, I cant finish a post on Malcolm Mclaren without posting his very own version of that Max Bygraves favourite 'You Need Hands', taken from the Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle album!

Thanks Malcolm, you certainly made the world a more interesting place.

Piley