Follow Up: Punk Memorabilia Burner Speaks Out
Last week, successful businessman and the son of late Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, Joe Corré, simultaneously drew a lot of anger and applause for his decision to burn his entire, $7 million collection of punk rock memorabilia on November 26.
Over the weekend, Corré spoke with The Guardian and shed more light on punk’s meaning to him and why he’s determined to set some historical musical artifacts ablaze in public.
“My life would have been very different without punk,” said Corré. “The attitude helped me make a success of my life, to find ways within the structure of society to beat people at their own game. That’s what motivated me and still does. Every company I’ve ever set up, including Agent Provocateur, is about that. I wasn’t interested in its value. The money I got for it when I sold up was just part of the game.”
As for his to-be-destroyed collection…
“Oh, I kept everything. There’s a big collection of clothing left over from [McLaren’s shop] Seditionaries,” noted Corré I’ve even got the door handle from Sex, which was a metal handkerchief with a pink enamel logo saying ‘Sex 430’ – the number of the shop on the King’s Road. I’ve got a lot of test pressings of the Pistols records, including the acetate of ‘Anarchy in the UK,’but I’m going to burn it all.
“If I hadn’t said it, we’d still all be rolling along saying how cool it all was,” he continued. “Those who felt punk’s ideas are still important would have felt betrayed. Some people are moaning, saying auction it. Fuck off! It’s not about that. They’re thinking about the money and nothing else. The artefacts represent the ideas – they’re in the past and it’s the ideas that are important, not the memorabilia.”
What’s especially interesting to note is that Corré had a strained relationship with his father around the end of his life. It was so bad in fact, McLaren left Corré out of his will.
“My relationship with him was strained but, when he died, I’d made my peace with him,” said Corré of his father. “He gave me a kick in the teeth when he went, but I don’t bear any animosity to him and I’m not motivated by it now. I don’t ask myself: ‘What would dad have done?’
He concluded: “What he was good at was taking risks. These days, everyone’s worried about their brand. We live in an age of conformity. Burning this gear is about saying we don’t subscribe to those values. I’m sure everyone will have a punking good time, but it’s a comedy.”
