Letter: The spawning of the Sex Pistols
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Sir: In response to Eric Longley's letter suggesting that my knowledge of music history was deficient, may I remind him that the New York Dolls, managed by Malcolm McLaren in 1974 was only one sperm in the spawning of the Sex Pistols, invented by McLaren the following year.
As important were the tracts of Marxist bohemians in the Paris-based Situationist International, which heavily influenced McLaren; the effects of his English art-school training; and his grasping after "cash from chaos". Be that as it may, McLaren and the Sex Pistols were British and their most notorious numbers were about this sceptred isle - "Anarchy in the UK" and "God Save the Queen".
Incidentally, the Sex Pistols' music was quickly exported to the United States, where it profoundly influenced the punk culture there.
Sincerely yours,
Irving Sandler
London, NW3
28 August
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