He was known as the British Andy Warhol, the P.T. Barnum of punk and Dick Clark from hell. Malcolm McLaren died Thursday in a Swiss sanitarium after a long struggle with cancer. He was 64.
It's not easy to be the most hated man in punk rock, but for years, McLaren somehow managed. In 1977, he was running a shop that sold fetish gear with his then-girlfriend, Vivienne Westwood, who'd go on to become a famous designer. Two young tough guys used their shop as a fence to sell stolen music equipment, and McLaren thought they'd be perfect for a band: The Sex Pistols.
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