Skip to main content
The Morning Star 2026 Conference
The Life and Times of Malcolm McLaren by Paul Gorman
Engaging biography of punk iconoclast, mantra: 'to be good is simply boring'
CASHING IN ON CHAOS: Malcom McLaren

OF ALL the characters who emerged from punk, Malcolm McLaren was one of the most enigmatic.

Born in 1946 he grew up in north London in a difficult family environment, where he was raised by his grandmother Rose. She exerted a big influence, providing him with his lifelong mantra: “To be bad is good, because to be good is simply boring.”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
(L to R) How many Aunties?, Back Hares Mount, Leeds, 1978; M
Photography / 14 April 2025
14 April 2025

Peter Mitchell's photography reveals a poetic relationship with Leeds

The crowd at Manchester Punk Festival 2024
Culture / 11 April 2025
11 April 2025
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
Tower of Babel, 1982
Culture / 10 April 2025
10 April 2025
This is poetry in paint, spectacular but never spectacle for its own sake, writes JAN WOOLF
Little Richard, 1984
Interview / 26 March 2025
26 March 2025
BRETT GREGORY speaks with TOBY MANNING, author of Mixing Pop and Politics: A Marxist History of Popular Music