* Malcom McLaren wasn’t one of my favorite people growing up. Yeah, without his management there would be no Sex Pistols. But McLaren took far too much credit for the Pistols’ success and treated its members like a second-rate boy band, which led directly to their split.

McLaren died yesterday, so I guess I shouldn’t speak any more ill of the dead. Besides, Johnny Rotten seems to have come to terms with their stormy relationship…

“For me Malc was always entertaining, and I hope you remember that. Above all else he was an entertainer and I will miss him, and so should you.”

My brother Denny and I played in a band in high school that did “God Save the Queen.” It was one of the few Pistols tunes we could get away with playing at school functions and on base (we were in Germany at the time, living on a military base). After I moved to Munich for college, I was at a buddy’s apartment when somebody from back home who was visiting my friend said he had a tape of one of our gigs. I am bummed to this day that I didn’t get a copy of that tape. We were pretty good. At least, we thought so at the time.

Anyway, I got way off on a tangent, so here’s the Pistols. Rest in peace, Malcom…