MALCOLM MCLAREN - DUCK ROCK @ 40

 

Marking its 40th anniversary today is the debut solo album from impresario Malcolm McLaren, with Duck Rock being released on May 27th, 1983. After a decade of working behind the scenes in the music business, McLaren decided it was finally time to step out front, taking the spotlight for himself rather than living vicariously through the likes of Johnny Rotten.

Cultural appropriation is something the Brits have certainly mastered over the years and Duck Rock is a prime example of a couple of white dudes wholesale pilfering black culture for their own ends. While it’s valid to be critical of that process these days, you still can’t deny that McLaren & company managed to put together one hell of a fun album. Since Malcolm wasn’t actually a musician in any sense, a HUGE portion of credit for the creation of this record has to go to co-producer, composer and instrumentalist, Trevor Horn. He’d made a name for himself as one half of The Buggles, followed by a brief stint in the progressive rock supergroup, Yes. Between the two of them, they put together a crazy-quilt of world music influences.

After becoming infamous for managing the Sex Pistols and then helping kick off the New Romantic “pirate” trend with Bow Wow Wow, Malcolm McLaren hooked up with Trevor Horn and the two began a sojourn around the globe, collecting bits and pieces for the collaboration they were cooking up. Their travels took them to places like South Africa, Brazil and the USA, where they recruited local musicians and performers to contribute to the musical gumbo they were cooking up. Unfortunately, several of those contributions were uncredited and subsequent lawsuits ended up being settled out of court in order to provide appropriate compensation to certain slighted musicians while retaining composer credits for McLaren and Horn.

Beyond the the musical elements recorded using local talent, Trevor Horn recruited various UK musicians to help him create the remaining musical components needed to tie all these threads together. These included Anne Dudley, J. J. Jeczalik, and Thomas Dolby. Side recordings which Horn, Dudley and Jeczalik made in between takes of Duck Rock would eventually become the debut album by the Art of Noise, Into Battle with the Art of Noise. Horn was essentially defining the sound of the ‘80s, which is particularly notable given that, after these two projects, he’d go on to co-found ZTT Records and propel bands like Frankie Goes to Hollywood to international fame. In retrospect, it’s impossible to overestimate the impact he had on the world of pop music throughout the decade and beyond.

The structure of the album presents a continuous flow of music inter-cut with radio spots from The Supreme Team radio show. Altogether, the album has a stream of consciousness feel to it, bounding between styles and genres with effluent ease. Each turn reveals a new surprise - from the tribal rhythms of Africa to the rope skipping glee of inner city youth clubs. Since Malcolm had no particular musical abilities, he took on the role of ringleader, contributing speak-sung vocals to several of the tracks. Throughout all of it, he pops in periodically as a kind of travelogue host, enthusiastically highlighting the virtues of each pit-stop along the journey. In his vocals, he affects a kind of mid-western Americana joviality, which almost comes off as obnoxious while somehow managing to remain charming.

As much as this album is an exploitation and appropriation of black music, it’s still interesting to note that the success of the album helped open the floodgates for that music to infiltrate the mainstream of pop consciousness. Before this album, hip-hop was mostly an underground fringe scene known only within select urban environments. After this release, rap music was all over the place. The impact on African music was also notable, particularly when you consider that, three years later, Paul Simon would release his Graceland album, which completely leaned into South African music. Ultimately, Duck Rock was a key pathway by which much or this black culture was smuggled into white western ears. 40 years on, it still has a freshness and dynamism that feels timeless.