Son of Punk Icons to Burn $7M in Memorabilia

It's a protest against 'mainstream' celebrations of punk
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 17, 2016 8:22 AM CDT
Son of Punk Icons to Burn $7M in Memorabilia
Joe Corre is seen in 2010.   (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)

Joe Corre's collection of punk memorabilia is worth $7.2 million—and it will soon go up in flames. The son of late Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren and punk fashion designer Vivienne Westwood says he'll burn his "vast amounts" of clothing and artifacts from the era later this year as a protest against the mainstream, reports the BBC. He's particularly irked that the British Library and British Film Institute plan to celebrate a punk milestone. "When the Queen gives a f---ing nod to punk's 40th Anniversary Year, you know something has gone seriously wrong," Corre tells Crack. "People are feeling numb. And with numbness comes complacency," he adds. "We need to explode all the s--t once more."

For the record, it isn't clear whether the queen—whom the Sex Pistols accused of running a fascist regime, per the Guardian—personally supports the celebrations of punk history. Either way, music journalist Paul Stokes says Corre's gesture "is a massively punk thing to do," reminding us that the music "was a rejection of what had gone on before." Others sound less wowed. New York's Veronique Hyland says the stunt is "arguably as punk as North West wearing a Thrasher shirt to [a] Build-A-Bear Workshop," and author Dave Haslam thinks it will be a shame to lose the stuff. "Surely we want future generations to learn and to be inspired by punk's call to arms," he says. "These items are crucial." The burning is scheduled to take place in London on Nov. 26, the 40th anniversary of the Sex Pistols' first single, "Anarchy in the UK," reports Pitchfork. (One of the Sex Pistols' new ventures is ... not so rebellious.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X