Cultural appropriation is a tough matter to speak about in the present day. During the Eighties, it was barely talked about. So a lot music from that decade, nonetheless, serves as fodder for debate. There’s Paul Simon’s Graceland, after all, which launched quite a lot of South African kinds to Western listeners. Encouraged by that album’s success, compilations of folks and conventional music from throughout the globe turned de rigeur at file shops. And, quickly, “worldbeat” turned a preferred style in its personal proper, famend for its fusions of “world music” with Western pop and rock.
Before these efforts had been commonplace within the music business, nonetheless, one controversial British impresario made one of the crucial nakedly appropriative data in music historical past. Malcolm McLaren made his identify as a music promoter and band supervisor. Notorious for his unconventional advertising ways, McLaren’s work with The New York Dolls, Bow Wow Wow, and most notably, The Sex Pistols, turned the stuff of legend.
Listen to Malcolm McLaren’s Duck Rock now.
In 1983, McLaren tried his hand at music, releasing his debut album, Duck Rock. Given his background in punk and New Wave, you’d be forgiven for considering McLaren’s debut would swim in related waters. Instead, in a characteristically eccentric transfer, McLaren tried to unite quite a lot of kinds with which he had virtually no expertise. Tied collectively by way of a hip-hop method, McLaren put out a file that mixed every little thing from South African mbaqanga to merengue to sq. dance-style nation.
Duck Rock’s strengths are much less a testomony to McLaren – who couldn’t compose or carry out music – as they’re to the myriad musicians and composers whose work he used. Indeed, past his work scouting expertise, McLaren is, for all intents and functions, a DJ on Duck Rock, his contributions restricted to curation and sporadic ad-libs.
According to producer Trevor Horn, “[Malcolm] had no sense of pitch or rhythm.” In an interview with Red Bull Music Academy, Trevor remembers hitting McLaren within the chest in time to the file. “So I’m standing there doing this, but after about four takes I start to get tired. He [said]: ‘You’ve gotta keep hitting me. Come on, what’s your problem?’” Horn’s response? “I’m exhausted, Malcolm.” At instances, it’s tough to keep away from the truth that McLaren seems like a musical Austin Powers, yelling goofy instructions from behind the decks. Duck Rock’s featured hip-hop radio hosts, The World’s Famous Supreme Team, jokingly referred to as McLaren a “vibe-killer.”
The album’s supply materials – typically uncredited – deserves celebration. At its core, Duck Rock is a compilation of pre-existing music, produced and blended for a Western pop viewers. “Double Dutch” – one of many album’s greatest hits – used a observe referred to as “Puleng” by South African mbaqanga group, The Boyoyo Boys. “Punk It Up” is a replica of Mahotella Queens’ “Kgarebe Tsaga Mothusi.” “Jive My Baby” is one other Mahotella Queens’ composition, “Thina Siyakhanyisa.” “Song for Chango” – which was bafflingly credited to solely Horn and McClaren – is a rendition of an age-old Cuban tune, “Elube Changó.” The joyous “Soweto” is taken from a observe referred to as “He Mdjadji” by MD Shirinda & the Gaza Sisters. Elsewhere, there are performances from unnamed Cuban musicians, a spread of Zulu artists, an uncredited wedding ceremony band referred to as Lewis Khalif and his Happy Dominicans, and an assortment of session musicians from Tennessee.
Despite its questionable fame, Duck Rock stays an interesting doc of an period through which questions on sampling and appropriation had been solely beginning to be requested. And, for Western audiences in 1983, it little question launched sounds exceptional in common music. It’s virtually unimaginable to think about a file prefer it ever being made once more.
Listen to Malcolm McLaren’s Duck Rock now.