If you’re the son of Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, you’re going to acquire a lot of memorable punk artifacts. If you happen to also be named Joe Corré, you’ll take that treasure trove of punk memorabilia and set it on fire in protest at the state in which the counter-culture sits.
I was at #BurnPunkLondon today where @realjoecorre had this to say about values, #corporations, #climatechange, #immigration, #extinction… pic.twitter.com/cNIyhyfQrR
— Ravi Juneja (@Ravi_Juneja) November 26, 2016
“The Queen giving 2016, the Year of Punk, her official blessing is the most frightening thing I’ve ever heard,” Corré stated in a press release. “Talk about alternative and punk culture being appropriated by the mainstream. Rather than a movement for change, punk has become like a f**king museum piece or a tribute act.”
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Among the estimated $7 million worth of artifacts were rare Sex Pistols recordings, clothing owned by Westwood and Johnny Rotten, and a Sid Vicious doll with a swastika on it.
Elaborating on his thoughts in an interview with The Guardian, Corré referred to punk as a “McDonald’s brand … owned by the state, establishment and corporations. It’s time we threw it all on the fire and started again … I think this is the right opportunity to say: you know what? Punk is dead. Stop conning a younger generation that it somehow has any currency to deal with the issues that they face or has any currency to create the way out of the issues that they face. It’s not and it’s time to think about something else.”
Corré also torched effigies of famous politicians at an event near Albert Bridge in Chelsea, west London.
[H/T Consequence of Sound]