The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
By MALCOLM McLAREN
A rock star once meant a rebel outlaw -- someone who represented the look of the music. The rules of cool. To dress up, to mess up! To be young, sexy assassins. To sing: ''I am an anti-Christ/I am an anarchist/Your future dream is a shopping scheme.'' But the fashion industry has bought and sold this look too many times. Having poured so much water on its wine, it has finally rendered it innocuous by putting an expensive price tag on it and plastering it with logos. Having been messed, abused, raped and finally left for dead, rock 'n' roll's look has run out of (gasp!) edge. It is now nothing more than a reflection of pop culture's boredom with itself. How can we go on redressing the same corpse?
Easy!...
