Rotten Memorabilia Worth "Millions?" To WHO?

I guess a bunch of aging Hoobastanks are crying bitterly. Some retro-snots might be moaning that they can't spend their allowance on KEWL artifiacts from Mum and Dad's day. Oh, oh, some MEMORABILIA got destroyed! How AWFUL!

McLaren's son burned his Daddy's collection, declaring "Punk has become another marketing tool..." Yeah? 

I think the Sex Pistols and McLaren proved almost INSTANTLY, that PUNK could be just a "marketing tool." Almost as soon as it began, PUNK fashions, PUNK magazines and every possible type of PUNK music was being SOLD at a SELL-OUT level. 

What was the big deal when the Sex Pistols came to America? That they're the new Beatles, pioneering a new sound? No, it was "They're making MONEY. Kids in England are BUYING THIS. Let's see!" Right. Americans saw, and shrugged. And Sid Stupid and his idiot bitch ended up six feet under. And eventually Johnny Rotten changed his name. 

McLaren's kid just found out that PUNK is just a marketing gimmick? Well, good for him that he doesn't need the money, and he burned MILLIONS OF DOLLARS in Sex Pistols "memorabilia." He's that noble? Is there anything more sinister behind this? Who appraised this collection as valuable at all??

I'm not sure if I still have the original vinyl. I did sell a few vintage photos on eBay and they didn't exactly go for MILLIONS. Or even a hundred. More like a coupla fiverrrrs. 

PUNK IS DEAD, of course. Anyone doing it now is a knickerless pretender. And you know what, it was of its time. It was a nice protest. Honey Whoever and Debbie Whatever could get up on a stage and shout and bellow and look sexy, and you didn't know what the fuck the words were. It was attitude. These were rebels without a clue, really. What, the Queen ain't a human bean? How NOT profound. 

Most of what was going on at CBGB's and punk-atoriums around the world was just kids blowing off steam, and good for them. IF I'M BEING HONEST, it was more gratifying to be on stage performing it than having to listen to it. That's the way it is with many other types of music, too, including most 10-minute on-the-nod jazz riffs,  show-off banjo bluegrass garbage, and fucking drum solos.  

For a while, the big democracy about PUNK was that it seemed anybody could do it. Go stick a safety pin in your cheek and go up there and shout. If you learned three guitar chords, wow, what a bonus. How many GOOD punk songs were there? "Love Comes In Spurts" by Richard Hell, and what else? 

Very quickly, it descended into parody, and the ones who managed to prosper did it by moving to NEW WAVE and finding MELODY. Patti Smith mated with Bruce Springsteen on "Because the Night," a fucking arena rock song. 

Elvis Costello's "Allison" is just a ballad. Debbie Whatever had a hit with mainstream shit like the lullaby "Tide is High." Ian Dury cackled as he turned punk into DISCO fer Chrissake. By the time we got to Chrissie punk was already DEAD. 

Good for Joe, if he's depriving lamebrains from decorating their walls with pretentious crapola. The little Cheshires out there who either want desperately to own PSYCH shit or PUNK shit need to understand: you wuz born TOO late. FUCK YOU. Buying the gear won't help. It's as pathetic as the rednecks who have shrines to Elvis. He ain't comin' back and Millennials aren't interested. 

"Punk has become another marketing tool" is something Daddy McLaren should've said 40 years ago. In fact, he probably did, but nobody was listening because he only muttered it under the ka-CHING of cash registers toting up sales for his own ridiculous solo albums.