Tune of the Week: Rock N Roll Swindle

The Sex Pistols were as much an experiment in capitalism as they were a cultural earthquake. Renown culture vulture Malcom McClaren took what he saw happening in New York City, notably with the New York Dolls, and took it to London to rock and shock the nation. After draining the cup dry in a wrenching tour of the United States the band fell apart. From here McClaren decided to document his self-branded success with a feature film entitled “The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle”. Faced with having to have a soundtrack featuring a band that had already split up, McClaren had to get creative. On top of unearthing and re-recording demos of the band he also came up with the idea of a few covers of the Pistols’ songs. Here The Black Arabs, a little known soul group, do a disco medley of some of the band’s best known tunes. It’s an appropriately cheeky tribute to the legacy of a group so bad it helped spawn dozens of influential bands who saw them perform and think, “if they can do it, why not us?”