Sex Pistols Manager’s Son Burns Multimillion Dollar Punk Memorabilia Collection

Punk's honest and abrasive mentality has been the sonic equivalent of a middle finger for the last 40 years. What started as a reactionary and rebellious movement has since been absorbed into today's culture, which has resulted in its imagery being popularized and exploited by companies around the world. While many have been nostalgic about the genre given its four decade mark hit this year, Joe Corre, son of famed Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, went to the extreme on Saturday to exemplify his disgust with what punk has become.

Corre decided to burn a multi-million dollar collection of rare punk memorabilia, estimated to be worth between $6.2 and $12.5 million according to the Huffington Post. Clothes and other paraphernalia went up in flames along the River Thames in London, England on the 40th anniversary of the Sex Pistols' single, "Anarchy in the U.K." “Punk was never meant to be nostalgic,” Corre told a crowd of roughly 100. “Punk has become another marketing tool to sell you something you don’t need."

Not only did Corre burn memorabilia at the "Burn Punk London" event, he made mock dummies of Prime Minister Theresa May as well as David Cameron and Tony Blair, the two Prime Ministers prior to her instatement (seen below). Stuffed with fireworks and standing in front of flags of global corporations, these dummies wearing Sex Pistols clothes met the same fate as the rare collection. The burning of the collection will continue throughout the week.

Sex Pistols guitarist Glen Matlock did not hold the same level of enthusiasm for the rebellious act, telling Sky News, "I want to paraphrase Monty Python, in that he's not a savior, he's a naughty boy and I think Joe is not the anti-Christ, I think he's a nincompoop."

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