Malcolm McLaren, Double Dutch skippers, NYPD’s Dave Walker and the Duck Rocker on The Midsummer Night’s Tube 1983
Excerpts from the annual summer music jamboree broadcast as part of UK TV station Channel 4 youth programme The Tube have been posted this week on Youtube.
//Jools Holland interviews McLaren about his “Duck Rocker”, one a number of customised boomboxes McLaren commissioned for promotional appearances//
One clip from the so-called Midsummer Night’s Tube of 1983 features an interview with Malcolm McLaren about his recently released album Duck Rock and single Double Dutch.
McLaren explained to presenter Jools Holland that the song was inspired by the street activity which goes back to New York’s 17th century Dutch immigrants and rope-makers. There was also a demonstration by a New York skipping troupe.
And NYPD detective Dave Walker, at the time president of the US Double Dutch League, gave background on how the police encouraged skipping contests as a way of reducing youth crime: “We have rough, tough neighbourhoods and we’re trying to do the best we can for the kids.”
As detailed in my book about McLaren, he was introduced to the sport by his British acquaintance Ruza “Kool Lady” Blue, who staged Double Dutch competitions at her seminal NY nightclub The Roxy. “The hip hop scene was so male-dominated I wanted to infuse it with some female energy,” she said later.
Copies of The Life & Times of Malcolm McLaren are available from all good booksellers.
Watch the Midsummer Night’s Tube clip here or below: