Burn Punk London faces early backlash from fans for taking ‘punk movement too far’
Burn Punk London, an event which will see £5m worth of punk memorabilia burned in protest to the movement becoming mainstream and "a brand like McDonald's", has already faced backlash on social media for wasting huge sums of money that could be spent on worthwhile causes.
The event, created by Joe Corré, the son of Vivienne Westwood, and Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols, will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Punk by identifying brands that have emulated it within their marketing activities, in turn 'neutering' what it once stood for.
In retaliation, Corré will burn his £5m Punk collection at 3.45pm today (26 November). The location has been revealed as Cadogan Pier at Albert Bridge. The entire event will be live streamed on The Drum website.
Corré published a ‘teaser’ video on YouTube yesterday in which he burns his "one of a kind” acetate of the Sex Pistols’ ‘Anarchy In The UK’. The acetate was originally listed on Ebay for charity at a reserve price of £62,500.
The video has sparked outrage amongst Twitter users with many claiming the collection should be in a museum, or the collection sold and money donated to charity "who'd turn it into something to believe in again", said one Twitter user.
There are plenty of youth charities that @realjoecorre could give £5m for the sale to, who'd turn it into something to believe in again.
— Paul Holmes (@DidymusBrush) November 25, 2016
@ClassicRockMag he's basically saying I'm so rich, I can burn £5mil. That's not punk! There's millions of people with no £, give them it. — Boris (@The_Boris7) November 26, 2016
@realjoecorre Joe, with the utmost respect, I beseech you to reconsider burning your collection. The charitable possibilities are immense...
— Phil Packer MBE (@PhilPacker) November 26, 2016
I think burning the Punk Memorabilia was a stupid pointless and selfish thing just to make what? A silly point? Why? ....... — Marc Almond (@MarcAlmond) November 25, 2016