Malcolm McLaren and the Great Juke Box Racket

Set in the sleazy, low-lit underworld of the mob in post war America, Malcolm McLaren exposes how organised crime collaborated with the un-liberated South and the black community to create the three minute up-tempo Rock ‘n’ Roll pop song. The story and its journey shows how the criminal mind was central and pivotal to selling and creating an outlaw culture which gripped the young generation who hungrily adopted its style – sex and subversion, as their very own. This is the alternative history of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Produced by Kate Bland

Broadcast: December 2008