There is also the cultural appropriation (which is an especially bad look with the racism)
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Did people ever think Lydon was a great musician? Clapton had a rep as a musician. Though he was no Jimi Hendrix or Duane Allman.
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I enjoyed a lot of PIL stuff in the 80s and 90s. He was also a very nice guy when I met him through work (radio) back in the 80s. Really though that just makes it more disappointing that he has become an asshole
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Johnny Rotten thinks Boris Johnson is cool now
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They do share a taste in haircuts…
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He thinks … the EU is the establishment, probably
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He’s not a terrible guitarist, but he’s definitely overrated.
I mean, just check out this performance:
And he is a bigoted COVID denialist. So… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. It’s possible to be all things at the same time here.
In any event, you seem disappointed at the implication that the Sex Pistols were untalented. As if punk music prides itself on virtuosity or something. As for Johnny Lydon, he jumped the shark decades ago. This shouldn’t be news. Of course he’s going to have a shitty take here.
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The Sex Pistols were always a manufactured boy band using “punk” and BDSM to promote themselves, never had any politics except shock value, and never pretended to be anything else
P.I.L. actually was pretending to be something else—that’s probably the era that leads to the most disappointment now 
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I don’t think I’ve seen that behavior here to be honest. I have seen the commentary that just because he’s a great guitarist doesn’t outdo the shittiness of his actions.
This, however, seems to completely deny the Sex Pistols were ever punk, which is just horseshit.
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Nah, Clapton was always mediocre because he musically rode the coat tails of much better guitarists to much greater commercial success.
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And, ultimately, they’re raising a salute to the racism, violence, xenophobia, and misogyny that power the system, so there’s nothing counter-cultural or transformative about their “anti” establishment posturing.
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Good lord, I miss shred videos.
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Exactly what I wanted to say. To reject the Pistols as a punk band is to buy into McLaren’s self-promoting fiction. Must not have been there.
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Yup. It never really took off as a genre, but maybe it’s just as well — what little that is out there is all top notch.
Pretty ironic that as he grew older he epitomized everything the Sex Pistols would have raged against. Just another out of touch right wing conservative bigot.
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Oh, give me a break. Regardless of whatever poitical point you’re trying to make, if the Sex Pistols weren’t a punk band, then no band has ever been a punk band.
Sure they were a calculated creation of Malcolm McLaren’s, just like the Velvet Underground was a calculated creation of Andy Warhol’s, but it doesn’t matter - things (and bands) can happen for multiple reasons and mean multiple things.
Yes, John Lydon took a regrettable (IMHO) turn to the right in later life, and maybe his music has been less interesting late-career (post Pistols and Public Image Ltd), but that doesn’t have anything to do with whether the Pistols were a punk band or not.
My suggestion would be to decide, for each piece you write, whether you want to write a political screed or music criticism, and then make your best attempt at either one or the other. Otherwise you’ll write this kind of piece, which is a terrible example of both.
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I don’t think he ever learned to play an instrument, so, not really. But Metal Box aka Second Edition is highly critically respected and he arguably deserved some of the credit for that.
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1.) Just reminded of all the folks who were upset that one of the primary sources underpinning “Sid and Nancy” were interviews with Joe Strummer.
2.) Based on past events, I’ll take whatever advice ol’ Johnny offers with a grain of salt and fail to keep a straight face.
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Sorry but I find this author’s attempts at gatekeeping more an aggressive show of shilling than anytthing Rotten ever did.
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The Velvet Underground were NOT a calculated creation of Andy Warhol. They were a band before they met him. He teamed them up with Nico and gave them some support but that was about it. He did not produce their first album they just used his name to build their profile.
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Love this.
Thievin’ it.
Ta.
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