John Lydon complained, during our recent conversation, about what he saw as the current commercial tendency of music and the ease with which anyone even slightly radical is tagged with an industry-approved safety label. According to him, “corporate thinking” is what’s killing off the world’s Sex Pistols. “Record labels are basically a committee death.”
“They have their little committee meetings or rather BIG committee meetings, and they decide what blah-blah-band should be doing for the next ‘hit’ single, right? He left that world and is no longer liable to a label. It’s risky to try to make your way through this world. People have always said that I’m “difficult to work with.” Of course, I am, yes! With a particularly dramatic leer, he almost blows his zoom lens as he says proudly.
John Lydon continues, “Neither I nor my fellow PiL cohorts will be dictated to now.” This is the experience we have lived. Furthermore, without our consent, we won’t allow someone to misunderstand that on our behalf. It’s a foolish trap. Naturally, instant wealth, fame, and fortune are promised. Well, from the beginning, I preferred notoriety. And it turned out to be the simpler route. Because I know that I haven’t lied to anyone when I wake up in the morning. It’s amazing.
But sometimes, the hated binding of awkward originality—the minimizing ability to communicate one’s own life experience—is what drives bands into this trap rather than the industry. In such cases, musicians can take on the role of their own committee, merely combining elements from different acts to create a new song that ignores their own inspiration. Lydon has consistently insisted that Public Image Ltd. began as a band, bursting at the seams with original ideas and combining them in a pot of madness. However, he is certain that others simply take passages from his writing and modify the wording, so to speak.
“They’ve definitely determined us quite a bit,” he said in response to Creem’s question regarding Guns N’ Roses. They performed a version of “Stepping Stone” that is nearly exact to ours, down to the “e-i-e-i-ei” portion and everything. You thief, get a technique of your own! Give mine some space!
He wasn’t going to stop there, though, as far as exposing musical burglars. Regarding Axl Roses’ attire, he remarked, “I don’t understand how they became so popular.” They weren’t alone, though. “To be honest, I find it extremely absurd that U2 can’t understand anything. Especially tunes like “Bullet The Blue Sky,” which is practically an exact copy of a PIL song!
John Lydon went on, “Very irritating.” In reality, the rhythm guitars use a number of Public Image concepts. The fact that they steal without even nodding or winking at their sources makes the theft impressive. They are too priggish for that. It’s decadent of these god-worshippers to pilfer from the devil in human form! Furthermore, they lack genuine courage. The sad thing is that they’re all such milksops.
But Mr. Rotten never found much time to pray. He lamented the absence of humor in music, saying, “I’m not gloomy; I’ve never been into goth rock; I always thought that was juvenile.” “Oh, we’re all going to die,” is a common sentiment, but in the interim, cherish the moments you have left.
He revealed to Far Out that this is something that remained with him during the tragedies of late: “That vibe of don’t let the bastards grind you down? That is not going to occur. You have to, in my opinion, set an example for others in life. I also think positively. I have always been. We’re not approaching it with an excessively commercial attitude, but I hope that translates to our audience and, surprise! the wider world. If you truly need this in your life, you should look for it. If not, you should probably wait for the next bus. It might not show up on schedule.
