Not many people in the music industry are as brutally honest as John Lydon. From his early days, he lead Sex Pistols to become one of the leading figures in post-punk with Public Image Ltd. But Lydon was known not to mince words on any kind of rock star that came his way. He dismissed anyone that he saw as crap or chastised the biggest names in the industry for not being in it for the right reasons. Lydon witnessed punk evolve in various directions over time. But he had no tolerance for when rock and roll collided with the digital age.
Lydon, on the other hand, was already committed to creating destructive art when the punk movement began. In contrast to the sounds of progressive music dominating the airwaves at the time, he wanted to create deliberately chaotic work. It caused a stir on Nevermind the Bollocks because of how cutthroat his lyrics were on tracks like ‘God Save the Queen‘ or ‘Anarchy in the UK‘.
After moving on from his punk roots in the 1990s, John Lydon noticed that his first musical incarnation began to take on a new form. Following Grunge’s global dominance, other niche genres emerged to become the most celebrated on the planet. It included pop-punk and power pop.
Lydon had no tolerance for upcoming artists such as Green Day and Blink-182. However, the next wave of British rock worshipped Sex Pistols. Britpop emerged from the ashes of grunge. It brought a more optimistic attitude to rock and roll. It was with bands like Oasis wearing their love for Lydon on their sleeve while tearing through songs like ‘Bring It On Down‘.
Oasis enjoyed the sounds of punk. Blur was a different breed of band formed to expand their horizons with each album. Damon Albarn had moments of genre bombast on albums like Parklife and The Great Escape. But he found Blur’s makeup to be too stifling. It led him to form the foundation for what would become Gorillaz.
Using the sounds of trip-hop, hip-hop, and any other genre he could think of, Albarn formed one of the first virtual bands. He portrayed the group as strange cartoon personas and brought in various artists to create the zany atmosphere. Albarn’s desire to push genre boundaries did not impress Lydon.
Speaking with NME, Lydon singled out Gorillaz as an example of music’s rapid decline. He said, “I don’t wanna talk about shit like the Gorillaz, you know what I mean? Come on, I’m the creator; don’t throw us off with that. I believe there is less original talent today than 30 years ago. “It’s much more manufactured.”
Even though Gorillaz’s actions appear manufactured, Albarn intended them to be the exact opposite. When putting together the band’s foundations with illustrator Jamie Hewlett, Albarn envisioned an outfit that would be a mockery of the manufactured groups that appeared on MTV daily. Gorillaz may use the same tools. But Albarn always saw the virtual collective as a way to use marketing stunts against them.
