Friday, October 12, 2007

Oh, really, John?

John Lydon doesn't like being accused of selling out by appearing on a video game:

"I have certainly, in 30 years, not once ever joined the establishment, or put out anything of inferior quality, just to part fools from their money," Lydon defended. "That's never been the way, and it never will be. We don't demand attention, we just do what we do. And oddly enough, that seems to be what everybody wants to copy."

This, of course, is the same Lydon who did Shark Attack for Channel 5, I'm A Celebrity for ITV and - of course - Judge Judy. Nothing of inferior quality there, then.

Lydon then bores on about how the band were politically obliged to ensure the quality of their work:
"One thing people got to understand is, the Sex Pistols started as a genuine band, from a working-class background, facing serious social and economic situations," he continued. "Massive unemployment, riots in the street, Margaret Thatcher in power — this was a serious time, so the songs relate directly to that."

Yes, that's right, John. The Sex Pistols songs relate directly to the horrors of Thatcher being in power.

Only you quit the band - "ever get the feeling you've been cheated" - onstage at the San Francisco Winterland on January 14th 1978. Thatcher didn't become prime minister until May 4th 1979. We've never bought the idea that the Pistols had a genuine political agenda, but if Lydon had been rattling at those in power, you think he'd be able to recall the name of the Prime Minister he was tilting at. The Sex Pistols formed under Harold Wilson; they split under Callaghan. Indeed, as the first reunion didn't come until the tail-end of the Major administration, the band never played a single note under Thatcher.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah. John Lydon. One of those "anti-establishment" property developers.

Simon Hayes Budgen said...

It is a bit rich for someone who sells property for profit to suggest that they're the seat of anti-Thatcherism

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