UNITED KINGDOM: JOHN LYDON AND THE SEX PISTOLS REHEARSE FOR CRYSTAL PALACE PUNK ROCK CONCERT

Record ID: 392926

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: JOHN LYDON AND THE SEX PISTOLS REHEARSE FOR CRYSTAL PALACE PUNK ROCK CONCERT
  • Date: 22nd July 2002
  • Summary: VARIOUS, SEX PISTOSL REHEARSING "NEW YORK"
  • Embargoed: 6th August 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, UK
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment,General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3EYHMTKXE98TDYE5C4CJYSGYN
  • Story Text: Seminal punk band, the legendary Sex Pistols are back with a one off gig this weekend at London's Crystal Palace.
    The Godfather of punk himself, John Lydon, formerly known as Johnny Rotten, took time out from rehearsals to talk to Reuters.
    It's twenty five years since the Sex Pistols shocked the world with their anti-establishment rebellion. "God Save The Queen" took the UK by storm as the Queen celebrated a quarter of a century on the throne, selling more records than any other in jubilee week, but somehow not being made official number one. Kids loved them, parents hated them, and the papers (and the braver TV stations) couldn't get enough of them. The face of British music was changed forever and this year the band are celebrating their own silver jubilee.
    Rehearsals are underway for a one-off gig: "It is a bit of a hassle rehearsing, it's hard work and it ain't easy, but this is me and this is the Pistols, we never do anything half baked, even though there isn't any serious competition to us, in 25 years I have no seen anything that tough in the wonderful world of rock and roll"
    For the Pistols the image has always been as important as the music, Lydon met Malcom McClaren at Vivian Westwood's King's Road clothing store, and still refuses to conform with his look. He is dismissive of today's attempts at alternative images.
    "It has become really really weedy and it is so magazine led, there is no rebellion if you are getting your imagery out of a magazine, nothing you are zero, you are just fodder, fodder for big business and corporations, that's what rave is now, dummy tits and glow sticks, whistles, it's just a cliché and it's sad to see it, cos they have missed the point what rave was in the first place, just like they've missed the point with punk. Punk's what now, Beckham and his fin, come on, it's not right, it's weedy."
    The Sex Pistols rocketed to fame in 1977, when Lydon, then of course known as Johnny Rotten, was just 17. There was no grand plan, no mission to achieve international fame, just a drive to be his normal outspoken self.
    "That weren't no great act of genius on my part, that is just instinctive behaviour on my part, and where I come from, you just tell it like it is, loud and proud, and by God I'll stand by those words, I am not ashamed of a single thing I have done and there is not many people who can say that. "
    The punk scene was inextricable linked with hedonistic behaviour and of course drugs. Bass player Sid Vicious (who replaced the now re-instated Glen Matlock) died from a heroin overdose shortly after he was accused of murdering his girlfriend and fellow addict Nancy Spungen. The negative image that punk had within mainstream society attracted a lot of unwanted attention for Lydon.
    "I ain't got no problems with here, but 25 years ago it was hell on earth for me, police harassment non stop, four raids in three month taught me get out, look out for yourself boy because you are going to get set up, and there was no-one backing me, so off I went, and the first place I go, Ireland, I go to jail, so I go to New York and I liked it so I stayed there, and I move about America now, and I move about the world, I can afford to do that because I work damn hard, every penny I have ever earned in this life I have worked for, nobody has ever given me a handout, nobody has ever helped me or anything I have worked for, and we like it like that, free.
    Lydon is mainly based in LA these days, working on a variety of music, TV and film projects.He has not mellowed with age and is still as determined to shock. He is however pleased to have become such a cultural icon.
    "Without contradictions it is not worth anything, and the second it becomes easy and all accepted, change it. I think it is wonderful because that is what we are, I am teapots at dawn, and I am proud of it, I am from the old school and I like it, serious British comedy, we are music hall, but at the same time, bang on, dead on the money, just telling it exactly as it is, and getting away with it, that is an achievement, that is a tough uphill struggle to be successful at that and not get homogenised and not get sucked up in the system.
    The Crystal Palace concert comes almost 2 months after the Queen's golden jubilee celebrations. Lydon deliberatly chose not to play on the bank holiday weekend, as many people was assumed he would.
    "I didn't want to spoil that, this isn't about that, let them have their go, then them have their chance, and by God they fluffed it, and it just makes it all the better for me, coincidentally, but if we had done it in the same week it would have been a real cheesy manouever, and it isn't about that.We are playing at Crystal Palace is a surprise enough, we would like to do as much as we can, I would like to do a two hour set, if old honkey donkey voice carries it, and if it don't then it's sing along with Johnny time, but I do the best I can, I guarantee I won't let you down. £32.50, seven bands, yeah I'm in it for the money, one gig, who's the rip off? Peace and love, peace off."
    ---ENDS----
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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