UKH

Yes, the John Lydon autobiography. What an entertaining read in a sweary kind of way. It explains a lot of what went on at a huge, watershed moment in British history. I was a teenager at the time and it brings back memories of how strange and different life in seventies Britain was compared to today. So much has changed. I'm only up to the point just before the Pistols got their first album out (Never Mind the Bollocks - excellent rock and roll album!). I'd also recommend Steve Jones's 'Lonely Boy' as another eye-opening read (very different to Lydon).

Certainly keeps Daily Mail readers going long into retirement. 

Up to the point when he turns into one himself. 

Anger Is An Energy, straight from the horses mouth. Complete with Steve Vai guitar solo, a most unlikely combination.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjSLVf3cy0M&list=PLo-CVFFA0DtX9uA050P2d...

I’m about three quarters of the way through and have been finding it hard going.  There are some interesting stories in there but much of time he comes across as unlikeable.

I feel like I should get some sort of prize when I finally finish it.

Didn't he already write an autoboigtaphy a while back? 'No Blacks, no Dogs, no Irish?'

I don't know. The book I'm reading was published in 2014.

I think the phrase is 'pain in the arse'? I think that's par for the course for anyone with an opinion which goes against the grain.

I look on it as another take on a period I grew up in.

There's been a couple of pieces in Private Eye recently showing Lydon to be rather flexible with the truth

Lol!

John Lydon's a bit of a <insert 4 word expletive here> innit

The frustrating thing is, it seems he can be warm open minded but then a page later and he’s being annoying.  But the most annoying thing is that he doesn’t seem to realise it or make himself accountable for is own actions.

I was too young to be into punk at the time but I find modern music history fascinating.  It must have been so exciting but at the time, I was more interested in Star Wars.

I found Billy Idols book interesting, covering the same era

Rotten doing a Boy George impression, with Sideshow Bob on guitar.  youtube.com/watch?v=09Oh40ZkOvQ&

Apparently, the whole 'anti everything else' vibe about punk was largely manufactured by others, such as Malcolm McLaren. Not just Lydon, but others from the time as well, had quite wide ranging tastes in music. He was a fan of Roxy Music, T-Rex and Can. Some of Steve Jones's radio interviews are very revealing too. Fancy a 'prophet of punk' talking to Paul Stanley of Kiss.

Yes, I wonder how much vote leave supporters paid him for his spectacular u-turn so that they could get 'one of their own' to speak to the masses (the masses getting this spectacularly wrong again, ala JRM).

And apparently it's the 45th anniversary of the infamous Grundy interview with the Pistols ('you dirty f*cker! etc). My God I feel old.

Started reading this a while ago as I often enjoy autobiographies of musicians I like. But I find it really hard going and like others have said began to dislike Lydon so stopped reading it. 

The pistols were a manufactured "boy" band though, Talcy Malky their Svengali.

Lydon had turned his back on the anti-establishment faction, to become one of them. He tries to pretend it's all irony, but he sold out.

There were plenty of angry young men and women about in the late 70's, with good reason, the Sex Pistols were only a few of those that were steered into making money for their manager.

That's not what Lydon claims nor Jones to a lesser extent. If he's telling the truth, then McLaren was trying to play out some kind of 'artistic' story with the band but Lydon wasn't having it. Of course, McLaren's no longer around to put his version out.

Yes, I think the fans of music are often more purist about their genre than the musicians themselves who would have grown up listening to music that their fans were too young to know. Perhaps less so these days when streaming gives kids access to music from past decades like never before.

Anyway, I think PIL's "Album" from which that track is taken is a great album and all the better for having Steve Vai on guitar. His solo on the last track "Ease" is one of his best. Ginger Baker played drums on a lot of it as well.

Thought Baker was only on the Flowers of Romance album? Not certain though

I saw this in the library a while back but was put off by my preconceptions of Idol. At the time, I always thought he was a kind of caricature, the sneering pretty boy punk? Perhaps I should read it just to get a wider view. I wonder if Sigue Sigue Sputnik ever published their story?

I had a similar opinion, but it seems he was in on the punk thing at the very start. The rest of his life is interesting too, pulls no punches on his addictions, relationships etc.

He nearly broke his wrist in  quite an unusual way. 

Wikipedia reckons he plays on half the tracks on "Album". I don't know if he's credited on the album sleeve, I'd check but it's buried in a box somewhere.

Ramones taking the piss out of that  youtube.com/watch?v=NjiTzVyXRFE&

An earlier versionh ttps://youtu.be/xHash5takWU