Their methodology is simplicity, and perfection inside that simplicity. Urgh! I hated their hairdo, hated everything about them”) he nevertheless enjoys some artists that you wouldn’t expect an old punk to like, including Status Quo: “I loved the way that they found something inside a simple format, to say so much. Whilst still not a Beatles fan, (“It was all that ‘she loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah’ stuff. Whoever wrote the punk manifesto wasn’t listening to the actual punks – them what started all this.” As he says, “Disco sucks? You never heard that from me. He is critical of “Year One” punks and narrow-mindedness generally. Lydon has a musical taste that surprises in many ways. “Brides of Jesus? I’m sure that’s not what He had in mind.”Ĥ. Lydon’s dislike of religion stems from being at a catholic school and being told by the nuns: “‘Oh, you’re left- handed, that’s the sign of the devil.’ Says Lydon, “What kind of message is that, to give a five- year- old who can already read and write? What evil, spiteful nonsense is that?”…. We hired QC John Mortimer, writer of TV’s Rumpole of the Bailey, to prove ‘bollocks’ was actually derived from a nickname for clergymen”.ģ.

Lydon: “Well, we didn’t have to go to court, but I volunteered…. Lydon went to court to defend the album title “Never Mind The Bollocks….it’s the Sex Pistols”. Mum and Dad were very good, they trusted me that I’d find my way home, even though many a time I couldn’t – I’d literally forgotten where I lived”.Ģ. Lydon’s childhood illness – resulting in his being in a total coma for six or seven months – robbed him of his memory, as he explains: “…after I got meningitis aged seven, I lost everything – all my memory, including who my mum and dad were….

Here’s five things I learned from reading the book:ġ. It’s a cracking read, and I popped along to HMV to meet Lydon briefly at his recent book signing. Vicious in attack, but somewhat cowardly, strutting, preening, and with brains the size of walnuts, the press made Lydon’s “ostrich trial” front page news.Īnd now Lydon has written an autobiography, called “Anger Is An Energy”. The UK press made much of Lydon’s appearance in the jungle environment of “I’m a celebrity…”, especially when he was made to enter an ostrich enclosure. More recently, Lydon found himself surrounded by snakes, lizards and various invertebrates through his appearance on “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!”, which included cockroaches, boa constrictors, Katie Price and Peter Andre. Grundy’s behaviour, in encouraging a pop group to swear on tea time TV, is nevertheless now considered to be positively angelic compared with his peer group of seventies TV presenters. Lydon’s infamy was secured this week in 1976 when The Sex Pistols swore on the Bill Grundy TV show, and called him a “dirty old sod”. John Lydon poses with a fan at the 363 Oxford St HMV book signingĪlongside Iggy Pop, John Lydon is widely regarded as the Godfather of TV Adverts Punk.

Johnny rotten autobiography