John Joseph Lydon (/ˈlaɪdən/; born 31 January 1956), also known by his stage name Johnny Rotten, is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer of the late-1970s British punk band the Sex Pistols, which lasted from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s. He is also the lead singer of post-punk band Public Image Ltd (PiL), which he founded and fronted from 1978 until 1993, and again since 2009.
Lydon’s outspoken personality, rebellious image and fashion style led to his being asked to become the singer of the Sex Pistols by their manager, Malcolm McLaren. With the Sex Pistols, he penned singles including “Anarchy in the U.K.”, “God Save the Queen”, “Pretty Vacant” and “Holidays in the Sun”, the content of which precipitated what one commentator described as the ‘last and greatest outbreak of pop-based moral pandemonium’ in Britain. The band scandalised much of the media, and Lydon was seen as a figurehead of the burgeoning punk movement. Because of their controversial lyrics and disrepute at the time, they are regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of popular music.
After the Sex Pistols disbanded in 1978, Lydon founded his own band, Public Image Ltd, which was far more experimental in nature and described in a 2005 review by NME as ‘arguably the first post-rock group’. The band produced eight albums and a string of singles, including “Public Image”, “Death Disco”, and “Rise”, before they went on hiatus in 1993, reforming in 2009. In subsequent years, Lydon has hosted television series in the UK, US, and Belgium, appeared on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! in the UK, appeared in advertisements on UK television promoting Dairy Crest, a brand of British butter, written two autobiographies, and produced solo musical work, such as the album Psycho’s Path (1997). In 2005, he released a compilation album, The Best of British £1 Notes.
In 2015, there was a revival of a 1980s movement to have Lydon knighted for his achievements with the Sex Pistols, even though he has declined efforts to award him an MBE for his services to music. Q magazine remarked that ‘somehow he’s assumed the status of national treasure’. In 2002, he was named among the 100 Greatest Britons following a UK-wide vote.
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they are regarded as one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians. Their fashion and hairstyles have been credited as a significant influence on punk image, and they are often associated with anarchism within music.
The Sex Pistols originally comprised vocalist John Lydon (known at the time by his stage name “Johnny Rotten”), guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bassist Glen Matlock. Matlock was replaced by Sid Vicious in early 1977. Under the management of Malcolm McLaren, the band attracted controversies that both captivated and appalled Britain. Through an obscenity-laced television interview in December 1976 and their May 1977 single “God Save the Queen”, attacking Britons’ social conformity and deference to the Crown, they precipitated the punk rock movement. It was banned not only by the BBC but also by nearly every independent radio station, making it the “most heavily censored record in British history”.
The band’s only album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)—a UK number one album—is a staple record of punk rock. In January 1978, at the end of their over-hyped and turbulent tour of the United States, Rotten announced the band’s break-up. Over the next few months, the three remaining band members recorded songs for McLaren’s film version of the Sex Pistols’ story, The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle. Vicious died of a heroin overdose in February 1979, following his arrest for the alleged murder of his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. Rotten, Jones, Cook and Matlock reunited for a highly successful concert tour in 1996. Further one-off performances and short tours followed over the next decade.
The Sex Pistols have been recognised as an influence on various genres, including grunge, indie, thrash metal and hip hop.[1] In 2004, Rolling Stone placed them No. 58 on its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”. On 24 February 2006, the Sex Pistols—the four original members plus Vicious—were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but they refused to attend the ceremony, calling the museum “a piss stain”.
Wikipedia
