yes

yes he was

PiL made a couple alright albums but he's pretty much one of the punk rock backstreet boys

this guy svengali'd the whole genesis of his career:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_McLaren

The Sex Pistols' album isn't very good, but part of that is the production. They were probably a very fun live show if you saw them in the seventies.

Malcolm McLaren was some kind of genius. He owned a London boutique, and he put the Sex Pistols together and gave them a place to rehearse. McLaren wanted to create a fashion scene, and he correctly decided the way to do that would be to start a band. He had briefly managed the New York Dolls before they finally blew apart. He auditioned four kids from the street, gave them instruments and a place to rehearse.

And they rehearsed.for two years. Whatever contribution McLaren made to the initial invention of the Sex Pistols, and it was enormous, it was the band who wrote the songs and performed them, and they were great.

McLaren may have gone too far in managing the pistols.
The only member with formal musical training, bassist Glen Matlock left early in their recording career, complaining that they were so controlled by McLaren, he felt like he was in the Monkees. Without Matlock, the band had most of its good songwriting behind it. McLaren replaced Matlock with Sid Viscous, creating a legend and planting the seeds of the Sex Pistols' destruction.

Don't have much time for "Never Mind the Bullocks", but PiL's "Second Edition" and "Flowers for Romance" are alright.

Not Wire or Gang of Four or Joy Division or Glaxo Babies or Pop Group or Slits or Delta 5 or even Flying Lizards good. But alright.

IN THIS CASE "BOLLOCKS" REFERS TO LYDON's right wing nonsense.

Has there ever been a punk who DIDN'T come from a solid middle class and up background?

in the UK, there were definitely punks who came from the working class.

Those shitty comments are an extention of the Paul Joseph Watson "Conservatism is the new counterculture" nonsense trope. (Because leftistism is mainstream now, you see!) These shitheads want to think they're Han Solo, even though they're big Palpatine supporters. It's a pathetic self delusion, as you can tell from their fawning over a 64 year old rock star from 40 years ago because they think it gives them street cred.

And look, I'm a fan, but I don't care who Johnny Rotten is endorsing for president... or Alice Cooper, either.

The Rotten endorsement is all over conservative media right now. They would have hated him when he was actually doing something.. And Lydon is about to release a book. Seriously, he's not stupid.

I look on the bright side: both parties can now agree that immigrants are ruining the country.

@nominal HR, Dr. Know, STZA, GG Allin, etc

@JHMF Johnny Rotten is definitely stupid. Being a shameless self-promoter that used to be in a shit band is not indicative of intelligence.

Oh, bugger you.

Graham Parker once said about people who think the Sex Pistols didn't make good music. "Its obvious they have cloth ears."

The world is full of shameless self-promotion, but it isn't usually isn't this effective. We have a seventies rock star timing his book promotion to piggyback on the presidential election, and getting a shitload of exposure for it.

Right wing views have been an easy road to some kind of pretend relevance for Ted Nugent, Chuck Willory, Victoria Jackson etc. Its a cheap trick, but I've rarely seen it so skillfully employed.

This is the guy who once declared himself a political antichrist who wanted to "destroy passersby". How can anyone take his.political views seriously?

Lol, that sounds like something Grandpa Simpson would say. Parker probably actually has "cloth ears", whatever that means. I can't imagine his function too well as he's just another overrated geezer. The Sex Pistols were just a bunch of crap artists used to pimp a fashion at the time. Literally a boy band.

Can't you just hear it?

https://tinyurl.com/yxqp3xyh

Nah, I'm young and fit (bouncer mode engaged). It's a weird stone for you to throw because you've posted yourself actually looking like Santa Claus, and are the first to jump to gatekeeping a la the Comic Book Guy.

The Sex Pistols are dated and boring, and it would be kind of sad to watch an old man like Rotten grasp at relevance before he shits himself and succumbs to Alzheimer's if they ever made anything worth listening to in the first place.

Jesus Christ, I obviously have no idea what you look like.

And what gate am I supposedly keeping?

The closest thing to an a fact you've brought to this discussion is "I'm Young and fit", which is completely irrelevant. Readers of English will not never implied that you looked like the comic book guy, I implied you SOUNDED like him, and you do.


When I said that Lydon is intelligent, your reply was completely in terms of this video. Since you're so fantastically young and fit, it doesn't surprise me that you don't show a lot of knowledge about this 1970s band that I've been listening to and reading about for 40 years.

I think we basically agree its a dick move.

I don't think it's a dick move. I think it's a boring move by an aging attention whore whose best work was in Flip - Sorry.

Also 40 years studying his career? You should be sectioned, mate.