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John Lydon Quotes (1956-)
Musician, Singer
About John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon (born 31 January 1956) is an English rock musician also known as Johnny Rotten, the name he used when lead singer of seminal punk group the Sex Pistols. He was also lead vocalist for Public Image Ltd.
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βWould the king of punks be a clichΓ©? Oh, no, vicar.β
βEver get the feeling you've been cheated? Good night!β
βAre you really going to hand over the White House to a real estate agent? [...] I want a wig just like that one.β
βYou don't write "God Save The Queen" because you hate the English race, you write a song like that because you love them; and you're fed up with them being mistreated.β
βIβve not done any of this for superstardom, quite the opposite. I threw away the rock star mantle. And for that, thereβs resentment too: βHow dare he, how dare he.ββ
βEngland's a violent place. Too violent for me. That's why I prefer it here (the USA). For a gun-toting nation, Americans are surprisingly passive. This place suits me and the wife.β
β[Replying to the question of the presenter: "where did the name "Sex Pistols" come from, who thought this name up?"] Some animal. I can't remember. It doesn't matter. It's history.β
βI wanted them to see the gloriousness of the California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah desert. So every chance we got, we stopped the bus and just absorbed that dead heat beauty and that terrain.β
βThe only things Iβve ever confronted are institutions, religion, politics, but never my fellow human beings, and yet my fellow human beings find the need to defend those very things that are restricting their freedoms. God, that sounds like a speech. Should I run for president?β
βWhen I first heard it, I thought that's extremely challenging, the vocal β it was almost hysterical, and it was so up there, the register, but it was absolutely fascinating. And I know at the time a lot of my friends couldn't bear it, they thought it was just "too much" β but that's exactly what drew me in.β
β[On the lyrics of his songs] They meant a lot to my generation. And it's nice to know you've written songs that mean something to someone rather than some trivial pop dirge. I'm not thriving off a career slagging off the Queen. I think I have something valid to say. My words are my bullets. I like to brag that somehow I got it right.β
βHow can you ban language, words? How're words offensive? And why should I have to tolerate YOUR interpretation? I'm the one using the word. ASK me how I'm using it, don't TELL me. And if you don't like the way I'm using it, so what? It's my right. It's my freedom of expression. Without that, we're nothing but slaves. My language, now fuck off!!!β
βIt's no more of that 12 bar ditty wavy hair in the breeze platform boots flap your flare nonsense. It's not a packaged image of third-rate idiots. It's not a pose. We just do our stuff. Hate it as it usually is, you know I was very shocked by the reviews of the last album. I believe none of them. They liked us for the wrong reasons, trendy reasons.β
βMy favourite album by her is The Dreaming, and I think she produced that one herself. That got a lot of criticism β but I loved it. It was overloaded with textures, and tones and all manner of things. Itβs a record that I still can play to this day, and still hear new things.β
βAlmost killed me, nothing to be laughed at. But oddly enough itβs something that made me. Without that, I probably wouldnβt be where I am today, so thank God I almost died. The pain I had to endure of losing my memory and forgetting who I was β thatβs always still in me. I never explained it until the book, and the songs β what agony that was for me. My greatest sense of achievement was conquering that.β
βI've never told anyone this, but I suffer from terrible stage fright. True. You can't tell though, can you? Unbelievable, the panic. I nearly die of fear before I go on stage. Something wicked. I can't eat a thing the day before a gig. It'd make me vomit. Once I come off? I could eat a scampied elephant between two buttered mattresses. But I'm kinda glad about the stage fright. I've read Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud about their terror. And I reckon it's what gets the adrenalin going.β
βJoe Strummer, God bless him, he's gone and he shall be missed. But how dare he preach class war with an organisation like that [the late '80s Rock Against The Rich movement]. Living in a huge house in Holland Park. Every photo opportunity to be seen on a bus in his leather jacket, and then he went back to a palace. You're not getting it quite right there! That's where his image mattered more to him than the reality. He was trying to con us. In a nice way and for the right reasons but once you start lying it carries on and on and on.β
What John Lydon Said About Others
Discover personal opinions John Lydon shared regarding contemporaries.
John Lydon on Kate Bush 2 quotes
βMy favorite album by her is The Dreaming, and I think she produced that one herself. That got a lot of criticism βΒ but I loved it. It was overloaded with textures, and tones and all manner of things. It's a record that I still can play to this day, and still hear new things.β
John Lydon on Joe Strummer
βJoe Strummer, God bless him, he's gone and he shall be missed. But how dare he preach class war with an organisation like that [the late '80s Rock Against The Rich movement]. Living in a huge house in Holland Park. Every photo opportunity to be seen on a bus in his leather jacket, and then he went back to a palace. You're not getting it quite right there! That's where his image mattered more to him than the reality. He was trying to con us. In a nice way and for the right reasons but once you start lying it carries on and on and on.β
About John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon (born 31 January 1956) is an English rock musician also known as Johnny Rotten, the name he used when lead singer of seminal punk group the Sex Pistols. He was also lead vocalist for Public Image Ltd.