Rotting John
Bell Boy!
As is customary at the start of a new year, it is time to honor the fallen of the previous. Perhaps one of the saddest obituaries to write is that of former punk legend, John Lydon.
I was born too late to be a punk, but in many ways the punk ethic forms what I do… the suspicion of authority, the DIY attitude, the ability to claim I can play an instrument without any lessons or previous experience… and so Mr Rotten was a guiding light in my youth, an ambassador of anarchy and unrefined creativity.
Sure, he was a bit gobby and occasionally misguided, but who isn’t?
But his death was a tragic affair, a long drawn out illness which came to finally claim him in 2008.
It started with a serious loss of credibility in 2004 when he appeared on the reality TV show ‘I’m a Celebrity’… immediately we knew something was wrong, why would someone of such fine credentials be appearing on a third-rate programme, especially one in which participation insinuates he would consider himself nothing more than ‘a celebrity’?
We watched and we winced as he endured bush trials and maddeningly lame conversation with other celebrities, all whilst mugging to the camera in a mockery of his punkier years.
Really, the vet should have been called and he should have been put out of his misery then.
But his sickness progressed. Reports started coming in about him behaving in a manner entirely unexpected of a self-proclaimed punk…
The first relates to an incident backstage at the Summercase festival in Barcelona, where apparently Lydon presided over a verbal and phycial racist assault on the Bloc Party singer, Kele Okereke. Lydon denies this happened, but other performers back up Okereke’s account. Racism? That’s not really what you’d expect, and as far as I understand it is not compatible with the punk ethic… but getting your entourage to fight for you, that’s really low.
But it gets worse, another assault, this time by Lydon himself… on a woman, the Welsh pop singer Duffy. Bad form, and obviously the later stages of the illness that killed him.
Of course, his last gasp of life, as far as we know occured when he ditched everything we respected about him, and basically erased everything he had ever said when he made a television advert for Country Life butter.
So, there we have it, another dead idol.
Ben on 
Ty on
Yes, a sad day. We can also add the late Iggy Pop to the list who I saw on an insurance advert yesterday.
I saw that too… at least we can forgive Iggy and his drug-addled mind as I don’t think he’s ever said anything about not being a corporate shill.
Whenever I think of Iggy Pop, I think of ‘Iggy Pop’s Ocelot Shop’ from that one song….
ha I hadn’t seen (or heard) that before.
I’m a bit slow before I’ve had my coffee. I spent a few paragraphs thinking “I don’t recall John Lydon dying…”
I’ll state for the record that I’m completely willing to sell out- for a decent price, even. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything to sell to the out.
I can give you loads of money NOT to sell out…
Yay! Where do I stand in that line?
At the paradoxical end…
I’m fairly certain I’m already standing there.
Oh, no…Johnny Rotten. I loved you well.
Oh, yes. Sadly…
tis so sad to see the great johnny rotten doing adds for butter, just as sad as it is to see iggy pop do insurance adverts…i mean WHY???? I swear if I turn round and see Bowie or Blondie or Slash doing ads for butter and car insurance I’m jumping in front of a bus!!!
the only rock legend who has kept any sort of credbility by doing an advert is ozzy osbourne doing the wolrd of warcraft adverts which are HILARIOUS…
Those are quite amusing, but they turn excruciating when they happen to come on while you’re watching college football with your tee-totalling, Southern Baptist great-grandparents. That was a thirty second block of my Christmas holiday that I could have done without.
I have this love/hate feelings towards Johnny Rotten. But it’s sad to see a piece of punk history gone. RIP John Lydon.
“I have this love/hate feelings”
are they tattooed on your knuckles?
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It makes me cringe and he is a sell-out etc. But I have to say, I’ve tried that particular brand of butter, and It does taste the best.
Me too… and I too can say it isn’t too bad on a crumpet or two (or five), but I’ve never been the figurehead of a punk movement.
That said, I wouldn’t sink so low as to do reality TV.
I bought the butter, but then I gave it away. Is that punk? I never really entered a social scene, rather preferring to ‘go my own way’ – still, it’s always quite worrying to meet someone dressed the same as you.
Tangent aside, maybe he needs the money?
“maybe he needs the money”
Then he should write songs, play some music, practice what he preaches… even asking for money… I’d rather donate to the ’stop a punk selling out fund’ than watch him shill butter on the the television.
There’s probably loads of ways he could make money as loads of people are still fans of him and his music…(maybe not so much since this though haha)
I would understand a bit more if he was one of those old music stars who have completely disappeared off the radar, but he’s not so its just tragic.
Oh come on, people. The Sex Pistols themselves were started as an advertisement for a clothing store. Lydon’s entire career has been built on being a facetious arsehole.
Besides, the Ramones were way better.
You’re not wrong… but just like the way the Monkees were a manufactured band that gained creative and artistic independance before they dropped out of public view, I was hoping the Pistols would try to maintain some facade of integrity.
Not to be.
And yes, the Ramones are way better…. Indeed, I think that’s part of my ire… There are plenty of punk bands without the acclaim of the Pistols who were far better, produced better music, were more punk and still maintain their credentials…
Does any one really give a fuck about punk?
*mutters about star trek and WoW and goes for breakfast*
“Does any one really give a fuck about punk?”
There’s an entire blog post up top- followed by a series of comments- that heavily suggest that people do, in fact, give a fuck about punk.
I’m not sure how Star Trek and WoW apply to punk and butter.
Anyway, isn’t punk about anarchy? Atleast I think it is, judging by the large number of so called punks sporting anarchy tattoos (I’m unique, just like every one else).
This bloke couldn’t be more punk then. He has gone against what you expect and has offended you, clearly he doesn’t give a flying fuck about what you think.
You should hail him as a true hero of the punki ethos.
It is about anarchy… and doing the unexpected…
The problem is that a musician who claims he is a punk and then sells out isn’t unexpected… it’s the same thing they always do, and that’s what is so disappointing.
I never expected him not to sell out… I just hoped he wouldn’t.
And threatening women, I suppose could be seen as his movement towards equality for the genders… but as I see it he’s just a jumped up idiot.
I could have forgiven Johnny Rotten if he’d only said “I can’t tell Country Life Butter from a dead crab.”
(The dead crab, she said she said)
I can’t forgive this, and I can’t forgive Iggy Pop letting the Man use “Lust for Life” to sell people on cruise ship tickets, and I can’t forgive Billy Idol for recording a CD of Christmas standards without a trace of irony.
But I’ll forgive Bob Dylan for doing a Victoria’s Secret commercial, because he once said, some thirty-odd years ago, that the only thing he’d ever sell out for would be women’s underwear, and he kept his word.
I would have forgiven him is he had said that Country Life tastes like dead crab…
but he didn’t…
Go Dylan. If I’m going to sell out, it will be for a teleporting device.
Lol. One’s on my left knee, and the other on my right. Johnny likes it hard:).
Ha! That’s ace, knee tattoos.
The man was on Judge Judy in the ’90’s. Unironically.
Judge. Judy.
Seriously.
I mean, what’s a butter commercial compared to Judge Fucking Judy?
“what’s a butter commercial compared to Judge Fucking Judy?” – probably the thought that went through his punk-addled mind when he accepted to pimp Country Life.
Judge Judy… I think you’re right, it doesn’t get any lower than that.
And if it does, Lydon will find it.