Ten minutes or so after the Sex Pistols first broke up he was back to being John Lydon, showing open disdain for the spiky, dyed, and dirty punks who once worshipped him, and veering off into a whole new musical world with the often-baffling Public Image Ltd. What’s long been fascinating about Lydon is the way that he’s been too clever to play the part that made him famous. Like the rest of us, the Queen was only human, except on the bad days.) But really, if you think about it, who amongst us hasn’t had days where our behaviour might charitably be described as “less-than-subhuman”. (In fairness, some of the confusion about the message of “God Save the Queen” might have stemmed from the line “She ain’t no human being”. Which didn’t stop Lydon from being hunted down and beaten on the streets by Queen-loving monarchists back when the Sex Pistols where the most controversial band in the world. Ask yourself what Lydon was really trying to say when he was sneering lines like “God save the queen/The fascist regime/They made you a moron/A potential H bomb”.įor those who failed Basic English Comprehension, note that “They” made you a moron, not “she”. If only more people-especially those who quickly moved to have it banned from the charts, airwaves, and elementary-school dances-had paid more attention to the lyrics. Video of The Filth and the Fury Official Film Trailer

At the top of his list, the narrative went, was the Queen, the major case to support that being the Sex Pistols nothing-short-of-fucking-incendiary “God the Save the Queen”. Namely, that of a destroy-everything misanthrope whose hatred for everything started with corporate record labels, clueless tourists, Bill Grundy, flared pants, Pink Floyd in particular and hippies in general, Elvis Presley, the Clash, and possibly your mum, dad, and grandmum. īecause folks have historically had trouble thinking-especially when the easy go-to is immediate, blind outrage-the world has long embraced the image forged for Lydon during his brief but brilliant run as Johnny Rotten.

And the surviving Sex Pistols have issued a statement suggest they have zero idea what he’s talking about. Apologies if the word “people” is a little vague-Lydon doesn’t exactly provide a laundry list of the outlets and organizations that have been given permission to use the Sex Pistols’ most famous song. Today, the former Sex Pistol took to Twitter to denounce his former bandmates for attempting to “cash in” on the Queen’s death by green-lighting the use of “God Save the Queen” to various, um, 'people'. Over the past week, the former Johnny Rotten has shocked more than one royalist with his reaction to the passing of Elizabeth Alexandra Mary-aka Elizabeth II-on September 8. If the death of Queen Elizabeth has reminded punks around the world of anything, it’s that John Lydon remains one of the all-time most fascinating, and most fascinatingly misunderstood, characters in the long history of rock ’n’ roll.

Johnny rotten pistol