Apr 192010
BPZw188tAc8]
Johnny Rotten/John Lydon is forever sandwiched between two archetypal career points. Not even years of mocking his legacy and “selling out” both the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd. with shows at casinos has freed him from his past. He seems fine with it, but not all artists are so comfortable trading in on their past glories.
Name an artist you feel has transcended his, her, or their initial, archetypal image, and name one you feel has tried at least once but failed miserably.
One day, probably about fifteen years ago, I stumbled upon a Judge Judy episode in which one of PIL’s ex-drummers, in fact Robert Williams who played with Beefheart for a few year, was bringing a case against Lydon for mistreatement, back wages, unwarranted termination etc. He made complaints about things like having to share a room with another band member while Lydon got a private suite. Lydon was very direct, as usual, saying that of course he got a private room, he was the star, the person people were paying to see. Judge Judy ruled in favor of Lydon and gave Williams a talking to, basically telling him that he was fired because he was a whiner and didn’t understand his proper place as an employee.
While I think PIL at the outset benefited immensely from the contributions of Levine and Wobble, and I wish that that line-up had hung in and developed further, Lydon’s ability to analyze things with a dispassionate eye is admirable, even though it might seem like sheer selfishness. I actually think Lydon has a reasonably functioning moral compass, he just doesn’t care to make any effort to convince people that he does.
At first I thought you were joking when I read your Judge Judy story, geo, but then I realized it was you who posted it, not some rascal like alexmagic. This thing’s on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2CnwYPhcQk
By all accounts, wasn’t Beefheart challenging to work for too? You’d think Williams would have been toughened up by that point!
Success: Creed Bratton, amirite?
Failure: Paul McCartney