Книга: Andrew Bolton, Richard Hell, John Lydon, Jon Savage «Punk: Chaos to Couture»

Richard Hell

Infobox musical artist
Name = Richard Hell

Richard Hell (born Richard Meyers; October 2, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.

Hell is probably best known as frontman for the early punk rock band Richard Hell & The Voidoids. Their 1977 album, "Blank Generation", influenced many other punk bands. Its title song was named "One of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock" by music writers in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listing, and, for instance, is ranked as one of the all-time top-ten punk songs by a 2006 poll of original British punk figures, as reported in the "Rough Guide to Punk". [These British punk-scene figures were as follows: Glen Matlock, original Sex Pistols bassist and composer of most of their music; Mark Perry, founder and editor of the first British punk fanzine, "Sniffin' Glue", as well as founder of punk group Alternative TV; Geoff Travis, founder of Rough Trade, the main British punk record shop and early label; and Kris Needs, editor of "ZigZag" magazine and its famous Rock Family Trees. "Blank Generation" was the only American song listed by all four polled.]

Hell was an originator of the punk fashion look, the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins. [“Kentucky born Richard Hell deserves credit (or blame) for originating much of the punk imagery and style associated with the London scene” --"The New Rolling Stone Album Guide" by Nathan Brackett, Simon and Schuster (2004), p 373.

"He [Richard Hell] even gave an artistic spin to his torn shirt and cropped hair look, soon to be imported to England as the emblem of punk." --"Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde" By Bernard Gendron, University of Chicago Press (2002), p. 252.

Extensive documentation of Hell’s ripped and drawn-on and safety-pinned clothing, spiky short hair, and “punk” musical style as it existed in 1974-1975 (one-two years before English punk existed), with descriptions of Hell by Debby Harry and Chris Stein of Blondie, and Richard Lloyd of Television as well as the book’s author --"From the Velvets to the Voidoids" by Clinton Heylin, Penguin Books (1993), pp. 120-125.] Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols, has said Hell was an important inspiration for the Sex Pistols' look and attitude, as well as the safety-pin accessorized clothing McLaren sold in his London shop, Sex. ["I came back to England determined. I had these images I came back with, it was like Marco Polo or Walter Raleigh. I brought back the image of this distressed, strange thing called Richard Hell. And this phrase, 'the blank generation'. [...] Richard Hell was a definite, 100 percent inspiration, and, in fact, I remember telling the Sex Pistols, ‘Write a song like Blank Generation, but write your own bloody version,’ and their own version was 'Pretty Vacant’.” --Malcolm McLaren in an interview in "Please Kill Me, the Uncensored Oral History of Punk" by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain, Grove Press (1996), p. 199.] (Some members of the Sex Pistols dispute this.)

Since the late 1980s Hell has devoted himself primarily to writing, publishing two novels, as well as several other books. He was the film critic for "BlackBook" magazine from 2004–2006.

Biography

Early life and career

Hell grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, in the 1950s. His father was an experimental psychologist, researching animal behavior. He died when Hell was seven years old. Hell was raised by his mother, who, after her husband's death, returned to school and eventually became a teacher.

Hell attended Sanford Preparatory in Delaware for one year (the 11th grade) where he became friends with Tom Miller (later Tom Verlaine). ["We'd met at a little school right outside of Wilmington. It was a mediocre boarding school, co-ed, called Sanford Prep. I'd been sent there because I'd been getting in trouble in school since I was fourteen, and things were looking pretty dire [...] I arrived a little after the start of the school year of 1965–1966, when I was in the 11th grade." --Richard Hell (describing how he and Tom Verlaine met) in the first chapter of Hell's autobiography-in-progress, as published in "Vanitas" magazine #2, 2006, p. 153.] They ran away from school together and were arrested in Alabama for arson and vandalism a short time later.

Hell never finished high school but moved to New York City to make his way as a poet. In New York he bought a used table-top offset printing press and began publishing books and magazines under the imprints Genesis: Grasp and then Dot Books. Before he was twenty-one his own poems were published in numerous periodicals, ranging from "Rolling Stone" to the New Directions "Annual"s. Along with Tom Verlaine, in 1971 Hell also published under the pseudonym Theresa Stern, a female poet whose photo was actually a combination of both his and Verlaine's faces, in makeup and a female wig, superimposed over one another to create a new identity.

The Neon Boys, Television, and the Heartbreakers

In 1969, Verlaine joined Hell in New York and they eventually formed the Neon Boys. Their 1973 demo tracks of "Love Comes in Spurts" and "That's All I Know (Right Now)", later released by Shake Records, were arguably the first punk recordings. In 1974 the band added a second guitar player and changed their name to Television.

Television's performances at CBGB helped kick-start the first wave of punk bands, inspiring a number of different artists including Patti Smith, who wrote the first press review of Television for the "Soho Weekly News" in June 1974. She had an affair with Tom Verlaine, and formed a highly successful band of her own (the Patti Smith Group). Television was the band that convinced CBGB owner Hilly Kristal to book rock bands at his club, and they built its first stage.

Hell started playing his song "Blank Generation" during his stint in Television. In 1975, Hell quit (or was fired from) Television after a dispute over creative control. Hell claimed that he and Verlaine had originally divided the songwriting evenly but later Verlaine favored his own songs. Verlaine remains characteristically silent on the subject.

Hell left Television the same week that Jerry Nolan and Johnny Thunders quit the New York Dolls and the three of them formed a band called The Heartbreakers in May 1975 (not to be confused with Tom Petty's band, which adopted the same name the following year). After a few shows Walter Lure joined The Heartbreakers as a second guitar player.

The Voidoids

A year later, in early 1976, Hell quit The Heartbreakers and started Richard Hell & the Voidoids with Robert Quine, Ivan Julian and Marc Bell. The band released two albums, though the second, "Destiny Street", was a less successful lineup that retained only Quine from the original group, and suffered from Hell's distractions, narcotics especially, during recording, as he himself has described. Hell's best known songs with the Voidoids were "Blank Generation" (the title track of the group's "original album"), "Love Comes in Spurts", "The Kid With the Replaceable Head" and "Time".

Dim Stars and Hell's books, further life

Hell's only other album set to date was in the band Dim Stars, for which he came out of retirement for a month in the early 1990s. Dim Stars was considered something of an indie rock supergroup, featuring guitarist Thurston Moore and drummer Steve Shelley from Sonic Youth and Gumball's guitarist Don Fleming, as well as some guitar playing by Voidoid Robert Quine. They formed only to record the one album, written and recorded in three weeks, and one EP, both called "Dim Stars", and they never played in public. Hell played bass and sang lead vocals and wrote the lyrics for the album.

In 1996 Hell wrote a novel, "Go Now", that was drawn largely from his own experience, and he released a collection of short pieces (poems, essays and drawings) called "Hot and Cold" in 2001. His second novel, "Godlike", was published in 2005 on Dennis Cooper's Little House on the Bowery Series on Akashic Books. All three books have been highly praised. Also published in 2005 was a book of thirteen poems written in collaboration with David Shapiro (poet), "Rabbit Duck". Hell's non-fiction has been widely anthologized as well, including a number of appearances in "best music writing" [such as "The Penguin Book of Rock and Roll Writing" (1992) and "Best Music Writing 2007" (Da Capo)] collections.

Hell's archive of his manuscripts, tapes, correspondence (written and email), journals, and other documents of his life was purchased for $50,000 by New York University's Fales library in 2003.

Hell has appeared in several low budget films, most notably Susan Seidelman's "Smithereens". (Other acting appearances include Uli Lommell's "Blank Generation", Nick Zedd's "Geek Maggot Bingo", Rachel Amadeo's "What About Me?", and Rachid Kerdouche's "Final Reward". Hell film trivia: he had a non-speaking cameo role as Madonna's murdered boyfriend in Susan Seidelman's 1985 "Desperately Seeking Susan".) In 2007 he started making a movie which he wrote and acts in as well as directs. It appears to deal with the experience of aging. Excerpts from it have been posted to YouTube (links can be found in the "Further reading" section below). citation needed//December 2007

Hell was married to Scandal's Patty Smyth for two years, 1985–86, and they have a daughter, Ruby. Hell married Sheelagh Bevan in 2002 and lives with her in the East Village, New York City.

Discography

* 1977: "Blank Generation"
* 1982: "Destiny Street"
* 1984: "Time" (expanded version of "R.I.P.")
* 1989: "Funhunt" [live]
* 1992: "Dim Stars"
* 1992: "Dim Stars EP"
* 2005: "Spurts, The Richard Hell Story"

Further reading

*Nathan Brackett. "The New Rolling Stone Album Guide", Simon and Schuster (2004)
*Bernard Gendron. "Between Montmartre and the Mudd Club: Popular Music and the Avant-Garde", University of Chicago Press (2002)
*Clinton Heylin. "From the Velvets to the Voidoids", Penguin Books (1993) ISBN 0-14-017970-4
*Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. "Please Kill Me, the Uncensored Oral History of Punk" , Grove Press (1996) ISBN 0-8021-1588-8
*Al Spicer. "The Rough Guide to Punk", Rough Guides/Penguin (2006) ISBN 1-84353-473-8

References

External links

*Excerpts at YouTube from 2007 movie written, acted, and directed by Hell: " [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNCTVrkouoY Age Monologue, Pt. 1] ", " [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpULco6RlzU Age Monologue, Pt. 2] ", and " [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPmnv2akATc Melinda's Neck] "
*Steven Beeber " [http://www.maximumwattage.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=985&view=next&sid=3c2bb92b593a3a84fcd8514444927e6e interview with Richard Hell] " from the "Luck" issue of CONDUIT magazine June 23 2003 — largely about Hell's writing, in which Hell explains his disbelief in free will. (This version is on a blog site and has not been verified as a true copy of the original).
*Richard Cabut and Andrew Gallix. " [http://www.3ammagazine.com/litarchives/2005/jul/interview_richard_hell.shtml Talk to Richard Hell about his latest novel and album] ", 3:AM Magazine, 2005
*David Dalton. " [http://www.gadflyonline.com/11-19-01/book-richardhell.html Hell interviewed] "
*cite web | last =Robbin| first =Ira | title = Richard Hell| publisher = TrouserPress.com | url = http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=richard_hell_and_the_voidoids | accessdate = 2007-01-07
*Jason Gross. " [http://www.furious.com/perfect/richardhell.html Interview with Richard Hell] ", Perfect Sound Forever, December 1997 — interview is largely about his writing, but also about music.
* Richard Hell [http://www.richardhell.com/moviecolumn.html "Hell On the Movies"] richardhell.com 2006 — Richard Hell's movie column for "BlackBook" magazine, which appeared 2004-2006
* Richard Meyers & Roy Suggs. [http://www.richardhell.com/pressbio.html Official Press Biography] richardhell.com
*Bryan Swirsky. " [http://www.trakmarx.com/2003_05/index.htm – Exclusive Interview] " TRAKmarx, 2004 — About his music days in the 1970s
*Adam Travis. [http://www.bookslut.com/features/2005_03_004703.php Interviewing Hell (25 February 2005)] , bookslut.com, March 2005 — an interview where Hell is intensely adversarial to the interviewer

Источник: Richard Hell

John Lydon

Infobox musical artist
Name = John Lydon


Img_capt = John Lydon in 1986
Img_size =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = John Joseph Lydon
Alias = Johnny Rotten
Born = Birth date and age|1956|1|31|df=y London, England
Died =
Origin =
Instrument = Vocals, Stroh violin, Saxophone, Guitar, Bass guitar, Violin, Synthesizer, Keyboards, Percussion
Genre = Punk rock Post-punk Alternative rock
Occupation = Musician, Singer-songwriter
Years_active = 1975 – present
Label =
Associated_acts = Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd.
URL =
Current_members =
Past_members =

John Joseph Lydon (born 31 January 1956 in London, England), also known as Johnny Rotten, is a British rock musician, best known as lead vocalist for the punk rock group Sex Pistols and post punk group Public Image Ltd.

He has since become a television personality, appearing on television shows in both the UK and elsewhere.

Early life

He was born in London to Irish Catholic immigrants, his father from Tuam, County Galway, and his mother from Shanagarry,County Cork.Fact|date=May 2008 He grew up on a council estate in Finsbury Park, North London with three younger brothers. At the age of seven, he contracted spinal meningitis, putting him in and out of comas for half a year and erasing most of his memory. The disease left him with a permanent curve in his spine. It also damaged his eyesight, resulting in his characteristic stare. He attended St. William of York School in Islington, North London, where his friends included David Crowe, Tony Purcell and John Gray. David Crowe went on to become involved with Public Image. John Gray became a school teacher and Tony Purcell went on to become a pioneer of the Internet industry in Scotland. [p. 17, "Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs". Picador, 1995. ISBN 0-312-11883-X.]

Career

ex Pistols

In 1975, Lydon was among a group of youths who regularly hung around Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's fetish clothing shop SEX. McLaren had returned from a brief stint travelling with American proto-punk band the New York Dolls, and he was working on promoting a new band formed by Steve Jones, Glen Matlock and Paul Cook called Sex Pistols. McLaren was impressed with Lydon's ragged look and unique sense of style, particularly his orange hair and modified Pink Floyd T-shirt (with the band members' eyes scratched out and the words "I Hate" scrawled in felt-tip pen above the band's logo). After tunelessly singing Alice Cooper's "Eighteen" to the accompaniment of the shop's jukebox, Lydon was chosen as the band's frontman.

The origin of the stage name "Johnny Rotten" has had varying explanations. One, given in a "Daily Telegraph" feature interview with Lydon in 2007, was that "he was given the name in the mid '70s, when his neglect of oral hygiene saw his teeth turning green". Another story says the name was allegedly given to him by Steve Jones, after Jones saw his teeth and exclaimed "You're rotten, you are!"

In 1977, the band released "God Save the Queen" during the week of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. The song was a hit, but caused so much controversy that Lydon was attacked in the streets by an angry mob. They stabbed him in his left hand, his leg, and nearly gouged out his eye with a beer bottle. Since then, he has not been able to properly make a fist with his left hand.

Lydon's interest in dub music and his post-Sex Pistols work with Public Image Ltd. (also known as PiL) and artists such as Afrika Bambaataa and Leftfield showed him to be more musically sophisticated Fact|date=August 2008 than his work with the Sex Pistols had suggested. McLaren was said to have been upset when Lydon revealed during a radio interview that his influences included progressive experimentalists like Can, Captain Beefheart and Van der Graaf Generator.cite book | author = Simon Reynolds | title = Rip it Up and Start Again - Postpunk 1978-1984 | year = 2005 | publisher = faber and faber | id = ISBN 978-0-571-21570-6]

Tensions between Lydon and bassist Glen Matlock arose. The reasons for this are disputed and uncertain, however Lydon claimed in his autobiography that he believed Matlock to be too white-collar and middle-class and that Matlock was "always going on about nice things like the Beatles". Matlock stated in his own autobiography that most of the tension in the band, and between himself and Lydon, was orchestrated by McLaren. Matlock quit and as a replacement, Lydon recommended his school friend John Simon Ritchie. Although Ritchie was an incompetent musician, McLaren agreed that he had the look the band wanted: pale, emaciated, spike-haired, with ripped clothes and a perpetual sneer. Rotten dubbed him "Sid Vicious" as a joke, taking the name from his pet hamster, a finger-biting creature named Sid the Vicious.

Vicious' chaotic relationship with girlfriend Nancy Spungen, and his worsening heroin addiction, caused a great deal of friction among the band members, particularly with Lydon, whose sarcastic remarks often exacerbated the situation. Lydon closed the final Sid Vicious-era Sex Pistols concert in San Francisco's Winterland in January 1978 with a rhetorical question to the audience: "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" Shortly thereafter, McLaren, Jones, and Cook went to Brazil to meet and record with former train robber Ronnie Biggs. Lydon declined to go, deriding the concept as a whole and feeling that they were attempting to make a hero out of a criminal who attacked a train driver and stole "working-class money". Lydon was abandoned in San Francisco virtually penniless.

The Sex Pistols' disintegration was documented in Julian Temple's satirical pseudo-biopic, "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle", in which Jones, Cook and Vicious each played a character. Matlock only appeared in previously-recorded live footage and as an animation and did not participate personally. Lydon refused to have anything to do with "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle", feeling that McLaren had far too much control over the project. Although Lydon was highly critical of the film, many years later he agreed to let Temple direct the Sex Pistols documentary "The Filth and the Fury". That film included new interviews with band members hidden in shadow, as if they were in a witness protection program. It featured an uncharacteristically vulnerable Lydon choking up and becoming tearful as he discussed Vicious' decline and death. Lydon denounced previous journalistic works regarding the Sex Pistols in the introduction to his autobiography, "Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs", which he described as "as close to the truth as one can get". [Lydon, John. "Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs".]

Although Lydon spent years furiously denying that the Sex Pistols would ever perform together again, the band re-united (with Glen Matlock returning on bass) in the 1990s, and continues to perform occasionally. In 2004, Lydon publicly refused to allow the Rhino record label to include any Sex Pistols songs on its box set "". In 2006, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted the Sex Pistols, but the band refused to attend the ceremony or acknowledge the induction, complaining that they had been asked for large sums of money to attend [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4750262.stm BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Sex Pistols snub US Hall of Fame ] ] and stating that it went against everything the band stood for.

In June 2007, Lydon, Jones and Cook re-recorded "Pretty Vacant" in a Los Angeles studio for the video game "Skate" and, in a radio interview in the same month, Lydon announced that the Sex Pistols may perform again over the Christmas period. They also re-recorded "Anarchy in the UK" for the video game "". In September 2007, Lydon announced that the Sex Pistols would play a concert for the 30th anniversary of "Never Mind the Bollocks" at the Brixton Academy on 8 November 2007. Due to popular demand, four additional concerts were added, as well as further shows in Manchester and Glasgow.

The Sex Pistols will be appearing at the Isle Of Wight Festival 2008 as the headlining act on the Saturday night. They are also due to appear at the Peace and Love Festival in Sweden, Electric Picnic in Ireland, the Live at Loch Lomond Festival in Scotland, Heineken Open'er Festival in Gdynia (Poland), Paredes de Coura Festival in Portugal, Traffic Free Festival in Turin (Italy) and EXIT festival in Serbia the same summer.

Public Image Limited (PiL)

In 1978, he formed the post-punk outfit Public Image Limited (PiL) and denounced the Sex Pistols. PiL lasted for 14 years with John Lydon as the only consistent member. The group enjoyed some early critical acclaim for its 1979 album, "Metal Box" (a.k.a. "Second Edition"), and influenced many bands of the later industrial movement. The band was lauded for its innovation and rejection of traditional musical forms. Musicians citing their influence have ranged from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Massive Attack.

The band's surreal performance on the dance/concert TV show "American Bandstand" has become the stuff of legend, with Lydon giving up on lip synching not long into the performance and dancing with audience members instead. The group did quite well in the UK charts, but were regularly outsold by Sex Pistols reissues. Despite his tenure with PiL, Lydon is still most well-known as "Johnny Rotten".

The first lineup of the band included bassist Jah Wobble and former Clash guitarist Keith Levene. They released the albums "Public Image" (also known as "First Edition"), "Metal Box" and "Paris in the Spring". Wobble then left and Lydon and Levene concocted the "The Flowers of Romance". Then came "This Is What You Want...This Is What You Get" featuring Martin Atkins on drums (he had also appeared on "Metal Box" and "The Flowers of Romance") as well as session artists. Lydon said of this album in 1992 that "This is What You Want" is just me giving orders and them receiving them. There was no feedback. If I had a crap idea, the crap idea would go onto vinyl almost immediately". However, despite the dip in quality as compared to their first three albums, it featured their biggest hit, the sarcastic "This Is Not A Love Song", which hit #5 in 1983.

Then in 1986 Public Image Limited released "Album" (also known as "Compact Disc" and "Cassette"). Most of the tracks on this album were written by Lydon and Bill Laswell. The musicians were session musicians including bassist Jonas Hellborg, guitarist Steve Vai and Cream drummer Ginger Baker. It continued the band's foray into accessible dance-pop as opposed to their earlier incarnation as a challenging art-rock ensemble. Like the previous album, this also featured a massive hit, the anti-apartheid anthem "Rise".

In 1987 a new lineup was formed consisting of Lydon, former Magazine, Siouxsie & The Banshees and The Armoury Show guitarist John McGeoch, Alan Dias on bass guitar in addition to drummer Bruce Smith and Lu Edmunds. This lineup released "Happy?" and all except Lu Edmunds released the album "9" in 1989. In 1992 Lydon, Dias and McGeoch were joined by Curt Bisquera on drums and Gregg Arreguin on rhythm guitar for the album "That What Is Not". This album also features the Tower Of Power on two songs and Jimmie Wood on harmonica. Lydon, McGeoch and Dias also wrote the song "Criminal" for the movie "Point Break". After this album, in 1993, Lydon put PiL on indefinite hiatus, in which state they remain today.

In December 2005, Lydon told "Q" that he is working on a second autobiography to cover the PiL years.cite web
url= http://www.johnlydon.com/q05.html
publisher= "Q"
title="The Q Interview: 'I want to take the Sex Pistols to Iraq!'"]

Collaboration with Time Zone

In 1984, Lydon worked with Time Zone on their best-known single, "World Destruction". A collaboration between Lydon, Afrika Bambaataa and producer/bassist Bill Laswell, the single was an early example of "rapcore" predating Run-DMC and Aerosmith's "Walk This Way". The song appears on Afrika Bambaataa's 1997 compilation album, "Zulu Groove". It was arranged by Laswell after Lydon and Bambaataa had acknowledged respect for each others' work, as described in an interview from 1984::Afrika Bambaataa: "I was talking to Bill Laswell saying I need somebody who's really crazy, man, and he thought of John Lydon. I knew he was perfect because I'd seen this movie that he'd made ("Corrupt", a.k.a. "Copkiller" and "The Order of Death"), I knew about all the Sex Pistols and Public Image stuff, so we got together and we did a smashing crazy version, and a version where he cussed the Queen something terrible, which was never released.":John Lydon: "We went in, put a drum beat down on the machine and did the whole thing in about four-and-a-half hours. It was very, very quick." [ [http://www.fodderstompf.com/CHRONOLOGY/1984.html 1984 interview] ]

The single also featured Bernie Worrell, Nicky Skopelitis and Aïyb Dieng, all of whom would later play on PiL's "Album"; Laswell also played bass and produced.

olo album: "Psycho's Path"

In 1997 Lydon released a solo album on Virgin Records called "Psycho's Path". He wrote all the songs and played all the instruments. In one song, "Sun", he sang the vocals through a toilet roll.cite web
url= http://www.johnlydon.com/pp/pp_info.html
publisher= JohnLydon.com
title="Psycho's Path"] It did not sell particularly well and received mixed reviews from critics. The U.S. version included a Chemical Brothers remix of the song "Open Up" by Leftfield with vocals by Lydon. This song is heard during the title menu of the computer game "All Star Baseball 2000" (Acclaim Entertainment). The song was also a club hit in the U.S. and a big hit in England.

Movie, TV and other non-music projects

Film

In 1983, Lydon co-starred with Harvey Keitel in the movie thriller "Corrupt", a.k.a. "Copkiller" and "The Order of Death". While the film was generally panned, Lydon won some praise for his role as a psychotic rich boy. Lydon would act again very occasionally after that, such as a very small role in the 2000 film, "The Independent".

He also was the host of the skateboard film, "Sorry", by The Flip Skate Team

Radio

In the mid-1990s, Lydon hosted "Rotten Day", a daily syndicated US radio feature written by George Gimarc. The format of the show was a look back at events in popular music and culture occurring on the particular broadcast calendar date about which Lydon would offer cynical commentary. The show was originally developed as a radio vehicle for Gimarc's book, "Punk Diary 1970-79", but after bringing Lydon onboard it was expanded to cover notable events from most of the 2nd half of the 20th century.

Television

Judge Judy

In November 1997, Lydon appeared on "Judge Judy" fighting a suit filed by his former tour drummer Robert Williams for breach of contract, and assault and battery. Lydon won the case, and the judge called Williams a "nudnik", although she did advise Lydon to keep quiet several times. During an appearance on "Politically Incorrect", in response to a statement about "hand lotion" in men's restrooms, Lydon remarked "Well, "I'm" English - "we" still have our foreskins".

Rotten TV

In 2000, Lydon hosted "Rotten TV", a short-lived show on VH1. The show offered his acerbic commentary on American politics and pop culture. In one segment he took Neil Young to task for not appearing on the show, making fun of Young's singing style and pointing out that Young had once proclaimed Johnny Rotten "the king" in the song "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)". It was good natured, however, as Rotten has been quoted to proclaim his love of Young's albums "On the Beach" and "Tonight's the Night".

The Belzer Connection

In 2003 Lydon appeared as a panelist on an episode of Richard Belzer's ambitious (and ill-fated) conspiracy-themed panel show, "The Belzer Connection". The episode in question posed the query, "Was there a conspiracy involved in the death of Princess Diana?" For his part, Lydon proved as witty and scurrilous as ever, responding to suggestions of Royal Family involvement by proclaiming "If the Royal Family was going to assassinate someone, they would have gotten rid of me a long time ago." The series ran for only two episodes.

I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here

In January 2004, Lydon appeared on the British reality television programme, "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!", which took place in Australia. He proved he still had the capability to shock by calling the show's viewers "fucking cunts" during a live broadcast. The television regulator and ITV, the channel broadcasting the show, between them received 91 complaints about Lydon's use of bad language. However, in a February 2004 interview with the Scottish "Sunday Mirror", Lydon said that he and his wife "should be dead", since on 21 December 1988, thanks to delays caused by his wife's packing, they missed the doomed Pan Am Flight 103. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Lockerbie/Story/0,2763,1154000,00.html Sex Pistol recounts Lockerbie near miss | UK news | The Guardian ] ] During this interview, Lydon said that the real reason for him leaving the "Get Me Out of Here!" show was his fear over the Pan Am incident and the "appalling" refusal of the programme makers to let him know whether his wife had arrived safely in Australia.

In an interview previous to the show's first episode, he had described it as "moronic", and throughout the show's run he had displayed an indifferent attitude to staying and threatened to walk out on numerous occasions. 30 hours following ex-football star Neil Ruddock's departure, Lydon left the show for unclear reasons, although he had been very visibly angry both to and about fellow star Jordan.

British newspapers claimed that Lydon had won a £100 bet with Ruddock over who would stay in the longest. Lydon, however, stated on air that he felt he would win outright and that it would be unfair to the other celebrities for him to win.

John Lydon's Megabugs, Goes Ape and Shark Attack

After "I'm a Celebrity...", he presented a documentary about insects and spiders called "John Lydon's Megabugs" that was shown on the Discovery Channel. cite news
title = The Sex Pistols: Johnny be good? Never!
work = Telegraph.co.uk
date = 2007-11-8
url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/11/08/bmlydon108.xml
accessdate = 2008-07-26 ] "Radio Times" described him as "more an enthusiast than an expert". He went to present two further programmes: "John Lydon Goes Ape" in which he searched for gorillas in Central Africa, and "John Lydon's Shark Attack" in which he swam with sharks off South Africa.

Reynebau & Rotten

In 2005, he appeared in "Reynebeau & Rotten", a five episode documentary on Canvas, the cultural channel of VRT, which is the Flemish public broadcaster. Lydon guided Belgian journalist Marc Reynebeau through Great Britain. When asked why he was chosen as a guide, he answered that he was the cheapest one available.

After the show had been broadcast on Flemish television, Lydon claimed in an interview with the popular Belgian magazine "HUMO" that he was very unhappy with the way they handled post-production and was very angry with the way they depicted him in this particular show. He claimed that the creators mainly showed his humorous, sometimes clownish antics, instead of focusing on his personal opinions and sometimes philosophical conversations he had with Marc Reynebeau. Lydon was also infuriated that the production company used songs from the Sex Pistols' catalogue, without consulting all the remaining members of the band, including him.

Lydon broadcast a short pod on Current TV in which he critiqued The Doors' keyboardist Ray Manzarek's previously broadcast pod. Manzarek's advice to young people had been to "fuck your brains out." He emphasized this especially for 25-year- old women, saying that "it won't last." Lydon had several choice words for Manzarek and told young people that the best thing they could do was get an education because knowledge is free. Lydon also suggested that at one point Manzarek had asked him to work on a project together and that he did not do it because it would negatively affect his career.

Lydon is currently one of the judges in the Bodog Music Battle of The Bands competition.

Country Life butter advert

In September 2008, it was announced that Lydon would appear in an advert for Country Life, a popular brand of butter, in a move Lydon was widely mocked for. [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1050489/One-anarchist-Johnny-Rotten-turns-country-squire-TV-butter-ad.html] [http://www.thetartpaper.com/ents.php?id=1413]

Controversy

The Ritz Carlton Hotel case

On 23 January 2008 Lydon was reportedly involved in a string of offences, including battery, sexual abuse, sexual assault and physical assault. Ms Davis (Lydon's employer on his television program) was punched in the face by Lydon after being called a "cunt" several times. It is believed that Lydon wished for a door between his hotel room and his male friend's room at the hotel Ritz Carlton, but was given a separate room without a dividing door. Lydon reportedly became infuriated with the hotel staff, before assaulting his own employee who was staying in the same hotel. Upon being questioned by journalists over the incident, Lydon was unavailable. Davis has taken legal action against Lydon, her lawsuit is underway in a San Francisco court room [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/music/news/exsex-pistol-lydon-sued-for-lsquoassault-and-batteryrsquo-13507701.html] .

2008 Summercase incident

Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke claims he was left with severe facial bruising and a split lip following what he alleges was a verbal and physical racist assault by three members of Lydon's entourage. The incident occurred on the evening of 19 July 2008 at the Summercase festival in Barcelona while the bands were socialising backstage. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/jul/22/john.lydon.racist.assault]

However in statement to NME, John Lydon has denied the allegations of his involvement in this assault. [ [http://www.nme.com/news/bloc-party/38378 'Kele Okereke was right about Sex Pistols racist attack' | News | NME.COM ] ] Since the report, Super Furry Animals lead singer Gruff Rhys has come forward in support of Okereke's claim, saying "the statements Kele has said are absolutely true, it did happen." [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/jul/24/gruff.rhys.supports.okereke Gruff Rhys supports Kele Okereke's account of racial abuse | Music | guardian.co.uk ] ]

A British tabloid accused Lydon of racism due to the incident. Lydon strongly denied these claims on "The One Show", claiming that they were "atrocious" and "hurtful". he went on to say that:

He went on to say, when asked if he was racist, that:

Personal life

Lydon is married to Nora Forster. They have no children together, but Lydon is stepfather of Forster's daughter, Ari Up, who herself had been the lead singer in the influential postpunk, dub reggae band, The Slits. He currently lives in Los Angeles.cite web| url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/11/08/bmlydon108.xml| title=Daily Telegraph feature interview, 8 November 2007]

Discography

All chart positions are UK.

ex Pistols

Studio albums
* "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols" (Virgin, 1977) Platinum

Compilations and live albums
* "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle" (Virgin, 1979)
* "Some Product: Carri On Sex Pistols" (Virgin, 1979)
* "Kiss This" (Virgin, 1992)
* "Never Mind the Bollocks / Spunk" (aka "This is Crap") (Virgin, 1996)
* "Filthy Lucre Live" (Virgin, 1996)
* "The Filth and the Fury" (Virgin, 2000)
* "Jubilee" (Virgin, 2002)
* "Sex Pistols Box Set" (Virgin, 2002)

Singles
* "Anarchy in the UK" - 1976 #38
* "God Save the Queen" - 1977 #2
* "Pretty Vacant" - 1977 #6
* "Holidays in the Sun" - 1977 #8
* "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" - 1980 #21
* "Anarchy in the UK" (re-issue) - 1992 #33
* "Pretty Vacant" (live) - 1996 # 18
* "God Save the Queen" (re-issue) - 2002 # 15

Public Image Ltd.

Studio albums
* "First Issue" (Virgin, 1978)
* "Metal Box" (Virgin, 1979)
* "Flowers of Romance" (Virgin, 1981)
* "Commercial Zone" (PiL Records, 1983)
* "This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get" (Virgin, 1984)
* "Album" (Virgin, 1986)
* "Happy?" (Virgin, 1987)
* "9" (Virgin, 1989)
* "That What Is Not" (Virgin, 1992)

Compilations and live albums
* "Second Edition EP" (Virgin, 1980)
* "Paris in the Spring (Paris au Printemps)" (Virgin, 1980)
* "Live in Tokyo" (Virgin, 1983)
* "The Greatest Hits, So Far" (Virgin, 2003)

Singles
* "Public Image" - 1978 #9
* "Death Disco" - 1979 #20
* "Memories" - 1979 #60
* "Flowers of Romance" - 1981 #24
* "This Is Not a Love Song" - 1983 #5
* "Bad Life" - 1984 #71
* "Rise" - 1986 #11
* "Home" - 1986 #75
* "Seattle" - 1987 #47
* "The Body" - 1987 #100
* "Disappointed" - 1989 #38
* "Don't Ask Me" - 1990 #22
* "Cruel" - 1992 #49

Time Zone

Single
* "World Destruction" - 1984

olo

Studio albums
* "Psycho's Path" (Virgin, 1997)

Compilations
* "The Best of British £1 Notes" (Lydon, PiL & Sex Pistols) (Virgin/EMI, 2005)

Singles
* "Open Up" (with Leftfield) – 1993 – #11 UK
* "Sun" – 1997 – #42 UK

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.johnlydon.com Official John Lydon website]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=p2CnwYPhcQk Johnny Rotten on Judge Judy !]
* [http://www.youtube.com/rottentv RottenTube]
* [http://www.johnlydon.com/pp/pp_index.html Psycho's Path Micro-Site]
* [http://www.johnlydon.com/notes/notes_index.html The Best of British £1 Notes Micro-Site]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1483 Johnny Rotten on The Hour] ------
* [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/music/news/exsex-pistol-lydon-sued-for-lsquoassault-and-batteryrsquo-13507701.html]

Persondata
NAME=Lydon, John Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Johnny Rotten
SHORT DESCRIPTION=English rock musician
DATE OF BIRTH=31 January 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH=Holloway in London, England
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=

Источник: John Lydon

Jon Savage

Jon Savage (born 1953), real name Jonathon Sage, is a Cambridge-educated writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his award winning history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, "England's Dreaming," published in 1991.

He was a high-profile writer during the glory days of British punk and wrote articles on all the major punk acts. Savage wrote and published a fanzine called "London's Outrage" in 1976, and in 1977 began working as a journalist for Sounds. "Sounds" was, at that time, one of the UK's three major music papers, along with the New Musical Express and Melody Maker. Savage interviewed punk, New Wave and electronic music artists for "Sounds" until 1979, when he moved to "Melody Maker", and then in 1980 to the newly founded pop culture magazine "The Face".

Throughout the 1980s, Savage wrote for "The Observer" and the "New Statesman", providing high-brow commentary on popular culture.

In 1991, Savage designed a record sleeve for the, then little-known, Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers. The single was called "Feminine Is Beautiful".

"England's Dreaming", published by Faber in 1991, was lauded as the definitive history of punk music, and remains the single most comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon. cite web|title=Smash the State|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,310016,00.html|year=1992 |work=Entertainment Weekly] It was used as the basis for a television programme, "Punk and the Pistols", shown on BBC2 in 1995, and an updated edition in 2001 featured a new introduction which made mention of the Pistols' 1996 reunion and the release of the 2000 Pistols documentary film, "The Filth and The Fury".

Savage continues to write on punk and other genres in a variety of publications, most notably "Mojo" magazine and the Observer Music Monthly. He wrote the introduction to Mitch Ikeda's "Forever Delayed" (2002), an official photobook of the Manic Street Preachers.

Savage has appeared in the documentaries "" and "NewOrderStory".

Several compilation CDs based on his tracklistings have also been released, including "England's Dreaming" (2004) and "Meridian 1970" (2005), the latter of which puts forward the argument that 1970 was a high-point for popular music, contrary to critical opinion. His most recent compilation has been "Queer Noises 1961-1978" (2006), a compilation of largely overlooked pop songs from that period that carried overt or coded gay messages.

Jon Savage's latest book, "Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture", was published in 2007. It's a history of the concept of teenagers, which begins in the 1870s and ends in 1945. "Teenage" aims to tell the story of youth culture's prehistory, and dates the advent of today's form of "teenagers" to 1945. cite web|title=The Kids Are—Yawn—Alright|url=http://nymag.com/arts/books/reviews/30624/|year=2007 |work=New York Magazine]

Works

*"England's Dreaming Sex Pistols and Punk Rock" Publisher: London, Faber & Faber Ltd, 1991 ISBN 9780571139750
*"Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture" Publisher: Viking Books, 2007 ISBN 9780670038374
*"Joy Division" documentary film, screenwriter, 2008 cite web|title=Unseen pleasures|url=http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/observermusic/2008/03/unseen_pleasures.html|year=2008 |work=guardian.co.uk]

Music compilations

*"Queer Noises - From the Closet to the Charts" (Trikont [http://www.trikont.com/ Trikont] ) [http://www.newint.org/columns/media/music/2006/12/01/queer/ "Queer Noises" review]

* "Dreams come true -classic wave electro 1982-8799-" (Domino Records 2008)

References

External links

* [http://www.3ammagazine.com/litarchives/2002_jun/interview_jon_savage.html 2002 interview]
* [http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/juvenilia-and-other-delinquencies-an-interview-with-jon-savage/ 2007 interview]
* [http://www.ljmu.ac.uk/lea/77472.htm England's Dreaming Archive Papers held at Liverpool John Moores University]

Источник: Jon Savage