John Lydon

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John Lydon (2010)

John Joseph Lydon (stage name Johnny Rotten ; born January 31, 1956 in London ) is a British musician and singer . From 1976 he became known to a wider audience as a member of the scandalous English punk band Sex Pistols . After its dissolution in 1978, he founded the experimental post-punk music project Public Image Ltd.

Childhood and youth

John Lydon was born the son of an Irish immigrant. He attended elementary school in the Catholic Our Lady Of The Sacred Heart Primary School in Islington from 1961 to 1967 . In 1964 he contracted meningitis and was hospitalized for three months at Whittington Hospital in Islington. Because of the meningitis, he was in a coma for seven months. As a long-term consequence, Lydon retained scoliosis and a slight visual impairment , which manifests itself in myopia and his characteristic stare .

Lydon attended the Catholic St William Of York Secondary School until he was 15 , but was expelled from school in December 1971 after a dispute with his English teacher. After the parents intervened with the school authority, the London bishop , Lydon was able to successfully take the final exams for secondary school leavers . His experiences with the denominational school system made Lydon a bitter opponent of organized religion, which he also expressed in song lyrics. In order to achieve the general university entrance qualification ( Advanced Level ), Lydon went from 1972 to 1974 to the Hackney Technical College in Hackney , where he met his later bandmate Sid Vicious . Due to irregular participation in classes, Lydon moved to Kingsway College in Camden in 1974 , where he in turn met his later bandmate Jah Wobble . Lydon dropped out of school before the 1975 summer break.

plant

John Lydon became a protagonist of the punk movement in the late 1970s . Lydon's popularity is based on his role as Johnny Rotten , which he filled from 1975 to 1978 as the singer and author of the Sex Pistols . His cynical lyrics for the band (including Anarchy in the UK and God Save the Queen ), his provocative looks and his wild stage performances full of uncontrolled roars and public abuse soon made him a famous figure in punk rock. Malcolm McLaren , the manager of the Sex Pistols , once said of him: “He came into my shop with green short-shaven hair and a torn Pink Floyd T-shirt that he had handwritten 'I Hate' on it. He couldn't sing at all, but he had enough aggression to become the Sex Pistols' singer. " However, after he had fallen out with McLaren completely and his best friend Sid Vicious had become addicted to heroin , he left the band in frustration. Shortly after Sid Vicious died, Paul Cook and Steve Jones tried for some time without Lydon as the Sex Pistols. In 1980 the group finally disbanded.

In 1978 Lydon founded the music project Public Image Ltd. , initially with Keith Levene and Jah Wobble . (PiL) , which deals with experimental sounds in addition to dub and belongs to the post-punk style . From 1999 to 2000 Lydon hosted a total of three episodes of Rotten TV on the American music channel VH-1 . In 2004 Lydon was on the UK version of the TV show I'm a Celebrity - Get Me Out of Here! to see. In addition to his musical activities, John Lydon has worked as a visual artist for several decades and has designed several covers for his albums himself.

music

Movie

literature

  • Dave Thomas: Johnny Rotten In His Own Words . Omnibus Press , 1988.
  • John Lydon: Johnny Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs: my life with the Sex Pistols . ISBN 978-3-85445-102-0 (British English: Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs . 1994. Original edition: Hodder & Stoughton , ISBN 0-450-60182-X ).
  • John Lydon: Mr. Rotten's Scrapbook . Concert Live Ltd., 2010
  • John Lydon with Andrew Perry: Anger is an Energy - my life uncensored. Heyne, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-453-26977-4 .

Political attitude

John Lydon with the Sex Pistols in 1977

John Lydon has repeatedly expressed controversy on political issues in the past. Because of the image of the Sex Pistols, Lydon was often referred to as an anarchist , a designation that Lydon has since firmly rejected. He accuses the anarchist movement of uniformity, anachronism and double standards and describes it as a "nice hobby of the middle class ". He criticizes both conservatism and socialism , although he is a sharp opponent of class society , and was hostile to both Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair . He rejects both the British and the American two-party system and called George W. Bush the worst possible US president . In return, Lydon favors liberal politics, is positive about the European Union , but also supports the politics of the trade unions and expressed himself positively about Arthur Scargill , whose communist tendencies he rejected. He is an admirer of Mahatma Gandhi , represents anti-war positions and rejects any religion as an outdated concept. Several times he expressed himself ambivalent about the British royal family : In his autobiography , he called the ancestors of the Windsors a "medieval mafia "; in recent interviews, however, he is more positive about the royal family, as they are to be seen as part of British culture. Lydon sees British culture as internationalist and multicultural and sees himself as an opponent of nationalism , isolationism and racism , as he sees his own origins in the melting pot of the British suburbs. Lydon is also committed to environmental and animal welfare and supports the World Society for the Protection of Animals and Save Our Seas . Lydon represents a radical individualism and for this reason refuses to be called punk .

In 2006 he publicly expressed sympathy for the British politician Enoch Powell . In 2008, Kele Okereke , singer of the band Bloc Party , claimed to have been racially insulted and attacked by Lydon and members of his entourage. The incident caused headlines in the British press, so that Lydon had to publicly declare in a television interview that he was not a racist.

At the end of March 2017, John Lydon showed understanding for the voters of Donald Trump , for Brexit and for Nigel Farage on the British breakfast television Good Morning Britain .

Observation by the police and secret services

In 1997, the former secret service employee David Shayler made public that MI5 had observed the Sex Pistols among others under the general process of "subversion in modern music" . The US tour of the Sex Pistols in January 1978 is also said to have been observed by the FBI , according to unconfirmed newspaper reports .

In 1980, John Lydon was repeatedly the target of police house searches, causing him to leave the country in 1981. In October 1980 Lydon was arrested in Dublin for assault and spent three days in custody in Mountjoy Prison , but the three month sentence was suspended on bail and overturned on appeal in December 1980. In his autobiography, Lydon later claimed the incident was provoked by a plainclothes officer.

Family and personal life

John Lydon (2008)

John Lydon's parents were Irish migrant workers who came to England in the 1950s. His father, John Christopher Lydon, was from Tuam and worked as a driver and crane operator for William Press & Son, Ltd. He died of a heart attack on January 25, 2008. Lydon's mother Eileen, nee Barry, was from Carrigrohane near Cork and died of cancer in early 1979.

John Lydon has three younger brothers, James, Robert and Martin. James Lydon also had a band called 4 "Be 2" from 1979 to 1981 . The family of six lived until 1967 in a two-room apartment in a workers' housing estate on Benwell Road in Islington, which Lydon called "Victorian slum dwelling" and which has since been demolished. In 1967 the family moved to the Six Acres Estate in Finsbury Park . From 1970 onwards, Lydon worked on construction sites with his father during the summer holidays. In the 1975 summer vacation he worked in a school after- school care center and headed the woodworking group, but was dismissed after complaints from parents about his appearance. Although he turned down the offer of training as an educator, he later stated that he would most likely have become an educator or teacher. Instead, he received an offer from London boutique owner Malcolm McLaren in late August 1975 to become the Sex Pistols singer .

From the end of 1974 Lydon lived temporarily in squats , in the course of 1977 he lived in various locations in London with friends like Sid Vicious and Jah Wobble for rent. After his band had signed a recording deal with the US company Warner Bros. on October 10, 1977 , he bought a condominium at 45 Gunter Grove, Chelsea in late 1977, in 1981 Lydon moved to New York, where he moved to West 18th Street Manhattan rented a large loft apartment. In early 1984 John Lydon moved to California, initially to a rented house outside of Pasadena . Since 1986 he has owned a house in Marina del Rey that used to belong to actress Mae West . He also owns a weekend home on the 31962 Pacific Coast Highway west of Malibu .

John Lydon has lived with Nora Forster, born 15 years older, since spring 1977. Maier, daughter of the Swabian (and Berlin) newspaper publisher Franz Karl Maier and ex-wife of pop singer Frank Forster , in a relationship. Nora Forster's daughter from his first marriage, Ariane, who died in 2010, was Udo Jürgens' godchild and singer in the punk band The Slits . On the question of whether the couple is married or not, Lydon has always declined to comment, but Forster's ex-husband denied this in an interview with the Sunday Mirror . There was never a meeting with Nora Forster's father Franz Karl Maier. Because her mother was overwhelmed with the upbringing, Ariane's twin sons Pedro and Pablo had lived with John Lydon and Nora Forster in Los Angeles since 2000 . First, Lydon cut off the dreadlocks of the twins, who grew up in the Rastafarian religion in Jamaica , because he believes it is "fundamentally wrong" to "impose religions on children."

Others

  • The Canadian singer and guitarist Neil Young wrote about Lydon on his album Rust Never Sleeps in 1978 : “ Hey hey, my my / Rock and Roll can never die / […] The King is gone but he's not forgotten / This is the story of a Johnny Rotten / It's better to burn out than it is to rust / […] ”
  • It was only thanks to a coincidence that John Lydon and Nora Forster escaped the Lockerbie attack that killed 270 people and is considered the largest terrorist attack in Europe to date.
  • In the skateboard video Sorry by the manufacturer Flip , John Lydon plays the commentator and introduces the skaters' parts.
  • After the end of his band Public Image Ltd. In 1993 he founded the production company JRJL Productions Inc. in California with his former school friend John "Rambo" Stevens , which is still active.

Web links

Commons : John Lydon  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Interview with Max Fellmann, in: Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin No. 11, March 17, 2017, p. 16.
  2. ↑ John Lydon: Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs . St Martin's Press, 1994, p. 19 (US first edition)
  3. ↑ Interview with Lydon's father ( Musician magazine USA 6/1986, p. 70)
  4. ↑ John Lydon: Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs . St Martin's Press, 1994, p. 43 (US first edition)
  5. ↑ Interview with Max Fellmann, in: Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin No. 11, March 17, 2017, p. 16.
  6. ↑ John Lydon: Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs . St Martin's Press, 1994, p. 17 (US first edition)
  7. ↑ Interview with Lydon's mother (in: Fred and Judy Vermorel: "Sex Pistols - The Inside Story" (Omnibus Press, UK edition 1987), p. 159)
  8. ↑ Entry on the Family Album at Discogs
  9. ↑ Thomas Erlewine: Overview , allmusic. 
  10. ↑ Simon Hattenstone: This Is My Britain. Our Britain. Not some German tourist’s . In: The Guardian , May 17, 2002
  11. ↑ Leora Kornfeld: John Lydon Interview. CBC Radio 2 , Real Time Show, June 28, 1997
  12. ↑ a b Scott Murphy: John Lydon - What Makes Britain Great? . JohnLydon.com, October 27, 2005
  13. ^ Ian Harrison: The Think Tank . In: Select magazine, July 1997
  14. ↑ a b Ben Wener: Johnny Rotten Sounds Off On The Sex Pistols Return . In: The Orange County Register , Santa Ana CA, October 24, 2007
  15. ↑ a b Mike Karin: What? You're Talking To Us? Year Zero online magazine, October 2001
  16. ↑ Steve Baltin: Johnny Rotten Judges Pop Stars and Politicians . Spinner.com, September 6, 2007
  17. ↑ a b c David D'Arcy: John Lydon - I'll Tell You What I Think . Greencine.com website, July 4, 2006
  18. ↑ Roger Morton: One Man And His Gob . In: New Musical Express , July 12, 1997
  19. ↑ Ben Marshall: John Lydon . In: Uncut magazine, August 2007
  20. ↑ johnlydon.com Sex Pistols Press Conference (Cobden Club, London, May 16, 2002)
  21. ↑ Sean Hamilton: Lock Up Your Grannies! In: The Sun , August 27, 2005
  22. ^ Scott Murphy: The Public Image? JohnLydon.com, June 2004
  23. ^ John Lydon: Internet Chat. Film Four , June 30, 2001
  24. ↑ Kevin Anderson: The Rotten Side Of US Politics . BBC News , World Politics broadcast, August 16, 2000
  25. ^ Campbell Stevenson: The Awkward Squad . In: The Observer , The Observer Music Monthly supplement, February 19, 2006
  26. ↑ Bloc Party And Sex Pistols' John Lydon In 'Racist Attack' . NME.com, July 21, 2008
  27. ↑ John Lydon Interview ( The One Show , BBC1, July 28, 2008)
  28. ↑ Tom Batchelor: Sex Pistols' John Lydon comes out in support of Trump, Brexit and Nigel Farage . In: The Independent , March 27, 2017
  29. ↑ Roisin O'Connor: John Lydon gave very different views on Brexit and Donald Trump last year . In: The Independent , March 28, 2017
  30. ^ MI5 Bugged Mandelson . In: The Mail On Sunday , August 24, 1997
  31. ↑ Jim Mendiola: Anarchy in SA In: San Antonio Current , Jan. 2, 2003
  32. ^ Adrian Thrills: Police News: Lydon Hassled . In: New Musical Express , February 23, 1980
  33. ↑ Patrick Clancy: Punk Star Johnny Gets Three Months For Pub Punch-Up . In: The Daily Telegraph , October 7, 1980
  34. ↑ John Lydon: Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs . St Martin's Press, 1994, p. 41 (US first edition)
  35. ↑ John Lydon: Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs . St Martin's Press, 1994, p. 12 (US first edition)
  36. ↑ John Lydon: Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs . St Martin's Press, 1994, p. 62 (US first edition)
  37. ↑ John Lydon: Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs . St Martin's Press, 1994, p. 65 (US first edition)
  38. ^ New Musical Express , December 17, 1977, p. 22
  39. ↑ John Lydon: Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs . St Martin's Press, 1994, p. 146 (US first edition)
  40. ↑ Peter Martin: I've Changed The World! In: Smash Hits , July 19, 1984
  41. ↑ Tom Hibbert: The Man Who Invented Punk . In: Smash Hits , February 2, 1986
  42. ^ David James Smith: Punky and Perky . In: The Sunday Times , April 18, 2004
  43. ↑ Celebrities in Malibu. Fizber.com real estate website
  44. ↑ John Lydon: Rotten - No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs . St. Martin's Press, 1994, p. 168 (US first edition)
  45. ↑ Lydon Accused Of Being Insanely Jealous . Contactmusic.com , Leeds , February 8, 2004
  46. ↑ galerie-frank-forster.de Frank Forster website
  47. ↑ Ari Up interview / CD review. In: Falter 30/2005, July 27, 2005
  48. ↑ Michael Woodhead: Johnny's Rottenly Jealous . In: Sunday Mirror , February 8, 2004
  49. ↑ Interview with Max Fellmann, in: Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin No. 11, March 17, 2017, p. 18.
  50. ↑ Interview with Max Fellmann, in: Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin No. 11, March 17, 2017, p. 18.
  51. ↑ Interview with Max Fellmann, in: Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin No. 11, March 17, 2017, p. 18.
  52. ↑ JRJL Productions Inc. (registered August 20, 1993 under company number C1864229 / 2850 Ocean Park Boulevard, Suite 300, Santa Monica CA 90405)
personal data
SURNAME Lydon, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lydon, John Joseph; Rotten, Johnny (stage name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British musician and former singer in the punk band Sex Pistols
DATE OF BIRTH January 31, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH London