Johnny Rotten
As we have sent February honouring Punk music, it is only fitting that we honour one of it's brightest stars, John Joseph Lydon is better known as Johnny Rotten, the punk rock legend that fronted the Sex Pistols as they shaped their genre for years to come.
Lydon became notorious in the media during the 1970s as a figurehead of the punk movement, and for his stance against the music establishment, class system and the British monarchy. He has since become a television personality, appearing on television shows in both the UK and elsewhere.
Rise To Fame
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.
Bizzarely, 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 "I'm Eighteen" to the accompaniment of the shop's jukebox, Lydon was chosen as the band's front man.
So why the hell did he decide on the stage name, Johnny Rotten? well there are various rumours as to the origins, but it is mainly thought that it was as a result of his shocking personal hygiene and the terrible stage of his teeth.
The band shot to fame in 1977 when they released the controversial song, God Save The Queen during the week of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. Although the song was a hit, it 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.
Other Work
After the break up of the Sex Pistols, John took some time out to reflect before launching his solo career with an album Psycho's Path. Nice. He wrote all of the songs and played all the instruments. Clearly wanting to 'push the boundaries' of modern music, he decided to sing the vocals to the song, Sun, through a toilet roll; how revolutionary. Unsurprisingly it did not sell particularly well.
Other Projects
In 1983, Lydon co-starred with Harvey Keitel in the movie thriller Corrupt, a.k.a. Copkiller and The Order of Death in which he played a psychotic rich boy. He also had a go at presenting on radio as the mid-1990's saw him host Rotten Day, a daily syndicated US radio feature written by George Gimarc.
Possibly the highlight of his career, okay, just my favourite bit, was his appearance on courtroom reality show, Judge Judy which saw him fighting a suit filed by his former tour drummer Robert Williams for breach of contract, and assault and battery. Lydon won the case, although Judge Judith Sheindlin wasn't overly impressed with Lydon's antics and did advise Lydon to keep quiet several times.
In 2000, Lydon expanded his presenting resume to include a television show, Rotten TV, a short-lived show on VH1. The show offered his acerbic commentary on American politics and pop culture.
Most recently, Lydon appeard beside other Z-List 'celebrities' on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. Proving he was still controversial despite 'getting on a bit' he called the show's viewers "fu*king c*nts" during a live broadcast, and was promptly removed from the jungle.
These days though, John is happy prancing around the countryside as the face for Country Life, a popular brand of butter - very rock 'n roll. Lydon was widely mocked as a sell-out for this move, however the advertising campaign was proven to be highly successful, with sales of the brand raising 85% in the quarter following, which many in the media attributed to Lydon's presence in the advert.
Controversy
It has to be said however, that Jonny Rotten has been living up to his wild side since the day of conception, and loves grabbing the headlines with his outlandish behaviour.
Most recently Lydon was reportedly involved in a string of offences, including battery, sexual abuse, sexual assault and physical assault at the Ritz Carlton.
What's more, 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.
He also managed to piss of the nation's favourite singer, Duffy, during an awards ceremony, when, according to her: "I was literally slammed against the wall, pinned by his arm at my throat. He called me a c*nt". She spent the whole night crying over the incident and felt awful about it for the following week. Lydon later claimed he hadn't realised who Duffy was, saying: "Oh, she got an award? I quite like her."
Regardless of that, it seems that someone can put up with his c*nt-like actions as he is married to Nora Forster with whom he lives with in Los Angeles. Regardless of his behaviour though, there is no doubt that he is one of the forefathers of the punk rock genre.
We can scorn his behaviour until we're blue in the face, but one thing is certain, Punk wouldn't be the same without him... after all, isn't punk all about rebellion?
Read our Genre Of The Month: Punk article here
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison