John Lydon
34 articles
Audio interviews
Interview by Kris Needs, Rock's Backpages audio, 1981
John Lydon, Keith Levene and (a barely audible) Jeanette Lee on: the Flowers of Romance album; what was wrong with Wobble; Satin tour jackets; the Futurists & Steve Strange; problems with Virgin Records and more.
File format: mp3; file size: 41.2mb, interview length: 45' 01" sound quality: **
Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1988
Live Aid? Bollocks! Mat Snow battles the airport tannoy to hear pearls of wisdom from John Lydon and band.
File format: MP3 File size: 16.1 mb<br> Interview length: 23 minute 47 seconds Sound quality: ***
Interview by Steven Daly, Rock's Backpages audio, September 1990
John Lydon, eco-warrior, talks about — among many things — rap, NWA, and the Moral Majority; Malcolm McLaren and Bernie Rhodes; ex-bandmate Steve Jones; living in Los Angeles; punks becoming the new establishment; football and his beloved Arsenal; his take on fashion; liking Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour and offending Joni Mitchell; the current PiL and the band's previous members; on being involved in film... and being very rude about the Clash.
File format: mp3; file size: 104mb, interview length: 1h 48' 20" sound quality: ***
Interview by Paul Zollo, Rock's Backpages audio, 5 August 2015
The venerable (post)punk talks about how he writes, from the Pistols days through PiL: his influences, motivation and about specific songs.
File format: mp3; file size: 31.3mb, interview length: 34' 09" sound quality: ** (phoner)
List of articles in the library
A Punk And His Music: An Evening With John Rotten
Interview by uncredited writer, Sounds, 23 July 1977
JOHNNY ROTTEN digs reggae and soul. That was one of the more interesting facets of his personality that emerged when he was interviewed by DJ ...
Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten (1977) [transcript]
Audio transcript of interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 11 November 1977
This is a transcript of John's audio interview with Sid and Johnny. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
John Lydon: Man A Warrior – The Interview part 1
Report and Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 4 March 1978
There's only one place to be late at night in Jamaica – tuned in to radio JBC, the man Michael Campbell, the man they call ...
John Lydon: Man A Warrior, part 2
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 11 March 1978
CYNICS AMONG the SOUNDS readership may have been wondering why/how our Johnny Rotten underwent such a speedy transformation into this new-fangled character called Johnny Cool, ...
The Poolside Pronouncements Of Johnny 'No-Tan' Rotten
Interview by Chris Salewicz, New Musical Express, 18 March 1978
JOHN ROTTEN likes dressing up. Seeing him stuck away under a parasol by the side of the Olympic-sized pool of the Kingston Sheraton at eleven ...
Interview by Gary Pig Gold, The Pig Paper, August 1978
Johnny Says Never Mind The Bollocks ...
Report by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 24 February 1979
AS JOHNNY Rotten savours his first victory in the Lydon-Glitterbest case, Public Image Ltd. prepare to record a second album with a new drummer, the ...
The Rise And Fall Of Malcolm McLaren Part Three: Last Tango In Paris — 'Je Ne Regrette Rien...'
Retrospective and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 30 June 1979
WHEN HE WAS LYING, HE WAS MORE INTERESTING THAN MANY MEN TELLING A STORY TRULY. ...
The Fugitive: John Lydon at Large
Interview by Chris Salewicz, The Face, December 1980
IT SEEMS POETICALLY APPROPRIATE that John Lydon has chosen Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange as the film to insert into the video-cassette deck at Virgin's Townhouse ...
Interview by Adam Sweeting, Melody Maker, 8 February 1986
John Lydon, a cartoon character no longer, is back with a single which looks like being a bit of a hit, and an album called ...
John Lydon: This Is What You Get
Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 8 February 1986
THIS IS the beginning of an interview with the John Lydon who has drunk seven cans of Red Stripe lager, after breakfasting on oysters. ...
Lydon vs McLaren: The End of the Affair
Report by Jon Savage, Spin, April 1986
EARLY IN 1976, the Sex Pistols were a good idea trying to get started, gate-crashing other people's concerts — with instruments allegedly stolen from rich ...
Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, July 1989
IN THE BAR OF the North London rehearsal studio complex, John Lydon, wearing a typically loud shirt, a pair of unorthodox dark spectacles and the ...
Interview by Steven Daly, Interview, January 1991
RESPLENDENT IN a California combo of fluorescent shorts and suntan, and crowned by a thatch of blond hair, the former Johnny Rotten answers the door ...
Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, March 1992
THE MAN IN THE ETHNIC-TEA-COSY-STYLED headwear and the unsightly puce satin ski pants lies back on my sofa, swigs lustily from a bottle of strong ...
Interview by Kris Needs, New Musical Express, 27 November 1993
IT'S ONE NIGHT in June '92, long past midnight at the Brixton Academy. The Orb have finished washing the cerebral nether regions of the full-on ...
Report by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 19 March 1994
Hey, you! Are you trying to coat your lungs with a half-pound bag of baking soda mixed with industrial-strength heroin and dealer's dandruff? STEVEN 'Just ...
Who the Hell Does John Lydon Think He Is?
Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, June 1994
THE INTERVIEW, Q vs Lydon, should have taken place several months ago but when I turned up on his Fulham doorstep and rang his bell, ...
John Lydon: The Q 100 interview
Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, January 1995
HOW THE devil are you?Oh, I'm all right. I'm fiiiine. I'm lovely. I'm doing a solo record. Just me. John Lydon and nobody else. ...
Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, August 1997
THIS IS Lydon's first solo album, recorded before and after the calamitous reunion of The Sex Pistols. You'd have thought his cup of derision would ...
No Future? At Least Lydon Isn't Hung Up On The Past
Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 22 August 1999
JOHN LYDON – once (and probably forever) known as Johnny Rotten – does not stomp around the world in a bad mood, contrary to popular ...
Johnny Rotten on the Sex Pistols' 20 Wildest Moments
Interview by Neil Mason, Melody Maker, June 2000
With The Filth & The Fury coming your way, John Lydon AKA Johnny Rotten, recalls how the Sex Pistols became the most exciting band ever ...
Interview by Neil Mason, Melody Maker, June 2000
NOTE: When the Filth and the Fury film was released in 2000, Lydon agreed to do three press interviews, of which Melody Maker, for some ...
Book Excerpt by Paul Wellings, 'I'm a Journalist...Get Me Out of Here!', 2004
I BLUFFED my way into journalism and am still bluffing in the PR world. If the truth were told, most journalists are bluffers to some ...
Interview by Keith Cameron, MOJO, February 2004
After 17 years as a California exile, John Lydon in 2004 occupies his time with satellite football, a new solo album and railing against his ...
Guide by Terry Staunton, unpublished, October 2004
JOHN LYDON is expected to put the cat among the pigeons during his forthcoming stint on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here — ...
John Rotten Lydon in a Few Words
Essay by Glenn O'Brien, VMan, Spring 2005
OKAY, JUST THINKING about him, I got a powerful yen to listen to John Lydon's music and as the vinyl's all out at the country ...
Profile and Interview by Jon Wilde, Mail On Sunday, January 2007
JOHN LYDON CERTAINLY knows how to make an entrance. Within ten seconds of being introduced, he's already demonstrated his full armoury of trademark gestures. ...
Interview by John Doran, The Stool Pigeon, March 2010
IN CALIFORNIA WE MEET a traveller from an antique land. On two scrawny legs – KFC issue – he stands. He has a shattered look. ...
Mr Rotten and the Weaponry of Words
Interview by Julian Marszalek, Gigwise, 6 March 2017
John Lydon opens up about 40 years of lyric writing ...
see also Public Image Ltd
see also Sex Pistols
back to LIBRARY
