The 7 wildest takes from punk legend John Lydon
Even before the days of the Sex Pistols, John Lydon wasn’t afraid to voice his opinion. Despite the frequently cited criticism that his public image was a fallacy, very few can doubt that he is one of music’s original iconoclasts. From his art to his beliefs, the man has always trodden his own path. In an industry known for its tendency to attract sheeple, a certain degree of respect has to be awarded to the Public Image Ltd frontman, despite the overarching view people may have of him.
Lydon is a strange case. He has achieved many feats that earned respect from fans. Whether it be spearheading punk or tearing into archaic institutions, his career is coloured with wholly agreeable moments. However, on the other hand, and increasingly as he’s grown older, Lydon has tended to provide takes that are so dumbfounding that his cultural standing is being seriously re-evaluated.
From supporting Donald Trump to his comments on gay marriage, in recent times, Lydon has seen his relevance chipped away at by providing a host of wild takes. These damaging assertions range from comedic to outright damning. With his current media image strangely disparate from the one that burst onto the scene with the Sex Pistols in 1976, there’s no surprise the composition of his fanbase has changed dramatically.
After all, this was the man who once dismissed Hole frontwoman Courtney Love by saying: “You love the idea of being a rebel, but you haven’t proved to me – or anybody – exactly what being a rebel is; what are you rebelling against? You’re just a pile of confusion. Ya cheap fake.”
Expect some surprises. A trigger warning must also be issued.
John Lydon’s 7 wildest takes:
Same-sex marriage
If it wasn’t strange enough seeing John Lydon appear on the BBC’s Sunday morning religious programme The Heaven and Earth Show, his comments when on set took the absurdity even further. Featuring on the show on February 10th, 2005, he expressed his opinion on same-sex marriages raising children, and rightfully, it caused outrage.
He said: “I don’t like the idea of one-parent families. It’s very tough on the kids. They grow up missing something. I find the same with same-sex marriages; there is something missing. There is a point to male and female – and for a child to develop, it needs both those aspects.”
In support of Donald Trump…
As John Lydon came from a working-class background and made his name railing against the upper classes, he inspired a wave of backlash when he supported Donald Trump in his re-election campaign in late 2020. Although Trump is mistakenly regarded by many of his supporters as being the man to bring down the establishment, there should be no bones made about the fact that he is very much of the establishment. For instance, he came from a billionaire background and was privately educated.
Despite this, when speaking to The Observer in 2020, Lydon doubled down on his previous backing of the 46th President of the US. He claimed people would have to be as “daft as a brush” not to vote for him. He maintained: “He’s the only sensible choice now that Biden is up — he’s incapable of being the man at the helm.”
Eurovision is “phoney”, but I can change that
When John Lydon announced his intention to compete on Eurovision with Public Image Ltd earlier this year, the irony wasn’t lost on anyone. In his typically confounding manner, he labelled the competition “dreadfully phoney”, but a matter of seconds later, he was pledging his involvement and saying that he could turn the competition on its head.
Speaking to Cormac Ó hEadhra on RTE’s Radio 1, Lydon explained: “It’s absolutely awful, the songs. The whole thing of it is disgusting to me. I’m a songwriter, I perform live, and these shows just come across as so dreadfully phoney to me.”
He continued: “But look, we’re giving it a chance to break out of that mould.” With the release of the single ‘Hawaii’ earlier this month, Lydon’s assertions appear serious.
Critique of the Black Lives Matter movement
When sitting down with The Guardian in 2022, Lydon spoke of his contempt of cancel culture: “There’s no understanding, no empathy for another point of view. No room for being an individual. The internet has made people so volatile! That’s why it’s easy for me to say ‘I like Trump’, and see how that kicks off.”
Whilst the statement he made about no point of view is somewhat agreeable, what he said after rightly caused him to come under fire. Later in the discussion, Lydon mentioned his issues with “BLM and the woke and all of that” stating that they’re “making problems that really were almost semi-non-existent”.
Problems that were almost “semi-non-existent”? With regards to BLM, try telling that to the families of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, George Floyd and many others.
“Anarchy is a terrible idea”
John Lydon penning a column for The Times is indicative of the bizarre state the world currently finds itself in. Whilst there were many talking points from this eye-opening piece, one of the hottest was when he wrote: “Anarchy is a terrible idea. Let’s get that clear. I’m not an anarchist. And I’m amazed that there are websites out there – .org anarchist sites – funded fully by the corporate hand and yet ranting on about being outside the shitstorm. It’s preposterous. And they’re doing it in designer Dr Martens, clever little rucksacks and nicely manufactured balaclavas.”
Although it is hard to disagree with the former Sex Pistols frontman on the fashion front, for the man who once sang the unironic lines, “Oh I am an anti-Christ / And I am an anarchist”, it appears that he’s had quite the change in character. It also begs the question, were the Sex Pistols ever genuine?
“God Bless the Queen”
The point that caused the most significant stir in the Times column was when he said, “God bless the Queen. She’s put up with a lot. I’ve got no animosity against any one of the royal family. Never did.” As Lydon once labelled the royal family as a “fascist regime” and the Queen as “no human being”, this was beyond the pale, with many longtime followers of Lydon calling it a day after this admission.
Interestingly enough, Lydon did criticise one tenet of the monarchy: “It’s the institution of it that bothers me and the assumption that I’m to pay for that. There’s where I draw the line. It’s like, ‘No, you’re not getting ski holidays on my tax’.”
Scathing take on the Muslim world
With the Israel-Palestine debate being one of the most contentious in society, there’s no surprise that Lydon has entered the discussion. In 2010, when heavyweights Roger Waters and Elvis Costello announced their plans to cancel their performances in Israel and boycott the country, Lydon pushed forward with a Public Image Ltd show in Tel Aviv, Israel.
When probed on his decision by The Independent, Lydon came out with one of his most incendiary takes to date. Slamming the Muslim world, he said: “If Elvis-fucking-Costello wants to pull out of a gig in Israel because he’s suddenly got this compassion for Palestinians, then good on him. But I have absolutely one rule, right? Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won’t understand how anyone can have a problem with how they’re treated.”