News of the World (Scotland)
October 28th, 2007

Sex, Lies & Video games

THIRTY years ago today, the Sex Pistols released their ground breaking debut album. Here in an exclusive interview with the News of the World, their legendary frontman JOHN LYDON has reveled, for the first time, some of the band's best-kept secrets.

SIPPING continuously from cups of imported PG Tips tea at his home in Los Angeles, he looked forward to the band's show next month at Glasgow’s SECC and also turned his razor-sharp wit to a string of different subjects. Here are just a few of them…

FLASHING his trademark steely-eyed glare, punk rock legend John Lydon declares: "We won." Three decades after the SEX PISTOLS kick-started a cultural revolution, he's in the enviable position of knowing his band really did change the world. But he insisted: “We picked a difficult road for ourselves. We spoke our minds freely and, in many cases, as history has proved, correctly. To survive under those rules, though, isn't always easy. And that's the difference, I think, between the Sex Pistols and anything else in music. We ARE different - we actually mean what we say.

John was just 19 when he joined STEVE JONES, drummer PAUL COOK and bassist GLEN MATLOCK after a brief audition in Malcolm McLaren's Sex boutique on London's Kings Road. With their charismatic frontman renamed JOHNNY ROTTEN, they quickly set up an HQ in a disused rag trade sweatshop in Denmark St.

And John insisted he knew they had something special from the start. He added: “I was aware of it from the very first second that Steve plugged his guitar in. It just made this horrendous loud noise... but I loved it.  And for some bizarre reason, my voice and Steve's guitar work well." And he recalled how the band's unique sound began to take shape. He told us: "Our rehearsals were very loose. There was just a genuine thrill and joy at being able to do something unrestrained. We were left to our own devices and we learnt how to write songs as we were going along.

"Some of them we don't really necessarily view as songs either - some of them have no chorus. We accidentally broke just about every rule in the songwriting book. Fusing his words to music penned by Matlock, they rapidly developed a series of incredible songs such as Pretty Vacant and Anarchy In The UK. John explained: "The lyrics were just what I felt - isolation, job deprivation, no hope society.

"I mean, literally, NO future. Anyone from a working class background was looking at no future at all Ever. I just spoke from the heart. I can't do it any other way. That's what talentless gets you, you know? When you don't have any professional technique to fall back on and cover yourself, that's the end result - pure honesty.

It takes a long time for me to think through a song but when I write, I do it in one solid block. I’ll give you an example. God Save The Queen I wrote one morning all in one go. I changed a few lines later in rehearsal studios but basically that was it. Done.

The Pistols played their first gig at St Martin's art college on November 6, 1975 and signed to EMI Records just under a year later. By then, their incredible vision had already inspired others such as THE CLASH, THE DAMNED and ADAM AND THE ANTS to form.

Three days after signing with EMI they interrupted recording sessions for their first single to travel to Dundee Technical College for their first-ever Scottish gig on October 12, 1976. John confessed: l can't remember anything about it. Except I might have taunted some local hooligans…”

EMI rush-released Anarchy In The UK just over a month later. But after their notorious December 1 appearance on Bill Grundy's TV show, EMI deleted the single and dropped the band. After an ill-fated deal with A&M, they finally settled at Virgin Records, who released their debut album Never Mind The Bollocks 30 years ago today. Ironically, since EMI bought Virgin, they're now back where they started.

But John remains fiercely proud of the album. He told us: "I love the ferocity and joy of it. If you were to ask me to pick one track, I honestly don't think I could. When I put on Never Mind The Bollocks, which of course I do from time to time, it's all of it in one go.

Now, the reunited band are set to play Glasgow's SECC on November 18 and John insisted: “The most joyous audiences in the world are in Scotland. The people there have always understood where we're coming from."

But after snubbing an induction into the Rock'N'Roll Hall of Fame last year, John insisted he won't accept a lifetime achievement award either. He sneered: "I've got another 50 years to go. They're not carting me off to the knackers yard vet. Sod that!”

On Bagpipes
l DID a series for Belgian TV about makes Britain great. For one episode we visited Stirling Castle and the local bagpipe lads came out and played Anarchy with me. It was f*****g wonderful. Every single hair on the back of my head stood on end. It was sheer joy. You know me, I love a bit of tartan - it must be the keltic side of me - but that felt really REAL. I think it connects with  some way distant past. That sound is something that runs in your soul and triggers an emotional response as music is meant to.

On Guitar Hero III
WE thought doing Guitar Hero would be a doddle, you know? All this lovely money in hand just for letting them use our songs In a computer game. But no one could find the masters and we had to re-record Anarchy In The UK and Pretty Vacant for it. We flew over the original producer CHRIS THOMAS to do it with us. That spent  all the money, but it was most excellent fun to work with Paul and Steve in the studio again. It was worth blowing all the cash just for that vibe. And It's a great game. You get a little guitar with it and you have learn the song - which is more than Paul or Steve ever did in 30 years.

On Kenny Rodgers
RUBY Don't Take Your Love To Town was the first record I ever bought. It was 1969 and I was 13. I bought it because of the sleeve which was in West Ham colours - sky blue on a blood red. I just liked it, even though I’m an Arsenal man. So, even then, the artistic eye was covering up all kinds of horrendous noise. It's not what you'd expect but that's just me. I'm open to all kinds of things. What I expect is originality in music and that's why my eyes and ears a always go beyond the punk cliches - I can grab the fun out of the most obtuse nonsense. But years later, when I found out Kenny Rogers was a gambler, I was HEARTBROKEN.

On Rock Dinosaurs
I'VE been hanging out a lot recently with Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake and Palmer. And he's a great bloke. I've told Keith in no uncertain terms that what put me off his band were those 20-minute organ solos and that film of their convoy of trucks crossing America. But we know where we stand with each other. The bands are not the enemy, though the music they make might be. Now Led Zeppelin, I don't think you'll find two minutes of them to listen to. When I listen to Led Zep what I do is I Just take little bits from here and there and then bung 'em onto cassette. I can't BEAR a whole song. Revenge is sweet, innit?

On Posh and Becks
ALL the hype about the move to America fell flat on its face because Mr Beckham's performances have been, shall we say, a bit off the mark. But to join a team like LA Galaxy, you're, not fooling anyone. That's not a football team it's a glamorous version of the' knackers yard. It's Sunday League at best.  Now Posh herself is taking the credit for it all: 'Oh yes, it's all my idea to move to Los Angeles’. Well done, woman. You've KILLED your husband's career - I hope you enjoy the party. I feel a bit sorry for him. He comes across as an alright bloke. But, well, he's a bit of a mug ain't he?

IT'S one of the most Influential albums ever made - and exactly 30 years after It was first released you can now get your hands on a special anniversary vinyl edition of Never Mind The Bollocks.

It's an exact replica of the version that was rush-released on October 28, 1977, right down to the give­away poster and the one-sided 7" of Submission that was included with the first 50,000 copies (the track had accidentally been missed off early pressings).

John told us: "I've got to say thanks to our record company for agreeing to re-release It on vinyl because that was all a part of It. We listened to music at a higher level than most people get to experience these days. I don't think you can beat vinyl, just for the sound of It. There's so much more quality. You get much, much deeper, softer, warmer bass and the trebles aren't so harsh – you get that sensurround that modern technology has dissipated. Look, we're bunging this out and I know not everyone has a record player. But everyone bloody NEEDS one."

Early suggestions for the album title included God Save The Sex Pistols but the final title was suggested by guitarist Steve Jones. It was the catchphrase of two hotdog sellers he'd overheard at a stall in London's Piccadilly Circus.

"The artwork was the result of a sequence of different events," explained John. "Everything was happenstance and 'grab whatever's available'. Much like the way we recorded our songs. There was no great, waffling intellectualism. Our biggest influence was a crime show on TV called Police Report. They'd show blackmail letters and pictures where the faces had been blacked out. And we thought, 'Well, if we're going to be treated like criminals we might as well start acting like it'.

But typically the album title landed the band in hot water. It offended bosses at chains such as Boots, Woolworth’s and WH Smith, who refused to stock It. And in Nottingham, a record shop manager was arrested for displaying a promotional poster. John said: "Never mind the bollocks was just a working class way of saying 'stop talking rubbish'. The fuss proved how much paranoia there was about us."