Lydon Blazes His Own 'Path' on Virgin
Solo Bow Finds Artist Working With Electronic Genre
By Craig Rosen
Billboard magazine - June 21st, 1997
LOS ANGELES- After fronting two of the most influential modern rock acts of the last two decades, John Lydon has finally stepped out on his own with "Psycho's Path," his solo debut, due Tuesday (17) on Virgin Records.
Under the pseudonym Johnny Rotten, Lydon spat his name into rock history, shouting such punk anthems as "God Save the Queen" and "Anarchy in the UK."
Following the Pistols' implosion in 1978, Lydon resurfaced in Public Image Ltd., a group that in large part defined the post-punk movement of the early 80's and whose influence can be heard in the current wave of electronic music.
While some viewed Lydon's decision to re-form the Sex Pistols for a 1996 tour as a sham, the vocalist says the trek, dubbed the Filthy Lucre tour, was a necessity.
"I enjoyed the money," he says, "and quite frankly I needed it to finish this album, which was one of my major reasons for doing the tour."
While Lydon says that performing the old Sex Pistols songs was "great fun," he's still at odds with his fellow ex-Pistols.
"It turned out, as a tour, to be very like the original Pistols tour," he says. "I ended up hating the band with a passion. They behaved more or less exactly the same. The last night in Chile, they left the next morning, and not a one of them had the decency to ring me up and say goodbye, and I haven't spoken to any of them since.
"I earned them a lot of money," he adds. "The least they could do is be civil, but that's a bit too much for those bungholes."
On a more serious note, there were other factors leading to the resurrection of the band that Lydon frequently swore he would never re-form. He wanted to debunk the myth that surrounded the group's short-lived career.
"In a great way, it was a cleansing process," he explains. "When people build things up and mythologize about things, I think you should really break it down and just introduce a touch of reality to the insanity that's called pop music."
It was actually in 1994, prior to the Pistols reunion, that Lydon- who is managed by Panacea Entertainment's Eric Gardner- began working on "Psycho's Path" at his Los Angeles-area home, although he didn't set out to make a solo album.
"It just happened that way," he says. "I decided to build my own studio a few years back, and as pieces of equipment arrived, I started to work on them, and lo and behold an album came out of it.
"It would have been kind of stupid to bring in a load of musos to do what had already been done."
Still, the prospect of a solo album has the usually outspoken Lydon somewhat unnerved. "It is pretty damned frightening for someone that has worked for 20-odd years in a band outfit to finally put my neck on the line," he admits. "By this, I sink or swim, really."
Despite the influence of the Pistols and Public Image, Lydon's records have never been huge sellers. His best-selling album is "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols," which was certified platinum in the U.S. in 1992, 15 years after its release on Warner Bros.
The Sex Pistols' 1996 album, "Filthy Lucre Live," failed to crack The Billboard 200.
Still, Natalie Waleik, VP/director of purchasing for the 18-store, Allston, Mass.-based Newbury Comics, expects the faithful to flock into stores for "Psycho's Path." Says Waleik, "There's always a certain number of people that are going to be curious to hear this record, but whether he can break out to a bigger audience remains to be seen."
Working in Lydon's favor is the fact that the album- produced by Lydon and Mark Saunders and featuring remixes by Moby, the Chemical Brothers, Danny Saber, and Leftfield- fits into the current wave of electronic music, despite the fact that the artist began working on it three years ago.
"Original is original and that's all there is to it, regardless of the date that it's hatched," Lydon says. "Current trends and fashion have nothing to do with me. I ignore all that stuff. I don't play that game. I've always used computers from day one. It's no big change for me, and it strikes me as laughable that they are currently fashionable."
The five remixed cuts- including "Open Up," which Lydon recorded with Leftfield in 1993- were included simply as a bonus, the artist says, adding that he's not particularly a big fan of the acts who supplied remixes, with the exception of Leftfield. (A 10-track version of the album, without the remixes, was released by Nippon Columbia March 21 in Japan.)
"I just thought it would be good fun to let somebody else mess about with the tracks," he adds. "I did it with Leftfield because they are great friends of mine. There's an outfit I respect. I think that they are top-league, whereas I think the Chemical Brothers are just DJs."
Lydon, naturally, also has some choice words for today's young breed of Johnny-come-lately punks. "What a load of turkeys," Lydon says. "Get original."
Virgin is optimistic that Lydon's "original punk godfather" status will help pave the way for "Psycho's Path."
In the weeks before the album's release, Lydon put in some high-profile late-night appearances on CBS' "The Late Late Show With Tom Snyder" and ABC's "Politically Incorrect." The Snyder appearance marked Lydon's second stint with the veteran TV personality. An early 80's appearance, in which Lydon played the punk to the hilt, still had Snyder smarting more than a decade later.
"Tom was very decent, so I behaved accordingly, and I thought I got on really well with him," he says. "In a weird way he was apologizing; I thought it was very sweet. The first time it was confusing- not for me, for him- but it made for good TV."
Although neither of those appearances featured music, Virgin Records America director of product management Eric Ferris says they were effective in getting the word out that one of rock's great characters has returned. "And with John's blessings, we are going to use that character as many ways as we can," Ferris says.
A major thrust of the "Psycho's Path" campaign will be a six-week North American tour (booked by the William Morris Agency), which will kick off in mid-July and take Lydon to large clubs and ballrooms.
"There's a lot of people that are interested in going out and finding out what he has been working on for the last three years," Ferris says.
Lydon, too, is looking forward to playing live. After living with the tracks on "Psycho's Path" for three years, Lydon admits he is "bored shitless with it... The only way that it is exciting to me is the fact that I'm going to completely change the tunes and perform it live completely differently, otherwise, it would be just like bad theater."
Aside from the tour, Virgin will service the entire album to college and modern rock stations, as well as work a vinyl promo of the track "Sun" at clubs.
In addition, a video, developed by Lydon and director David Jackson, has been prepared for "Sun." The clip combines animation based on postcard characters of the blue-collar work force in Northern England with footage of Lydon. The clip, which Ferris describes as "lighthearted," will be serviced to regional outlets and MTV.
Virgin also plans to tap into the Internet to spread the word about Lydon, who will be launching his own site at http://www.johnlydon.com.
Musically, Lydon explores often spooky terrain on "Psycho's Path," recalling some of his best work with Public Image. The album's opening track, "Grave Ride"- published by Rotten Music (PRS) and administered by WB Music Corp. (ASCAP)- was inspired in part by the war in Bosnia. "It could really pertain to any war, any strife," he says, noting that the song was written for his wife. "In the mad, psychotic world we live in, things can fall apart very quickly. There's an element of fear there."
In the track "Dog," Lydon takes on one of his favorite targets, organized religion. "It's a pet hate," he quips. "It won't go away, and let's face it, it provides me with wonderful material."