To begin with I wish to make it clear that I, in no way, endorse the advert, nor do I think him doing the advert is a good thing at all. It’s just a bit silly to moan about it isn’t it? I mean, for a start, it’s not as though he has suddenly, out of nowhere, revealed himself to be, well, a bit of a prick. *whispers* He’s always been one.
The guy made his name for singing in the Sex Pistols, but also for being a jumped up snarling little twat, regularly winding people up. And that was his thing, what he was famous for, so why are people expecting him to act any different, when in the public eye nowadays? The fact that he can annoy everyone this much, just by doing one advert suggests he still has a semblance of the relevance he once had.
I’m not even claiming it’s a good advert or that it’s not completely contrary to many of the punk ideals which I hold pretty highly. It’s pretty fucking appalling. It’s nothing new though and its not exactly unexpected, the guy went on ‘I’m a celebrity oxygen thieving cunt get me on the telly for another 5 minutes’ for fucks sake. We all know he’s a sell out, if indeed he actually had that much to sell out anyway. It’s not as if he is Steve Ignorant or something, the principles weren’t actually there in the first place.
He made some great, influential music, yeah he’s a bit/a massive arse, but who really gives a shit? Sex Pistols were great PiL were great, and to an extent he is shitting on that legacy with reformation gigs and all that, but you don’t have to see them live now, you don’t have to watch the adverts, you don’t have to care so much! I would rather see him selling country life than watch most of the bollocks on the telly anyway. You don’t have to be too punk to like them or some bollocks like that. Just get the fuck over it.
Oh and finally, it is actually well good butter.
Here is the offending advert in case you haven’t seen it yet.
P.S. In no way am I offering the opinion that not giving a fuck and bollocks like that is punk. It’s not and even naïve 12 year olds should know this.
John lydon yes silly to the extents of bein normalised safe for ex bondage mums and dads to consume mentally and physically
I found this article earlier which i thought was interesting.
You can read it at
http://asifforlife.wordpress.com/2009/01/09/punk-is-dead-long-live-punk/
And my response to it is below that, although to save you the effort, i’ve copied and pasted it here.
The thing is though, whilst ordinary people tend to hold Lydon up as a bastion of everything punk rock, in reality he never really adhered to what many people rightfully assoiciate with being ‘punk’.
Which is why i’m not suprised by anything he does anymore. If you want the real spirit of ‘punk’ don’t look at a bloke who made several good records with PiL and one good one with the Sex Pistols, but only shouted about anarchy for shock tactics and to get in the public eye. Of course, they were influential, but by no means did they truly represent what punk meant, and continutes to mean, they just defined a particular movement at a particular time (and a good one at that, despite the lack of lasting principles that stemmed from it) Look at the people who truly meant what they were saying. Steve Ignorant from Crass is an obvious example, or from the US, Ian Mckaye. These people whilst not quite as much in the public eye, actually meant what they said and held such principles highly. If they were found doing a massive ad campaign then maybe there would be a case for getting offended.
Nevertheless i enjoyed what you wrote and i agree with the assertion that punk was about being subersive. Just i’m not all that shocked that Lydon would choose to do this kind of thing, and its funny how easy he can still piss off people everywhere.