Over and out…
Steve Carroll asks:
Mr. Lydon, as a life long Arsenal supporter, who would you have rather been, Johnny Rotten or John Radford?
Guardian contributor I am Johnny Rotten. And I will forever remember fondly Johnny Radford's contribution to that then most excellent team called Arsenal before it became as we now know Arsenmonkey.
CaptainFlack asks:
Would you accept a knighthood or OBE if it was offered (obviously it won’t be)?
Guardian contributor
snippets505 asks:
What do you think of modern music, being called pop punk! Nothing like the real punk I remember, is it insulting or just accepting times have changed?
Guardian contributor This is very difficult this question and answer format, I;m not hearing a voice I'm just seeing the written word. Without the inflection that I so require when interacting with my fellow human beings, a dead pan question like that nullifies me. I have all my life resented categories or labels of inadequate definitions for instance something is either good or bad. And an example of bad would be Greenday. And yet they're astoundingly popular and enormously hollow. Go figure.
Jai R. Emmett asks:
Alright Sir! Are there any plans to release rare live or studio stuff in the future, especially from the “Metal box” era??
Guardian contributor In two weeks time, I return to that bastion of conservative thinking called The Cotswolds to being a new album with PIL. It will be fun to share a field with freezing cold sheep. I will also in the very near future (December 13th) be performing live at the Indigo O2 London. Your question to me sounds like you are less interested in genuine music rather than from a collectors perspective, which I always find dubious. If you just seek rare, you're probably providing Ebola eventually. We hope. Not. But. Then. Again....
morningstar1972 asks:
What was the best gig you attended and were you onstage,side-stage,back-stage or a punter?
Guardian contributor
Jay Love asks:
Bacon butty – tomato ketchup or brown sauce? Bread or toast?
Guardian contributor All of the above. And a cup of tea. Brewed so thick, you could trot a horse over it. No sugar, skimmed milk.
WakeUpArgh asks:
Why do you think there’s no voice of rebellion in music anymore?
Guardian contributor Since the demise of record stores and corner shops, the social aspect of music and in particular live venues being reduced in numbers - clubs vanishing - communication has been reduced to the all glorious failure of the international highway of truth we now know as the Internet. Impersonal. Does not solve the problems that are so deeply personal. Hello human beings.
"The youth of today have every possibility as being as smart or a stupid as the youth of past. So long as you remove Russell Brand from the agenda"
Golub2 asks:
Youth today? Are they as clever, as angry and as talented as youth of the 70’s? Your sweeping generalisations are sought and respected. Thanks.
Guardian contributor The youth of today have every possibility as being as smart or a stupid as the youth of past. So long as you remove Russell Brand from the agenda. I think he's absolutely clarified himself as arsehole number one. It's not funny to talk nonsense. I think his words are the words of somebody else. Misconstrued.
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DisgustedOfCrawley asks:
Seeing England from the outside must give you a better overview than those of us under the jackboot here. So do you despair for our future, due to inaction, or view the rise of Small Stuff - independent breweries/bakers/cinemas and the like, people moving to smaller Communities outside the Urban Crush - as hope for long-term improvement in our lives?
Thank you for the music and the decades-long stream of Honesty and Common Sense. It’s genuinely appreciated.
Guardian contributor So long as these smaller communities do not believe in separation from the human race as a whole, because there is always that tendency with localised specialisation of forming the hatreds of us and them. I live in a global world, not a collection of global villages.
kendodsdadsdogsdead asks:
John, if you could show an extra-terrestrial just one of your albums, which one would it be and why?
Guardian contributor
Aggerz asks:
How do you/did you feel about Malcolm McClaren’s claims to have been creatively responsible for Never Mind the Bollocks? Also, if you don’t mind a second question, how much were you personally influenced by Lettrist and Situationist writing? (“A cheap holiday in other people’s misery” was a 68 slogan relating to Club Med I think?).
Guardian contributor Wrapped around my work has always been the false claims of what I now know to be lesser mortals. An entire cottage industry of fake presumptions and hindsight Hinduists.
samshaw1 asks:
Bill Hicks said “Any performer that ever sells a product on television is for now and all eternity removed from the artistic world.” How do you feel about this?
Guardian contributor Was this comment by Bill? Ever aired on TV and/or heard by anybody? If so, he has effectively removed himself by his own process.
bootlegtape asks:
Vinyl, CDs or downloads, which do you prefer?
Guardian contributor Vinyl firstly, CDs secondly, downloads are utterly hopeless. You are not getting the correct signal. You're not getting the full sound. It's like comparing a Polaroid to High Definition films.
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8fire8fire asks:
Hi John. What two books-one fiction, one non-fiction-could you not live without? Thanks! (PS My favourite thing about you is your honesty.)
Guardian contributor It's human beings I can't live without. And the physicality of the book itself is neither here nor there. Once the information therein has been correctly absorbed. I do desert Island Discs or desert island book and I will not have myself limited in that way.
Ukip? "A black hole for the ignorant to fall into"
HerbGuardian asks:
What’s your opinion of Ukip?
Guardian contributor A black hole for the ignorant to fall into. That's it. Farage? I wonder what the roots of that name are. I think he's faragical.
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Keith Larkworthy asks:
Hello John. Ever thought of getting into politics and shaking up Westminster?
Guardian contributor This is constantly suggested to me. I suggest everybody votes, everybody should try to make the best of a bad situation, and for me I despise the entire shitstem because it is corrupt, but that corruption has only come about because of the indolence of us as a population. I'd get into Westminster if I need a new apartment.
EllieVioletBramley asks:
Who’s the politician you most admire from your lifetime? Did you ever vote for Thatcher?
Guardian contributor Nobody sensible voted for Thatcher. And for me, in political terns, the most admirable person and most influential, would have been the philosophy of Ghandi. The ideology of passive resistance worked and can work again and again and again. It is the exact opposite of violence. A glorious conception.
Ian Stenhouse asks:
Dear Mr Lydon, i have only seen a few examples of your paintings but liked them very much, certainly they were in a different league to work by other painting musicians, do you still paint ? do you really destroy them afterwards ? would you not consider exhibiting them ? they are, after all, part of your creativity.
Guardian contributor I only destroy the ones that are unnecessary. It's the same process as when I'm writing songs, which would be for a specific album in mind. Once that album is finished, the excess material is also finished. And that's my view of arts. But sometimes, there is a hole on the wall that needs to be covered. Art.
Uncannyvalley asks:
Are you afraid of death?
Guardian contributor Yes. Looking forward to it also. It's every person's ultimate condition. So I'm in no rush!!! I have no proof of the afterlife. And therefore wait and see. I had one near death experience in my life - I was in a coma for four months. I'm in no rush to repeat it. There were no Hark The Herald Angels Sing, there was no tunnel with the light at the end of it. There were no happy faces floating on clouds. But there was me in agony, which, in the long run, is currently preferable.
TheFenTiger asks:
Hi John. Do you think there have been any bands as ground breaking as the Sex Pistols and Public Image, which for me both bands inspired so many others, not just musically but also socially and politically. Incidentally I must thank you for the Flowers of Romance album, it’s the reason my wife and I are together. Now that’s some powerful music.
Guardian contributor That all depends on what the listener gleams from what he's listening too. I have no doubt there are currently many forms of inspiration currently rampant in the universe, whether it be music, film, literature, or the correct observance of cowsh - a polite way of saying "turd".
texavery asks:
I adore Poptones from the second album. I listen to it regularly as it’s my alarm clock every morning. What is your favourite PIL song, and why?
Guardian contributor There is no favourite PIL song. Best PIL song has yet to be written. I am writing at the moment. The day I die I'll let you know how things are...
wed1964 asks:
What are you spiritual beliefs? You seem to be a very devoted and loyal individual especially regarding marriage, family, and friends. I have read variously either your criticism and or support of aspects of catholic culture, and additionally what are your thoughts on Eastern belief systems for example Yoga, aspects of Hinduism.
Guardian contributor I like lime flavoured yoghurt. The end. There is no religion. It's a man made fabrication. Once you understand that, you'll be a happier individual. Atheism is as pointless as Satanism.
whiteyed asks:
Pistols or the Clash. Who’s legacy has the greater cultural value?
Guardian contributor Nobody gives a toss about The Clash. In the beginning there was the Sex Pistols. Then there's PIL. The Public Image Limited.
John is in the building…
Post your questions for John Lydon
John Lydon hollered his way to the front of the punk movement in the 1970s, and he hasn’t stopped talking since. In the Sex Pistols his voice was reedy and sneering, spitting out a message of nihilism and anarchy. In wildly innovative post-punkers Public Image Ltd, that voice deepened and became more rounded, using a heavily ironic take on received pronunciation that has become his trademark.
For some, his decision to latterly strut about pronouncing in various Sex Pistols reunions, in Country Life butter adverts, and in I’m A Celebrity, amounts to the worst desecration of punk principles: selling out. But it’s like the cover of the first PiL album – he wears the clothes of the establishment, but his eyes beadily glint, letting you know he’s eroding it from within.
Now with a new autobiography out, Anger is an Energy, he’s joining us to pronounce once more, on anything you choose to throw at him. Post your questions for John in the comments below, and he’ll answer them live from 1-2pm BST on Tuesday 14 October.
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No I was away. And she'll always get my support. A seriously interesting individual. I have kind of a Bedknobs and Broomsticks approach to music. Or at least, the term knob, bed, broom, and stick. Lots of love, John.