John Lydon:"I gave Joe Strummer a career when he was a tosspot"/"The Ramones were deeply unoriginal"
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- Опубліковано 20 чер 2013
- The previous time I met John Lydon, I didn't have a camera, but I told him that Strummer told me that Lydon was a sweetheart and Lydon said "Was he dead when he said that?" This time I repeated what I said the previous time because I had a camera and I wanted to record his reaction.
A brief chat with John Lydon and his friend / bodyguard, John "Rambo" Stevens.
Rambo claims that Ramones videos would replace the audience with Sex Pistols audiences, because Ramones fans were "hippies." :-P
Also Johnny Rotten likes the band "Status Quo," but calls the Ramones "spastics" and says they were "deeply unoriginal."
And at the beginning of the video, John says that he "gave Joe [Strummer] a career, when he was a tosspot." (that is not a nice word! :-P).
John Lydon: The Gene Simmons of punk rock.
John can't even look the guy in the eye when he says Joe was a "tosspot", what does that tell you. Even he doesn't really believe what he is saying
The Pistols were a fire ball never built to last, The Clash were a well constructed car with attitude and a message to carry on for years
The damned topped them all. Only was 3 UK punk bands and the damned were the proper punk band, even lemmy confirmed that
@@stephenmccoy898 absofknlutely !!! 😎
@@papajahko7121 😜😉we'd be good pals
@@stephenmccoy898 Damned Damned Damned…….an album that is perfect in its imperfection ! 😎
@@papajahko7121 yep as sensible describes it gnarled and rough around the edges, I think music for pleasure is a great album, although the band don't like it's production, MGE is thier fuckin masterpiece thier finest hour
John is a legend but no comparisons. Joe Strummer was a much better songwriter and the Clash was a superior band in every way.
100%
@@noelwhitman1788 'rattled the establishment' has always been a teenage edgy statement. It was always about the music and The clash fucking delivered.
I think that comparison are dum
Deeply original fuck sake they turned status quo upside down and spectra didn't come until later and was fucking fired
Johnny Ramone was friends with Joe Strummer and Steve Jones and most of the Pistols don't get along with Rotten the problem is Rotten...I thought the pistols looked like dorks compared to Richard Hell but Joe Strummer actually looked cool with his leather jacket and cigarette and rockabilly look
Come on John' Give Joe Strummer some credit, when you where singing about going over the berlin wall, he sang about Londons Burning, RIP Joe Strummer.
@nikto45 Joe left home and school as a teenager and lived the life of a street musician. He knew plenty of the working man's struggle.
@nikto45 Your portrayal of Joe is inaccurate. He rejected a life of privilege early on as a teenager, and became a busker (street musician) with Tymon Dogg. He lived in squat housing...not exactly a life of privilege.
Patty Cifra Joe is the real deal not some musician. He is humanitarian the most down to earth humble normal soul.
Stompin Stan Joe isn’t truly gone ever he lives on Joe himself and never ever dies
nikto45 No Joe is the real deal not some liar or doucebag so rude he is humanitarian humble soul
Malcolm MacLaren:"I gave John Lydon a career when he was a tosspot"
@The Shaniac It be true tho
It was Bernard Rhodes (Clash manager) who find John, not McClaren.
@The Shaniac The pistols were a fake band, wholly relying on the image Malcolm created for them of Anarchy as a means of shock rather than actual ideology, the only original element being Lydon's performance. PiL, however, were a significantly much more truthful and talented band being more than the Pistols ever were, as John was the only one who could see how destructive Malcolm was. The pistols did follow him and did what he said other than during the Bill Grundy Show stint.
@@olihudd2852 If you believe that mate you don't know the sex pistols.
They were by no means fake. Yes they were roped into doing things by manipulative malcom but they quickly got out and went their own ways.
Was?
The Ramones pissed in his beer. That´s the real issue.
Specifically Joey and Johnny
Oh, and Joe Strummer was a professional musician before the Sex Pistols existed. Granted, it was a "pub rock" band (The 101'ers), and he freely admitted that seeing the Pistols changed everything for him (to the extent that he quit a gigging band!) Mick Jones said the same thing, that he started assembling the Clash the very next day after seeing the Pistols. How aggravating that Lydon can't be gracious about this.
It's the difference between him and Joe Strummer. Strummer gave credit to other bands that influenced him. It was a community that Strummer and The Clash wanted where everyone was welcome. The Pistols paved the way for so many bands, but The Clash expanded what punk could be and in the end had the larger impact.
Lydon can't be gracious about anything. The interview where Marky Ramone was gonna beat his ass, he was asking everyone around him for a bump on a live interview. (It was fucking Sad) so drunk' he didn't even make sense. But still wanted to be the cock of the walk, Henry Rollin's was almost laughing but at the same time..thinking I might have to peel Marky off of John!
John is still a master troll after all these years
"Ramones were deeply unoriginal" is a preposterous statement. They were one of the MOST original bands ever. To compare them to Status Quo displays a profound misunderstanding of both bands. Sure, some Quo songs like "Down Down" and "Paper Plane" also have a hard driving quality...and that's precisely where any comparison ends! Quo also had an unmistakable boogie-rock influence rhythmically, which Ramones completely eliminate from their own (highly original) sound. And it wasn't any Status Quo album that kick-started the Punk Rock revolution in England (and they had MANY albums out by that time.) It was largely, the Ramones debut album that did it. This fact should be recognized and respected.
By the way, I think the Ramones didn't know the Status Quo, because unfortunately Quo is not very known in the USA. Only "Pictures of a Matchstick Men" was a big hit in the States. But both bands are great and I love them!
@MrNorthernSol No, that's not correct. What started UK punk was Malcolm McLaren coming BACK to London after having been in New York and describing what he heard and saw there at the CBGB and Max's Kansas City clubs. Malcolm talked about meeting Richard Hell and seeing him in Television, he talked about Ramones, he talked about Patti Smith, and Wayne County, and Suicide, and his experiences with the New York Dolls. Sex Pistols and others didn't need to actually hear punk music first hand, to have been influenced by it. All that Malcolm would have had to say, to give them advice was; "make it faster, make it simpler, make it noisier, make it more outrageous." This is just music, not some exacting rocket science. Even Caroline Coon was writing about "punk rock" in New York before things were fully developed yet in England. Malcolm was an IDEA man for the Sex Pistols. He would suggest, "write a song entitled 'Submission' and Johnny would do it. But it wouldn't always exactly follow what Malcolm intended. Malcolm might have wanted a bondage and discipline song out of them to help sell those clothes, and Johnny would write a song about a submarine mission and call it "Sub-Mission." The Ramones certainly knew Slade but Slade ALSO never had any hit singles in the USA! They toured the USA a lot though, and had albums on the album chart. (Slayed? reached #69 in 1973.) So, let's not be so sure about what we think bands from forty something years ago knew about or didn't know, especially when many of them are dead and can no longer speak for themselves. Hit singles aren't the only measure that kids at that time went by. For instance, Status Quo played NYC on June 23rd 1973 at the Academy Of Music with Savoy Brown, Manfred Mann & ELO. Some Ramones might have seen that show, or even just heard about a loud, fast and exciting rock band. I think the more important distinction between bands like Slade and Status Quo is that THEY didn't start UK punk rock. They were a glam rock, and a hard rock band, respectively. Neither were what we'd call street-level bands. They were established. What we call "punk rock" originated in New York because it was street-level New Yorkers who were the first people who described themselves as that. Rock from the gutter. Gritty rock groups with no money from the city streets. New York's "Punk" magazine was the first to call themselves that, and The Ramones were the first to specifically write a song with the word "punk" in it, when they wrote, "Judy is a Punk." Ramones weren't "deeply unoriginal" as Johnny said, NO ONE sounded like the Ramones. It's also not true that the Sex Pistols had already recorded Bollocks, (or even Spunk) before the first Ramones album was taking London by storm. {Or, more specifically, what you wrote "I don't think any of the British bands had heard of the Ramones until they played the Roundhouse. By which point, the Pistol had been playing gigs for 6 months and had recorded Nevermind the Bollocks."} Let's not play dumb and act like the Ramones had to actually PLAY London's Rpundhouse before they were heard of, or heard, or being written about. The NME's Nick Kent (no stranger to the Sex Pistols) reviewed that first Ramones album in their May 15th 1976 issue (with Bowie on the cover!) In that review, Nick wrote: "The Ramones - in case you've been vacationing in Thailand, or contracted leprosy in the last twelve months - are the punk cause celebre of the moment, the hands-down champ-eens of the New York New Wave “Blank Generation” sweep stakes." Okay? So, that's by May 1976 already, that the Ramones already had a buzz for the previous 12 months! Remember: Sex Pistols didn't even start to record SPUNK (much less Bollocks) until these dates: 13-30 July 1976, 10-12 October 1976, and 17-28 January 1977....so, May 1976, when NME wrote "for the last 12 months" you've been hearing, or hearing about the Ramones" certainly pre-dates, (at the earliest) July 1976! Even if the Sex Pistols first show was as early as Nov 6th 1975 at St Martin's College of Art (supporting Bazooka Joe), it's not like THAT show started any kind of a movement! (Even if it might have impressed the future Adam Ant.) At that show, the Sex Pistols didn't even play any original songs yet, only covers, and the plug was pulled on them after only 20 mins. What was going on, frankly, was a cultural exchange. It's not even ABOUT who was first or who started what, it's about how both New York and London scene (and the sadly always overlooked bands out of Akron and Cleveland, Ohio, and even the Modern Lovers out of Boston,) all started something new and exciting at a time when the stagnant music scene needed it the most desperately. As it was described to me by someone who lived through it at the time: "A lot of 1974 and 1975 and much of 1976, before punk, was a time when a real rock'n'roll fan could walk into a record store, and walk right back out again with all of his money still in his pocket. It wasn't until punk rock happened that things started to change. We were hearing about the exciting things that were going to be coming out of New York for months before we actually heard it. My Bowie friend in Philadelphia came to visit me in Chicago and I was talking about how I didn't like Bowie anymore with all that 'Young Americans' shit and he said, 'Don't worry! I'm reading about new bands coming from New York, that are going to sound like everything you're looking for! It's going to be more like the Bowie, Roxy Music, Stooges and Slade stuff that you love.' When we finally heard it, it was everything we were waiting for and more! I heard the Patti Smith Group album first and I said, 'well, this is moving in the right direction and getting better.' But when I heard the Ramones album for the first time, I was so excited, I was shaking! I actually didn't know if I should flip the record over after I heard Side A, or just play Side A all over again, because 'what if Side B wasn't as good?' But I did play Side B. And then I played the whole album again and again. Then, later, I saw the first record by Blondie in the shop, and it had a sign next to it that said 'Ramones meets Shangri Las," and that sounded great to me and I bought that too. And it felt so great to have exciting music again."
@MrNorthernSol I'll comment to each point.
a) The reason we know that British UK music fan teens know what UK music journalists were writing about NY punk is because most of them, (apart from Lydon, who is too much of an egomaniac to give credit to anyone except himself) say so. All have repeatedly stated that it's NOT about the fact that, few people saw them, or that they've never sold very many records. It's MORE about the fact that many of those few who did see them and bought the records, started their own bands...or CHANGED their pre-existing banks to become more "punk."
b)What on Earth are you talking about here? Of course there isn't "zero evidence that any British punk had ever heard the Ramones play before the Roundhouse gig." There are MOUNTAINS of evidence for that! The reason the Ramones played the Roundhouse in the first place is because the Ramones album had already electrified London long before they arrived! Read ANY book by ANY original London punk. That's all the evidence you need. I'll quote from one right now. QUOTE "I'd been listening to he Ramones album for weeks before I finally got the chance to see them live. As I waited apprehensively in the front row at the Roundhouse for their first-ever UK date, nothing prepared me for the onslaught they were about to deliver. Their songs, so short, so loud, and so vital, made me want to dance, which wasn't a feeling I was used to." (From The Secret Life of a Teenage Punk Rocker by Andy Blade.) So, yes, there you have it directly from the singer of Eater himself, one of the YOUNGEST of teenage punk bands on the scene. They certainly knew what The Ramones sounded like from their album before they went to see them at the July 4th 1976 Roundhouse show. Andy Blade wrote he had been listening to it "for weeks" beforehand. Why would you think they'd spend money to go to the show of some unknown band from New York no one had ever heard of, if they didn't already know what they sounded like from the album that had been released in April? It's true that Sniffin' Glue fanzine (named after the Ramones song) didn't have its first issue until July 13, 1976. That might be what's mixing you up about the timeline. But Ramones fandom didn't START with Mark Perry's zine. Mark's zine was a reaction TO it. BTW: the Nick Kent review of the Ramones album from May was entitled: "Sons of Scuzz Hit Home Run in World Punk Series." - Feel free to do an internet search for it to read it in it's entirety online.
c) I didn't say Malcolm McLaren was trying to get Johnny to write Ramones style songs! What I explained was that McLaren was influencing the group with his ideas about what this new thing called "punk rock" that he heard in New York should be. I'm sure he never told them to emulate the Ramones directly. He'd only describe various things he saw first hand all throughout the New York punk scene, and relayed them, second hand, to the Sex Pistols and others in London upon his return. That includes playing louder and faster in general.
d) Of course I agree there is little similarity between the Pistols and Ramones. First wave UK punk bands who sound closer to Ramones were Damned, Adverts, Lurkers, Buzzcocks, Undertones, and Eater. (Not to mention The Saints, out of Australia, who also got The Ramones first album before Ramones had actually played there.) Pistols were closer to the Stooges, The New York Dolls, and Small Faces. Here's what Paul Cook said, "One of the first bands to influence us like, well me anyway, was the New York Dolls. Saw them by accident cos we went to see the Faces at Wembly and the Dolls were supporting them. It was about the time their first album was out. And then I saw them on the old telly like and I was fucking really knocked out by them." {from Sex Pistols: The Inside Story, by Fred & Judy Vermorel.} But that doesn't mean they were utterly unaware of the Ramones, as you imply. Even Steve Jones, who somewhat dismisses the notion of a direct Ramones influence wrote that the only reason Pistols songs weren't faster, "was because of Cook, who would not be rushed" as Steve wrote in his book Lonely Boy. It's nice that Lydon was a fan of Status Quo. Heck, I'M a HUGE fan of Status Quo!!! I also love Lemmy (originally from Hawkwind) and Motorhead, but the real reason Motorhead were classified as Metal, was because they WERE more metal than punk. It's just played faster than most. It's not because of their long hair. The Ramones hair is just as long as Motorheads' hair. But the Ramones DIDN'T just play metal fast (which, incidentally, is also what Quo did, except Quo's songs were usually very LONG! ) The Ramones played PUNK! No guitar solos, SHORT songs. Anti-social songs about crazy topics, like sniffing glue, and chainsaws, and beating on the brat with a baseball bat. No boogie-woogie like Quo. No metallic solos like Motorhead. More songs about being an alienated teenage misfit, sniffin' glue and being a miscreant punk.
e) I really disagree that the two different scenes "had little to do with each other," sound wise or fashion wise. New Yorkers were wearing the leather jackets and the torn shirts and safety pins first. England was wearing the bondage stuff, and colored hair make make up first (although the first mohawk haircut was sported by the NY band the Plasmatics guitarist Richie Stotts in 1978 already, years before Wattie or any other English punks. Richie saw it in the movie Taxi Driver.) And only SOME of the UK punk was about the social and economic crises. Let's not place an undue emphasis on politics when that's not warranted. For every Clash and Sex Pistols who had sociopolitical lyrics, there was ALSO a Generation X, singing "Because I'm in love with Rock 'n' Roll! Ready steady go!" and an Undertones singing; "I wanna hold her tight, get teenage kicks right through the night." It's also not exactly true USA punk was devoid of politics. The very statement "I belong to the blank generation" was a sociopolitical statement about the youth feeling alienated by society, as was the early Pere Ubu song "Life Stinks." Read more about this in From Velvets To Voidoids by Clinton Heylin.
f) As an American, I can barely recognize a term like "mainstream punk." In the USA, true punk rock has always been underground and has never been accepted. Once you reach the level of a multi-million selling Green Day in the USA, that term "punk rock" no longer applies, because you're no longer an approachable, street-level band, at that point. You are at the rock-star level. At BEST, you might be described as "pop-punk" which is something different from "punk rock." That's what a Green Day or a Sum 41, is here. Something that has some vague stylistic connection to Ramones and Sex Pistols, but is not nearly as revolutionary, and you can't just walk up to one of those mainstream rock star guys on the street. But even well into the 1990s, I could still always walk up to any Ramone and say "hi" and they'd chat right back. Even Johnny Ramone, the one with the grumpiest reputation, was always friendly and would talk to you. I doubt Johnny Rotten, on the other had, is quite so approachable. I'm not into this "mainstream" crap. And if it isn't still accessible to the street level kid, it isn't punk in my book.
It's ridiculous that he still has to dismiss the Ramones, to say that they had no sense of lyricism is almost equally so. The Pistols, Ramones and the Clash are all life changing bands. Why try to trivialize it with such unfounded remarks. Comparing the Ramones to Stars Quo? Yer digging a little deep there, Johnny.
@Jack the Film Fanatic Recognizing that Stooges and MC5 existed before The Ramones, does not mean The Ramones were "deeply unoriginal." Did The Stooges or MC5 sound like The Ramones? No, they did not. And saying they "weren't completely original" is not the same thing as saying they were "deeply unoriginal!" No one with any ears, would ever say that the Ramones first album was "deeply unoriginal." That's just Lydon's sour grapes.
love the pistols, love the clash, love the ramones, in no particular order on any given day
This guy always tries to say something shocking or controversial to get attention,it's the same act for his career,same shtick ......
Yeah he's out of money again so needs to kick up controversy, he lost me when in his latest interview he's telling kids to go and vote ? Yet he's supposed to be an Anarchist?
I remember he was going on about having a drink with Donald fucking Trump, yet people in the comment section are saying Joe Strummer was full of shit... Yep totally
I do like most of what John Lydon has to say but that he has no right dissing the Ramones. It's well documented how the clash and pistols were desperate to meet the Ramones when they first played the UK, even climbing into the venue to meet them. The Ramones were highly original and of the same ethic as the Pistols, a bunch of guys from the street telling it how it is and creating their own vibe, only difference is the Pistols operated around Soho and the Ramones in the Bowery.
Sorry to disillusion you pal, but your punk history is way off. Read a book like 'England's dreaming' by Jon Savage if you want to find out how British punk really came about and what inspired it. Very few, if any, of the British punk bands really had any idea about the CBGBs centered punk scene in New York until journalists made them aware of it. The only way in which British punk was influenced by it was the word 'punk' itself, and that was coined by journalists, not the bands.
As for having 'the right', here's punk attitude for you: John Lydon has the right to say whatever he thinks and he always does and will. Back in the day that got him attacked in the street with a machete but with Rotten you can't silence the truth.
I have read that book but you are miles off, Malcom brought what he saw in new York back to London and took it one step further. Go and research when the Ramones first played London and you will find out how the clash and the pistols were shouting up and throwing stones at the window to be let in, most of the clash and pistols climbed up but johnny rotten was scared he would be beaten up by them at first...true story. He has always been known for being a coward and to exaggerate like when he said gangsters were after him...sid is on record laughing about that.
Lydon has always put others down and seen himself as a pioneer when he was really just a bit of a puppet if truth be told, yes the New York and London scenes looked very different but if it wasn't for the dolls, Patti smith, television, blondie, the ramones etc then we wouldn't of had a scene like the one we did, no one from the time would debate that and even most have admitted it on record.
One famous example is how Malcom wanted Richard Hell to come over to London and start a band managed by Malcom but when hell refused Malcom just forced hells image onto Rotten and hell says this in countless interviews, how ridiculously similar is rottens haircut to hells??? I mean by the time the 100 club festival happened the banshees had sid on drums :s and had no songs subway sect were bigger than the buzzcocks but yet in New York the dolls and television were already over, the ramones were making an impact and signed/releasing as were patti smith, blondie, the dictators, the runaways and Johnny thunders was starting the heartbreakers with Richard hell.
Also you are forgetting Iggy and the stooges, punk would never of happened if it wasn't for them and the dolls period.
Don't get me wrong I love the pistols but if it wasn't for Malcom going to New York, seeing the dolls and the New York bands then the pistols wouldn't of become the band they did and punk wouldn't of looked or even happened like it did in London. Vivienne created the look, Malcom did the research and marketed it but New York was the source and soul...if you dispute that then you have a lot of research to do!!!
deany gale Good comment The Pistols were up and running about 6 months before The Ramones played London but all the other bands sped up their tempo by 100%.Rotten was never really a fan of `rock` music unlike Cook`n`Jones who liked The Dolls but also The Small Faces/Faces. Strummer `n`Jones they lived and breathed R`n`R both American and English especially Mott/Kinks /Stones.
You got it mate, don't get me wrong I like Lydon and think he is funny but he wouldn't of got where he was if it wasn't for Malcom. It was even mentioned that Vivienne actually wanted John to be the lead singer but she had actually meant...sid as he was a John then too! either way I don't think he should talk the ramones down they were an amazing band an highly influential!!!
deany gale …it's all rather subjective isn't it. The New York Dolls just ripped The Stones off in my view. So you could argue without The Stones their would have been no New York Dolls or The Who in England for that matter…Music is nearly always fluid it changes as different people add to what's gone on before ! What I would say is when punk took off in England it had more access to everyday media exposure with TOTP , TOGWT and especially Tony Wilson's 'So it goes' which put punk on television and John Peel pushing a lot on the new bands on his late night Radio 1 show. This meant punk came across to a much wider audience in the UK, especially kids growing up. Subsequently it's influence was greater here and certainly dramatically changed music and people's peception of it for some considerable time !
Joe isn’t truly gone ever he lives on Joe himself does. He is the real deal the sweetest most beautiful incredible down to earth humble friendly soul. I love him so much
I think people forget that The Sex Pistols only released one album and people still talk and respect them. That shit speaks volumes.
Its so much bigger than that
Ya, they fired Glen Matlock and they never recovered.
The clash had their first album out 6 months before the pistols.
They gained a foothold already...Joe was no tosspot...he was a better writer.
I liked the clash better because they liked the punk attitude and had some decent punk songs but they had other songs that were just like rock songs and as a rock band they were very good
@@leahflower9924 The clash were a proper band who wrote & played tyheir own instruments & The Pistols ...... Well - erm they were just puppets whose strings were pulled by Malcom Maclaren
People in these comments only mentions the Sex Pistols. John Lydon's best work is Public Image Ltd. Their first three records are all superb, especially their sophomore album "Metal Box" which is one of the best albums of all time.
Strummer gave the Pistols credit - he said they were "the grenade into the room."
I don't know if he is sarcastic or not but he is starting to piss me off by saying stuff like that about the Ramones...
He's saying it to get a reaction he's always been controversial like saying he hated Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin but turned out in reality he loves their music lol 😂 talk about two faced
@Skyclaw Big Slavia will never suceed
The Ramones were unoriginal !
I don't deny that John Lydon is completely honest in his own mind about everything he says. But "I gave Joe Strummer a career when he was a tosspot"..
If only he was half the man Joe was he'd nearly be a somebody.
+CeeJayDee94 Joe was the sweetheart. Joe was an amazing man. Jonny was a pig. Love to you CeeJayDee94.
"Joe said you were a sweetheart" I'm dead I've been slain
Well he did. Listen to my Joe Strummer interview here:
ua-cam.com/video/mGyDDAblEnU/v-deo.html
+danielscissorhands AH! I will, Thank you (:
+danielscissorhands Jonny was a tosspot. Joe strummer wrote many more great songs than the Rotter.
yeah exactly
He did, GreenshieldKnight, I interviewed Joe and he said exactly that.
the pistols put out one good album but all the clash albums were good
True The Pistols were great but only one album which they still tour with The Clash were always moving forward,the Pistols were more or less finished when they sacked Matlock
unclemort1960 they should have made another album. I mean Pil were quite lousy but all the clash albums were great really.
I don`t think `Bollocks` is as good as it could have been if recorded a lot earlier.The Clash did 5 great albums (we won`t include `cut the crap`) that are all very different i think could
have made at least 1 other great album.
just the first Clash album was good London Calling and Sandinista! are overrated rubbish. Check out Fire Of Love from the Gun Club that's punk no funkyragabullshit
jose pablo martinez gamboa Fire of Love is a great album, but I totally disagree with you about the other Clash albums. You have the right to have bad taste in music though. ;)
I think that's very mean of Lydon to say that about someone who has passed on!! Lydon loves Duran Duran but has no time for The Clash, staggering!!
What he says about the Ramones is also pure BS
Very mean pwagahahahahahaha
@@DerekDerekDerekDerekDerekDerek Lydon stated before 'never speak ill of the dead, yet here he goes!!'
The Clash are my favourite to be honest, when you hear about their story it's fascinating and they are all great characters. Joe Strummer especially :P I feel the Ramones were good at creating tunes, but they were more like poppy, the Pistols were just a kind of statement of "F off mate". Also, you gotta take into account the sort of contempt for the idea of American culture and the consumer culture which they were kinda against, which led to a bit of "bloody yanks" sort of thing. All are punk, no doubt, but it's like they all represent different things. Just my opinion, of course you Americans are always gonna find your own bands more appealing, they represent you, the peoples of America :)
Listen to "Animal Boy", "Halfway to Sanity", "Too Tough to Die", there´s nothing about "poppy" music.
the pistols sound was the most influenced by american "proto punk" bands between those three. The ramones sound was from bubblegum rock not glam like other punk bands and later attempted to play heavier styles.
I like your thinking. Don’t know why everyone is going to war in the comments. There’s room for all of these great bands!
Musically The Clash were clearly the best band of the lot. There was clear progression in every album, and they absorbed all kinds of different influences.
The Ramones played mostly banging bubblegum rock. Nothing wrong with that either. Their live shows had, arguably the best energy of any band ever.
The Pistols strength, in my opinion, definitely came from Rotten’s lyrics. It’s all very well having the right sound, or style (ten a penny back then), but very few front men could spew vitriol about the establishment like Johnny.
Both the Clash and the Ramones moved on from punk and went on to create some really good music. Even the album London Calling has very little punk music, and with the Ramones you could see glimpses of the hard rock sound they were moving toward as early as Rocket to Russia. The album Animal Boy has some of their best songs and none of them are punk pop songs except for a silly little tribute to Sid and Nancy they added in for some reason.
@@diegoaysine8313 Babysitter, Questioningly Ramona I wanna be your boyfriend here today gone tomorrow I want you around Baby I love you locket love Don't Come Close. It is a fact that all Ramones 1970,s albums weren't truly punk albums cuz of the soppy poppy love songs on them.
Total reflection it is. 1 the Ramones started four years earlier than the Pistols. 2 The Ramones were created bij their members. 3 the pistols were created bij Malcolm. John should not talk crap like that because it's just not true. Punk started in New York at CB&CG's and almost everybody started to copy the Ramones exept The Sex Pistols and a few others. So the Pistols did not copy the Ramones. They did create a complete new scene of their own with the spikey haircuts and stuff. The two bands don't even sound like each other and they are both very dear to me. It's a pity the Sex Pistols never made more than one album. But I also enjoyed PIL as I still do.
@Skyclaw Yeah but the Dolls were great.
@@Easun36 Pistols copied the Who and the Small Faces, (U.K 65/66)
John Lydon is what i call a headliner ? Takes the credit for everything
music and punk was around before John Lydon and the pistols
John Lydon doesn’t have the music. That’s the problem. He doesn’t have the catalogue, so when people pay to see him it’s only to hear him talk, never to hear him play or sing (except those times when the Pistols did a cash grab to sing songs from their one album, whose lyrics John kept forgetting). It doesn’t help hos case that anyone who covers music off that one album gets called a “poser” by the man himself. Hell, he calls people posers for not being born at the right time.
He’s a historical curiosity. That’s it. And I actually liked P.I.L., but P.I.L. wasn’t important. It was just another decent band among many. But no one ever confused John for an artist.
The Clash and The Ramones. Those were real musical artists. When John passes away, he won’t have the music to speak to future generations.
The Clash was formed after Strummer saw the Pistols. Their manager Bernard Rhodes dressed them up as a Sex Pistols knock off. They preached obvious left politics and posed and working class. Joe Strummer attended boarding school. The Ramones were a cute cartoon of a band with nothing in the way of a vision and Johnny said he wanted to be the Beach Boys. History remembers ONE example of any art movement. Nevermind the Bullocks is that example.
@@thepagecollective Bull shit. It’s sad that you actually believe that. Outside if the UK, The Clash meant something to people. From Brazil to Mexico to Iran to Romania and the West Indies, The Clash meant resistance and rebellion. The Ramones mean rock and roll as it was meant to be.
@@wellesradio I stated objective facts.
"The Clash was formed after Strummer saw the Pistols. Their manager Bernard Rhodes dressed them up as a Sex Pistols knock off."
"That is a fact confirmed in multiple sources including Strummer himself, and in Jon Savage's England's Dreaming."
The [Clash] preached obvious left politics and posed and working class. Joe Strummer attended boarding school.
Strummer did go to boarding school and did pose as working class. The only member of the Pistols who was middle class was Matlock. You can find this information on any internet search. "From Brazil to Mexico to Iran to Romania and the West Indies, The Clash meant resistance and rebellion" with basic, obvious, leftist politics. The Sex Pistols meant resistance and rebellion, too, and I'm an American. You wouldn't know what The South is like. But The Pistols didn't tell me my politics. That's why they are controversial to this day. Look at how you hate them.
"The Ramones were a cute cartoon of a band with nothing in the way of a vision and Johnny said he wanted to be the Beach Boys".
Johnny also said he wanted to be the Bay City Rollers. According to Marky Ramone, Johnny regularly threw around the "N" word, called Joey antisemetic slurs and slapped around his girlfriend.
"History remembers ONE example of any art movement."
History remembers for Dada, Marcel Duchamp. One example. The Clash not the Ramones never had an album that defined a movement and zeitgeist. That was Nevermind the Bullocks.
Look at crumpet man trying too talk down to two real bands... that did it from scratch...
one album with the pistols,.....thanks for giving joe a career lydon!
Joe actually had a successful band with the 101's and the Pistols opened for them at one point. Lydon on the other hand was a nobody brat with a "Hate Pink Floyd" shirt and green hair before McLaren put him on the Pistols.
Talking about hypocresy.
Strummer once said that he and Rotten never got on although they both shared a love of Captain Beefheart.Rotten had a bit of time for Jones and Simoneon ,he never liked the Clash but i think he was worried about the competition .
Ramones and Sex Pistols never like each other. I am shocked by the ignorant statements he makes. In the very early days, before real a movement was forming, the Ramones may have had some fans that looked like hippies. The Ramones were ahead of their time. In many regards, the Pistols had a prefabricated punk sound. Their were many other groups on the scene by the time they arrived and were basically created. The Ramones were not created. The Ramones were the true pioneers of the punk scene. Those in the UK followed the American punk scene later. Even Joe Strummer admitted how much The Ramones influenced him.
Sid at least made friends with Ramones and Heartbreakers. junkies in all them though.
I’m reading his book Anger Is An Energy. He really beleive his his own hype. There is nothing he hasn’t done. Truly a saviour in his own mind. 😴
Total non-sense! We've all heard the stories, verified by Strummer, how Lydon was all on the Ramone's jock when they arrived to the UK.
John Rambo saying Ramones film makers spliced in SP crowd footage is funny. Rambo and John Lydon have to be lovers. I know John is married to Nora... but the way Rambo defends his man still makes me suspicious. Does it matter? No. I love John. "I'm just saying".
And Glen Matlock gave him a career so I guess everyone helps each other out
I have met Johnny socially a couple of times and he is a lovely bloke. He talks some utter bollocks to reporters at times though.
This is funny. The Pistols were a Malcom Mclaren creation. While the Album was ground breaking for it's nihilistic intensity, there was no substance to it. You can only sing about destroying everything for so long, before it becomes kinda cartoonish. The Clash took Punk to a much higher level. They were actually trying say something and promote some kind of social change. Much more meaningful stuff. To hear Lyndon slag Strummer is hilarious. Then again, that's his schtick. "Oh my, I had better say something outrageous or no one will pay attention to me..." The Pistols just don't compare to the Clash.
You're right man. I like both bands, but the Clash's texts were more meaningful, less anarchy and more truth and realism
I agree with both of you. Remember Rotten wanted to destroy RocknRoll of all kinds with Sexpistols and P.I.L., right? I would think though that they would both get along. It's too bad to hear and see a video of Johnny say something like that about Strummer. They're both highly intelligent.
I always thought what would it be like to see Joe and Johnny together talking. I saw a video with Joe and Paul saying something like Johnny said about how they wanted to create a new music and be rid of RocknRoll. Something like that. Oh well
Bit sad some of the comments here..Lydon's comment shouldn't turn this into a Strummer v Lydon circus..both were equally important and inspirational..shouldn't matter to us, the fans, the people they spoke to what one thought of the other..Strummer and Lydon are both legends in my book, both changed my life for the better....and you can add the great Johnny Ramone ( and the other Ramones) to that list
The Sex Pistols are so overrated, the clash have made 2 of the greatest Rock albums of all time not bad for a band that only did 5 albums.
***** 6 LPs.
8 LP's? Are you trying to get technical?
Hell, we could say there's 10 LP's if we really want too... The Clash [U.K.], Give 'em Enough Rope, The Clash [U.S.], London Calling Disc 1, London Calling Disc 2, Sandinista! Disc 1, Sandinista! Disc 2, Sandinista Disc 3, Combat Rock, and Cut the Crap. But that's stupid.
6 LP's
The Clash
Give 'em Enough Rope
London Calling
Sandinista!
Combat Rock
Cut the Crap
Chris Jones true, the pistols were just a 1 hit wonder with a lot of punch, I must say but the clash are in a different league, they took music forward and we loved em for it. viva the strummer.
Dude you are totally right, The Clash was the best punk band but people can't see it.
***** Whats it called? I thought there were two
Yeah. He gave Joe Strummer his career. Even though Joe Strummer had more talent and originality in his pinky than Rotten did in his whole body. The Clash were brilliant. The Sex Pistols are all just bitter old fucks now. And he didn't seem to dislike the Ramones when he snuck into a show of theirs because he had to see them
I agree. Horrible, vile twisted morons. And their followers 🤨
Strummer and Lydon should have been the best of friends - they were both true original characters and interested in attacking the same thing. joe had a lot of respect for rotten, pity he seemingly rarely received any back.
Yes, I agree. Although, I still love the Pistols and PIL, but Lydon has become a total prick.
By the way, the first time I met John Lydon, I didn't have a camera, but I told him that Strummer told me that Lydon was a sweetheart and Lydon said "Was he dead when he said that?" :-P
"I gave him a career" funny thing is Malcolm Mclaren could say same words about John. And is being an inspiration not the same thing as giving a career? I love 70's and 80's John, but this old man is talking more and more narcissistic bollocks.
John never gave Joe a career. Bernie Rhodes and CBS records gave Joe a career.
Some Jews, then. Just like Lydon with McClaren. Punk was just an another astro-turfed psy op to destroy traditional western values
As Relevant to Punk as ABBA.
I love u John!!!!
JOHN LYDON HAS HIS OWN OPINIONS. HOWEVER, HE IS DISRESPECTFUL AND INCORRECT OFTEN. JOE STRUMMER AND THE RAMONES DESERVE CREDIT AND RESPECT.
Does anyone really think Joe would care about what John Lydon says about him?
The Sex Pistols were a gimmick with no musical substance or talent.
The Clash were the only band that mattered.
they are both great men, and you know it. ST. JOE changes LIVES!
Lydon isn't fit to lace Joe Strummer's boots.
I love the pistols, But both the clash and the ramones were in a completely different league to the pistols.
yeah a much lower one mate
@Glenn The Clash made Cut The Crap. that already puts them lower than the Pistols and Ramones.
@@johnnybs7 100%
So speaks John Tosspot Lydon a lengend in his own tiny little nasty mind.
Oh.. thanks! I didn't even know that word til I looked it up now:
Noun
A habitual drinker (also used as a general term of abuse).
That's not nice! So I updated the title of the video.
I like the Sex Pistols and Johnny Rotton but him saying all this after Joe Strummer and the majority of the Ramones is completely out of line. The Ramones were the reason why the Sex Pistols and the Clash got there start. The Clash are a lot better than the Sex Pistols because they lasted way longer.
Okay, well my video is not exactly pro john lydon, so why are you giving it a thumbs down?
Clash is more fucking pop band than punk in later years
still infinitely better than the Pistols!
Could someone write for me the words of this video? because I'm italian so I don't understand when they speak.. please :)
Q: Hey John, Joe Strummer said you were a sweetheart. I talked to him a year - 13 months before he passed away.
A: Yeah. I did a lot of good favors for Joe. I gave him a career, when he was a tosspot.
Q: John, did you consider The Ramones an influence?
A: Oh don't be silly. I was up and kicking a long time before them spastics.
Q: Did you like them?
A: In a way - I liked Status Quo, which is a band if everyone revises the time you'll understand what they were taking from. The Ramones were deeply unoriginal to me. Like a Phil Spector idea with no sensibility of lyrics.
Q: Was Johnny Ramone like a fascist?
A: No. He was a sweetheart.
ChargerBullet Thanks for doing the transcription there. :)
Ramones & The Clash, no one else
what does mean tosspot in spanish= or a synonymous?????
:P
Good to know.
"The Ramones were deeply unoriginal" lol
@The Shaniac YOU have no idea what you are talking about, the Beach boy's never wore leather. The Clampdown sure messed up your country!
And you have no content or Class. Ya crumpet eating POS!
@keechmabreeks (So what)? they played music they grew up with! But they said the BEACH BOY'S wore leather. They did Cover's of all type's of 60's music...what the fuck is your point? The Pistol's did it too Eddy Cochran for one! Flogging a dead horse is a perfect example. "Bad Umboyo" by the Clash is alot older than me + I'm 55 look it up!
@keechmabreeks How old are you? Limey...
They just played rock n roll fast and messy
...well said Rambo!!!
it's such a shame that john lydon never managed to mature past his 14 year old schoolboy angst,,he certainly had talent.....i'd compare him to shirley temple
Cheers for Lydon!
its true how the pistols where more aggressive and right winged
and ramones where sweeter rock and more left winged
but in the end the ramones where far way ruder as people than the pistols, they where more real , the pistols where more of a spectacle, and yes, the ramones where less original cause they took a lot from other bands and influences themselves, but in a way theyre way more influential than the pistols, who obviously are way more arrogant as u can see, but the pistols have something that no one can take away from them, they where the punkest.
and the clash where more like the ramones in a political kind of way.
so, ramones and the clash where very real guys who where not as interested in only posing as bad boys but wanted to make rebel rock, make a career in rock n rolling, while the pistols wanted to let everybody know they hated everybody, so in a way where more cartoonish cause they wanted to sell themselves above their music. more about themselves than the music, so in a way, more punk rock than their counterparts.
May I suggest you invest in a dictionary?
yeah i make up a few words along the way. thanks for reading btw.
thebarrochannel You are welcome, but I was not referring to big words you used. I was referring to the fact that you don't seem to know how to spell the word "were." You wrote "where" multiple times. lol
danielscissorhands yeah, I have a big problem with were and where
First came The Ramones, then came everyone else. Clear jealousy on his part. Both he and Strummer are on record citing The Ramones & The NY Dolls as influences. Both bands precede The Sex Pistols by quite a number of years.
Johnny was original, when the pistols came out.genuine resentment, and pent-up mmalevolence,Translated into lyrics
Stooges were first
The British scene began after seeing the Pistols. The Pistols formed in 1975. The Ramones had no radio play, no albums, no tapes, and no live presence until 8 months later, well into the British punk movement. They played for Sex Pistols fans. Not the other way around. The Ramones are the most over-rated band, with no point of view, no color, all in the same uniform. They were cute at best.
@@thepagecollective You can double talk until the cows come home. Listen to "Blitzkrieg Bop" & "Cretin Hop" in particular. That music time signature never existed until they came onto the scene ultimately becoming the blueprint for punk music. In the end, we kicked British tookiss during The Revolutionary War and we kicked British Punk as well! ehe Happy 4th punks! eh
@@darrint3573 You don't seem to understand the concept of "double talk." It is an objective fact that the Sex Pistols didn't use the so-called "time signature" you claim The Ramones invented. It is an objective, provable fact that British punk existed 8 months before anyone in Britain heard anything by the Ramones. No Ramones albums, singles, air play or live shows existed in Britain. The First Ramones recordings did not even exist until six months after the Pistols were playing. It is an objective, provable fact the Ramones and Pistols sound nothing alike. Pistols had standard length, standard tempo songs with riffs and solos. The Ramones played six-string up-down chords at double-time, and no solos. Rotten screamed anarchy, Joey sang about going to the beach. The Ramones wore uniforms and long hair, the Pistols looked liked a sci-fi gang. A child could tell the Ramones and the Pistols apart. It's so pathetic that Ramones fans keep trying to push this narrative about a cute fun band that was cute and fun and not much more. I'm glad Danny Boyle put this series out now. I wanted nothing to do with it, but at least it will drown out this pathetic narrative.
Who cares what band was first they were all brilliant in there own way
The second fellow to speak, the dark haired fellow, nearly beat me up in 1986 at Zed Records I Long Beach California, when I grabbed one of Lydon's Heinekens at a record signing. Tra-la.
Hey John, in the movie Ed Wood,Bella Lugosi said about Boris Karloff,Karloff doesn't deserve to smell my shit. Well, Joe is Bella and your Karloff. That being said I think John is just being Johnny rotten. I've always found him entertaining
You can't get more original than the ramones I'm afraid, The Ramones along with the stooges set the blueprint for Punk Rock.
The Shaniac the beatles aren’t original
The Ramones were cunts following the status quo.
The Sex Pistols were poor guys, struggling to find a voice in a place where even speaking against the Queen was punishable by death for treason.
The Ramones have better music imo but to say they set the blueprint for punk? Fuck off, America had freedom of speech, they weren't rebelling against fuck all. And I say this as someone who thinks the Sex Pistols music fucking blows.
@@forexalised9053
Britain Has Free Speech As Well you complete Pleb, this isn’t China or North Korea.
@@xjselecta3961 not now. Rotten et al are as relevant today as back in the 70s.
Try rebelling today.
The vast majority of music carries no sentiment. It's just an ocean of dreary sameness and uniforms.
The youth have no voice, no future, no future and do zero about it.
@@MILKERSM the ramones were dogshit and the American punk mmovement needs to remember that it came 2nd, and not first.
Stop being a bunch of dickheads, US punk was simple compared to UK punk.
The ramones, using daddy's money for gigs and instruments. UK punk was the lower class fighting an actual establishment and US punk was a bunch of posing dickheads, all dressing the same as each other, conforming to the trend that was USA punk.
Fuck off.
Lydon is always concerned with breaking down the idolatry of rock stars, so I think that's where these comments come from. It's clear the Sex Pistols were marginally influenced by The Ramones, and Steve Jones borrowed lotsa guitar licks from The New York Dolls, but they bit the hand that fed them from the very beginning, trashing the Dolls in 'New York'. But yeah, he was more into Peter Hammill, Hawkwind, Neu! and stuff like that, but Malcolm made them hide their prog rock passion. Lydon even admits he actually liked Pink Floyd, despite the famous T-shirt....he even loved Zeppelin and not just the early stuff. He loves Kashmir. He's just a big music fan.
But who's the other guy painting the 'punk audience' in really black and white terms? The British punks got really obsessed by the fashion side of punk which was not as big in the New York scene. Sure, the NYC punks had style that influenced the UK scene (Richard Hell and Ramones), but punk turned into a teeny bopper media phenomenon in the UK that really hammered down the 'punk rock look'. Punk was never as codified in the States, so I guess that's why the other guy in this video saw the Ramones were hippies.
There are many interviews with the various members out there that outline the influences, not to mention if you're a musician, you can actually hear influences coming thru (guitar solos for example). Lydon may not have liked the Ramones (he has said he was into progressive rock like Neu, Can, Peter Hammil, and even Alice Cooper), but Steve Jones is a big part of the sound as well. His guitar playing is clearly influenced by The Ramones, The New York Dolls, and he has said as much over the years. MacLaren had a part in it as well (when they were young and impressionable--as they've all admitted) and he brought in some NYC influences thru the Dolls and Richard Hell (as he has said many times, plus he managed the Dolls). Lydon is an original, but Sex Pistols style rock and roll has many antecedents. And as far as trusting whatever Johnny Rotten says in an interview, Lydon used to wear a T-shirt that read "I Hate Pink Floyd", but when asked today if he really hates them, he says, "Don't be stupid, you'd have to be quite daft to hate Pink Floyd". If you've followed him at all, you know that he often says outrageous and contradictory things.
i'm not sure i understand what you're saying, but yes he has said he like Beefheart, and you can certainly hear that influence in PiL.
Yes, in Filth and the Fury, he mentions Richard III. That's rather grandiose influence though...and I don't really think that shows up musically. Saying the Sex Pistols are influenced musically by Shakespeare is naive and not really provable or recognizable in the music, but it is hilarious...just the sort of outrageous thing Lydon would say. In that doc, he's drawing a comparison between the character Richard III and the Sex Pistols, but it's a parallel, not an influence. In fact, it's ridiculous to say it's an influence. On a sort of vague, philosophical level, perhaps Richard the III was an inspiration, but that's different than an influence. And just to clarity, I'm not talking about things he has influenced, but things that have influenced him. I'm drawing information from interviews and also just using my ear to listen to the music for ideas that appear in other people's music. It's just my opinion, but it is a researched opinion. You can believe whatever you want about Johnny Rotten, but I will say that ideas don't just appear out of thin air. Everyone has influences, and sometimes the influence is buried rather well. A band's sound is a combination of specific things they've heard before....and you don't always get to pick your influences. The history of the musical tradition plays thru a musician whether or not they're aware of it.
"Lydon is always concerned with breaking down the idolatry of rock stars." He's a music fan: he can hear that the Ramones sounded similar to Status Quo, because they did. Accessible solid rock and roll. And so did Steve Jones. But he didn't. (He sounded less accessible, like Iggy Pop and Jonathan Richman.)
The Ramones were left wingers? When did they play football?
NoMoreHideTheBall haha... actually Johnny Ramone was a right winger.
@Gelenn :D
Ramones come from the garage/psych/bubblegum genre's with their Brian Jones and Fred ''Sonic'' Smith haircuts, leather motorcycle jackets and a totally American NYC attitude. They had a number of fun bubblegummy tunes. The Sex Pistols were a manufactured band and despite not being great musicians still managed to put out one of the greatest rock albums of the 70's. Never cared for the Clash ,not my thing. The Damned were a real U.K. punk band with their first 3 or 4 albums among the best of U.K. so called punk. To find the origins of so called punk rock one need look no further than the real deal,1973- 1975 Cleveland Ohio scene with The Electric Eel's, Rocket from the Tombs ,The StyrenenS and others who took their cues from the Detroit scene of 1968-1972 with The Stooges and MC5 paving the way. The MC5 visited England in 1970 and again in 1972 to light the fuse of U.K.punk.
has anyone ever read the story about Lydon, Stevens and ex football player Razor Ruddock.
No . can u provide a link ? please ?
It's all part of a character ! his egoestical personna !
you can't take everything he said as what he actually what believes in..
The Clash & Sex Pistols members were good friends and used to hang together..
whats the band he says that the ramones ripped off??? i cant understand the name
Status Quo
Who is that guy who follows john everywhere? Seen him on loads of videos.
aceominous That's Rambo, his friend and bodyguard.
danielscissorhands Thank you.
Lydon is a legend, but I mean, I seriously prefer the ramones' light hearted approach to punk than the pistols' snarly moaning
and the Ramones put out three classic albums to one Pistols album, and the Pistols are all still alive
@@1967PONTIACGTO Only problem is it's not really an album. I would LOVE to hear their actual albums.
@@terrywitzu7874 I don't quite understand... are you saying Never Mind the Bollocks isn't really an album?
Rotten is the Gene Simmons of GG Allins
Lydon's just salty cuz the Clash replaced the Pistols.
@MrNorthernSol Please calm down, Mr. Lydon. It was a joke. No need to get defensive.
Then from after giving Joe Strummer a career the Pistols split then he,s at the forefront of a new genre of music post punk with PIL.
Not bad for an outspoken salty man
The Ramones and The Clash are loved for their music while the Sex Pistols are remembered as a mere fashion product- the Monkees of the punk era. Lydon obviously knows that but is too small to admit it.
1 album but one of the top 10 best albums ever
Says the guy who only barely squeezed out one album with his world famous band. What a success he is.
authenticity is a better quality than originality - discuss
John ain't lying though, The Clash are everything to me, but if Joe never saw the pistols play, he wouldn't of left the 101ers to join the Clash, so John did give him a career, and to be fair Joe may of been a tosspot, everyone is at some point
he had a career with the 101ers. I'm sure the clash would've still been big since Mick came up with the vast majority of the music, he would have sung on most of them too instead of Joe
Oooh Rambo's not very PC, "It was a Sex Pistols crowd mixed in with hippies and the queers" lmfao
Raymondspongey he said left wingers, not queers
ghettowinnebago Ok thanks -Maybe I should get better speakers,
lol
Brighton Punk co.uk. Punk Rock Daddy co.uk. "Brighton Punk " was a Movie with John Rotten and Sid Vicious also included was Wrist Action The Molesters and Richard Hell and the Voidoids plus Don Letts plus a few others included Viv Westwood Jordan.
Lydon, with all the respect. Bollocks
I suppose he means that it was seeing The Sex Pistols that inspired Joe to leave the 101ers (or be prepared to leave when he was asked to join The Clash). The only other "favour" I can think of was John arranging for a Teddy Boy--a really huge guy--to ambush Joe in the toilet of a club and beat him up (further breaking Joe's teeth, I think). Not much of a favour.
Where do the New York Dolls fit in the grand scheme of things?
I think he meant that he liked Status Quo in the same way as the Ramones, not that he liked Status Quo better, but I could be wrong in that interpretation! It just sounds like he's saying he likes them about the same, as in he's comparing both on the same level!
Yeah read his bio, hes a big fan of Status Quo, its kinda fucked up, since he gives The Clashes music a hard time.
the only thing that the pistols do was take the sound and the agressive style of nyc punk scene and make it politic, and there is when the "punk movement" strarted, the punk who wear jackets with tacks and dyed hair
Johnny is so full of himself. I'd really like to know what he thinks about Steve Ignorant from Crass or even see them have an argument. Lydon would get totally destroyed lol
The great irony is The Pistols claimed they kicked against bands that were right up themselves !!
Sex Pistols has great songs but The Clash were groundbreaking
The pistols were good for what they were a 1 album band but they can never be compared to the clash ..strummer was a lyrical genius and he was in the only band that mattered
Jealousy is a bitch
The Ramones were a pop band with balls.
Still Rotten after all these years!
well i wasent giving thumbs down to you, i was giving it to john lydon
Is that fucking Mark E. Smith at the end?
Hah. No, I wish Mark E Smith had been there. It's John "Rambo" Stevens, John Lydon's friend and bodyguard.
danielscissorhands Whoops, my bad! But it makes sense, since he doesn't sound or behave anything like Smith would. Can't deny the physical resemblance, though!