John Lydon on Trump, Brexit and terrorism

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Fixed Your Post.

I hope this is the same link:



Hmm. youtube isn't displaying... here's the direct link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9bHo_p7T24

Of course,he'd defend Trump. He's in the same boat as Ted Nugent, namely a degenerate of the first order.

"many many problems as a human being" is not defending him.

Mr. Rotten is not a degenerate. He has been married to the same women for about 40 years with no hint of of scandal. The couple became guardians of the late singer Ari Up's children when she could not handle them.

The same of course cannot be said of the 'Motor City Pederast'.

Mr. Nugent has been married to the same women, his second wife since 1989. Before then his love life was appearently more rock and roll. Two of his kids fathered when he was not married were put up for adoption without the siblings knowing of each other.

So much for the gossip back to Mr. Rotten's political opinions.

Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten to Americans: Support Trump “Or You Will Destroy the Country”


A lot of the early punk rock was pretty conservative which was often unrecognized because of the confrontational image. They were reacting to the hippie counterculture that was starting to become establishment and conventional wisdom. The Sex Pistols song "Bodies" was an anti abortion song.

I don't disagree with you, but during the late 70's and 80's Ted was known for his preferances for girls under the age of 18. I think he was dating one of his wives ( the Hawaiian one from the early 80's) when she was 14, and he married her at 16. Also, while he talks a good conservative stance, you should track down his account of what he did to avoid getting drafted and sent to Vietnam during the early 70's.

Agreed that a lot of the early punk rock was fairly conservative in reaction to the 'Hippification' of greater society, but that kind of tanked when we got Reagan and a recession, and the UK got Thatcher, and a recession that they also shared with the rest of western Europe. --Still though, in the more 'liberal' areas of the country, the F***ing hippies won.

As somebody who has actually listened to some of the Sex Pistols' music while sober, I will say that much of it had deeper meanings than most people realize. "Anarchy In The UK", their most famous song, was actually mocking the tendency of the 70s underground youth culture in the UK towards what might be called "superficial radicalism", talking about anarchism and such without truly understanding the underlying philosophies. The song's general message was that youths were using "anarchy" as a code word for nihilism, nihilism being another concept mocked: "Don't know what I want but I know how to get it/I wanna destroy.../Cause I wanna be anarchy". And then there's "God Save The Queen", which is a whole other can of worms. That song actually got Johnny Rotten stabbed by a guy who was screaming "I love the Queen!" Rotten had to point out that the song wasn't attacking the Queen directly.

As for Rotten's position on Trump, I have to say he's right, at least in the above quote. Americans like to trot out the whole "He's not MY president!" thing every time a new guy gets in, but usually the whining stays as whining and dies down after a month. What we're seeing now is apparently an effort to make America ungovernable by using violence to destabilize society to the point where the authority and legitimacy of the US Govt is questioned by the masses. That's FAR beyond the stupid "Not My President" homemade magic marker and posterboard signs that pop up here every four years. It's also an extremely dangerous game. Even worse, the rank and file players are too young to remember the 70s and bombs going off at random and masked gangs of radicals robbing banks to get money for their cause.

In an interview I did not post Lydon said he likes the queen but hates the monorchy. But it is hard to interpret "She is not a human bieng" as not personal. But that was the 21 year old Johnny Rotten talking not the 61 year old John Lydon. He did help me as a naive youth be more realistic about people and the rock music on the radio. Don't whine and DIY was always central to Lydon's message.

It is hard but necessary out of self interest and the interest of everybody wish a President one dispises success

A lot of the left these days are just about resist in every way possible, every time possible. But the admistration led by Steve Bannon is a lot about deconstruction of the government and getting back to the Sex Pistols anarchy. Sad and dangerous time.

Look at the song in its proper context. It was written during the build up to the Queen's silver jubilee, which took the form of an entire year of celebrations and tributes during a period in which industries were failing, unemployment was rocketing, the Northern Ireland troubles were in full flow, unions had effective control of the sitting government for 5 years, and so on and so forth, etc.

"She ain't no human being", she's a symbol, a shining island in a sea of excrement, and everyone was clamouring to get a look at the island whilst pretending they don't smell of sh*t. That's what he means by "England's dreaming". He's saying she's more than human, not less - and finds the notion contemptible.



So was sarcastic criticism of his audience.



The Sex Pistols weren't anarchists, they were anti-establishmentarianists. The two are not one and the same, with anti-establishmentarianism operating within the arts, media and popular culture rather than pissing on it from the outside. "Anarchy in the UK" is a sarcastic condemnation of anarchism, a parody, not a promotion.

On the video - I find it amusing (and more than a little vindicating) that people rejected the idea that Trump's rise and the Alt Right movement were political punk rock when I suggested it months back, yet here is Johnny Rotten echoing the point.

The similarities are destroy the system and restart over, blunt talk that offends people, the difference is punk was not a celebration of opulence ala Trump and a lot of the alt right is as easily offended as the SJW's they despise. Maybe Sid Vicious was vaguely a closer analogy to the alt right shocking and offending people for the enjoyment of it.

There were parallels between America and the UK in 1976. America was having economic problems and it's empire was also in in decline during the nations bi centennial celebrations. But at the time punk failed in America even though a lot of it originated here. The record companies, rock radio and the vast majority of fans dismissed it as a fad, a marketing gimmick something Americans are familiar with. We had our tumult the decade before was looking inward and into escapism with genres like disco and progressive rock which British punk was rebelling against. Progressive rock was not escapism in the UK but serious art with ties to classic music and literature. While the prog bands were beloved and dominated the album charts it was the showmanship American fans were generally into.

The obvious retort to that is that there are Sid Vicious archetypes, Johnny Rotten archetypes, Joe Strummer archetypes, etc within the alt-right, but the anti-establishmentarianism is the commonality. Being easily offended is a human trait, not a SJW one - they're more inclined to look for offence where none exists than to actually be offended.