Ben Myers, regular contributor to this parish, has written the first unauthorised biography of Sex Pistols, PiL and jungle telly star John Lydon. The tome covers Lydon's life, from his early suffering with meningitis, through the formation and demise of the Sex Pistols to Lydon's ensuing involvement in PiL and the Post Punk scene. And I'm A Celebrity... PlayLouder caught up with Myers to ask him what it was about the manic-eyed rotter than so inspired him.
"Pretty much everything John Lydon has done - for better or for worse - has been inspiring in some way", said Myers. "My earliest memory is of seeing him and Sid Vicious on TV when I was about two years old, and I was scared shitless. It was the hair, the eyes, the crooked smile. I was hooked. Lydon is, in part at least, responsible for certain lifestyle choices I have made. I still think he's by far the most interesting rock star Britain has produced in three decades. Who else is there....Liam Gallagher? Morrissey? Bongo from U2? No thanks." Bugger Bongo!
Myers also revealed that he wanted to reverse public misconceptions about Lydon: "People forget Lydon is extremely intelligent and a mainstream agitator of sorts - the perfect mix of art school intellectual and North London football hooligan - in a time when there's still a total lack of articulated intelligence in rock music. Too many bands want to let the music do the talking...which is fine, but their music usually says nothing. Lydon is never short of words and it's fair to say that he has recently been elevated to the deserved position of 'living British legend'. I hate that term, but I think in this instance it applies. John Lydon and Mr. Kingdom Brunel." Wot no Winston?
What with the book being unauthorised and all, has the sometimes rather feisty-tempered Lydon passed any comment, or indeed, wrath? "He hasn't commented as yet, but that is because he hasn't actually seen a copy, but he knows about it", Myers revealed. "I think in writing an unauthorised book I was able to tell the truth - or something approaching a truth. Rock & roll is all lies and la la land anyway. Obviously it would have been great to get his perspective on certain things, but I suspect John Lydon has presented himself how he wants to be seen. His own autobiography told his side of the story, now it's time to tell it from the perspective of a fan as well as numerous other people I talked to this past year - like members of PiL, The Clash... Keith Levene from PiL more or less asked me to ask Lydon whether he might want to re-form PiL, which is a strange request to put to a stranger: 'If you see John tell him I'm interested....' type thing. Suddenly I felt like a pimp for punk rockers."
And finally, what about the I'm A Celebrity stuff? Did that make it in? Indeed it did. Says Myers: "In appearing in the jungle-based celebrity clusterfuck, Lydon can expect people to discuss, question and criticise, so naturally there's a chapter in the book about the whole nature of celebrity, the rise of 'reality TV' and how Lydon used it all for his own means. You could never call Lydon a sell-out as he has never been an exponent of the DIY/elitist underground punk ethic. He has been a money man since his teens and has made no bones about it."
Myers also expects that Lydon's new-found public fame could see the book reaching a wider audience than he might have originally expected: "I expect a lot of people might read the book on the back of Lydon's re-invention as a celebrity, but instead they'll be presented with a big book on the eighties post-punk scene, with a bit at the end involving some ostriches and some footballer called 'Razor'. It'll be fun to see what the tabloid readers make of the vast sections on The Raincoats, Kleenex and major digressions on The Slits...."
'John Lydon: Sex Pistols, PiL & Anti-Celebrity' is released through Imp Books in November.
"Does Lydon really talk in that silly voice? - TALK!":http://forums.playlouder.com/
