“Words cannot express quite a lot of feelings, whereas a noise or tone or drone or sound, an accordion falling down a staircase, can somehow capture an emotion much better.”
― John Lydon
“I always find the mirror in the dressing room is where the best artists are.”
― John Lydon
“Having a birthday cake squashed into your face by young kids? Delicious. I always don a Santa suit at Christmas. Remaining childish is a tremendous state of innocence.”
― John Lydon
“Gossip is a very dangerous tool. We should be more wary of the gossiper, and not the gossip they’re trying to relay to you.”
― John Lydon
“People don’t like other poor people, and rather than blame the people that make you all poor, you blame each other.”
― John Lydon
“I mean, the genuine roots of culture is folk music.”
― John Lydon
“I like crazy people, especially those who don’t see the risk.”
― John Lydon
“Heaven is on this earth. There are no angels on the clouds with twanging harps… That’s just another man’s fantasy.”
― John Lydon
“It’s nice to be irritated. It’s a very joyous thing.”
― John Lydon
“I never take any commitment lightly, and I certainly don’t take my wife lightly. I never did and I never will. That’s permanent. That’s true love.”
― John Lydon
“Live music is healthy.”
― John Lydon
“My words are my bullets.”
― John Lydon
“Remaining childish is a tremendous state of innocence.”
― John Lydon
“I’m sort of of the belief that people kill themselves from the inside out. When they’re unhappy with what they’re doing, or not achieving things – when your focus is off-kilter. The thing that keeps me ticking is my values. And I maintain them, because they’re worthy. I like to wake up and feel I’ve done no wrong. I like that feeling.”
― John Lydon
“Records were vitally important to the development of music and of all music cultures. With that being pushed by the wayside, I can’t see an iPod uniting us. In fact it separates us, the streets are full of people bumping into lamp posts, listening to their own little universe, and there’s no sharing in that.”
― John Lydon
“If my leg falls off, I’ll get a prosthetic. There’d be no deep sadness about. I’d just get on with it! It’s called life, and I love life. You have to be positive, and you have to crack on no matter what.”
― John Lydon
“Oscar Wilde turned the world upside down and was able to laugh at it, and hopefully by the time I’m 120 and worn out, that’s what I will achieve. I love being alive so much.”
― John Lydon
“I’m not here for your amusement. You’re here for mine.”
― John Lydon
“As a human being, I’m work in process.”
― John Lydon
“I’m no one’s lap dog, you can’t put me on a leash.”
― John Lydon
“It’s no good being nice and young and naive. There’s no good in that at all. You’ve got to do it all yourself, and you’ve gotta learn quick. And you can’t look for sympathy either.”
― John Lydon
“I don’t tolerate liars. When somebody lies to me, that’s really, like, just unbearable.”
― John Lydon
“Love is 2 minutes and 52 seconds of squelching noises.”
― John Lydon
“Dummy Dum Dum was my nickname for years at school. I was the strange one of the family, the one who couldn’t remember his name.”
― John Lydon
“If you ever want to know why I’m not on a record label, look at ‘The X Factor!’ Honestly, of all the people that strive to break barriers in music and do good things and write great lyrics, not one of them would ever pass the first round on any of these competitions.”
― John Lydon
“You’re made to feel ugly, and I made ugly beautiful. Just by sheer persistence. Nobody has the right to say that I am ugly, and I will not be a professional victim, you know. Sorry!”
― John Lydon
“You have moments of grief in life, and if you can put pen to paper and capture that, that’s something wonderful. I can revisit actual songs about past deaths, and I know that emotion is as true now as it was then.”
― John Lydon
“It’s a repressive society where you can’t be horrible, I’m not horrible, they made me horrible, I’m just honest.”
― John Lydon
“If you were to look back at me as a school kid you’d see a very quiet little church mouse kind of character.”
― John Lydon
“Music can describe emotions far more accurately than words ever can. As soon as I realised that, I knew music was where I wanted to be.”
― John Lydon
“I don’t like the monikers, and I don’t like being pigeonholed. You know, I’m a human being.”
― John Lydon
“I’ve had great pleasure meeting the likes of Newt Gingrich and having a chat with the fellow on a staircase. I found him completely dishonest and totally likeable, because he doesn’t care! He knows what a politician is, and he’s a perfect embodiment of one.”
― John Lydon
“I’ve turned arrogance into an artform, where it’s so absurd that it becomes comedy. But I’ve never done anything to hurt anybody or steal from anyone.”
― John Lydon
“I’ve never told anyone this. But I suffer from terrible stage fright. True. You can’t tell though, can you? Unbelievable, the panic. I nearly die of fear before I go on stage. Something wicked. I can’t eat a thing the day before a gig. It’d make me vomit.”
― John Lydon
“I have one major problem with the Internet: It’s full of liars.”
― John Lydon
“I went to visit Alcatraz years ago when I was on tour with the Pistols, and I really liked the atmosphere of the place. I genuinely, really, thoroughly enjoyed the whole morning there. I just liked the quietness and stillness of what is basically a cruel prison complex. I still found some kind of joy in that. That’s how I am.”
― John Lydon
“I’ve helped launch 49 careers – those that have been in PiL. To me, they are my babies; whatever they get up to, they know I love them. They’ve been living in my pockets, and they should show more gratitude.”
― John Lydon
“For a gun-toting nation, Americans are surprisingly passive.”
― John Lydon
“Move to Italy. I mean it: they know about living in debt; they don’t care. I stayed out there for five months while I was making a film called ‘Order Of Death,’ and they’ve really got it sussed. Nice cars. Sharp suits. Great food. Stroll into work at 10. Lunch from 12 till three. Leave work at five. That’s living!”
― John Lydon
“I never wore a studded leather jacket, y’know. Ne-va!”
― John Lydon
“My entire life, socially, was all around the Maggie era. That was the great challenge as a Sex Pistol was how to deal with Margaret Thatcher. I think we did rather good.”
― John Lydon
“I keep falling off the edge of the stage because I can’t see it. I can’t see my wrinkles in the mirror either, though.”
― John Lydon
“Don’t accept the old order. Get rid of it.”
― John Lydon
“Sometimes the most positive thing you can be in a boring society is absolutely negative.”
― John Lydon
“There’s nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it.”
― John Lydon
“Do what I want, be honest to myself and then it would do good for others, that’s all, full on.”
― John Lydon
“You’ll find that empty vessels make the most sound.”
― John Lydon
“If you give me the chance, I’ll destroy America for you.”
― John Lydon
“I think national pride leads to nothing but wars and hate.”
― John Lydon
“Do not stand in the middle, go to the right or to the left.”
― John Lydon
“The day I run out of ideas is the day I stop making records.”
― John Lydon
“When you come from desperate poverty, and that’s exactly what I come from, you know that nonsenses are not to be tolerated. I’m not sure who gains from chaos, but I know it’s not the poor folks in the council flats. The politics of vindictiveness is never, ever anything like a solution.”
― John Lydon
“I’m not blowing my own trumpet here, but I made a rap song 20 years ago with Afrika Bambaataa.”
― John Lydon
“Pop music I have always loved best.”
― John Lydon
“I have one major problem with the internet: It’s full of liars. There doesn’t seem to be any way to answer to people lying about you.”
― John Lydon
“I’ve never said I’m a communist.”
― John Lydon
“Rules are important, but they’re temporary and they’re always supposed to be changed.”
― John Lydon
“I don’t release records to be anything but enjoyable.”
― John Lydon
“If anyone asks for your autograph they’re showing you respect and give it back to them.”
― John Lydon
“I nearly die of fear before I go on stage. Something wicked. I can’t eat a thing the day before a gig.”
― John Lydon
“I think I have something valid to say. My words are my bullets. I like to brag that somehow I got it right.”
― John Lydon
“I’m in England so often I haven’t really left, but Americans aren’t at all like they’re misrepresented through their politicians.”
― John Lydon
“I like America’s diversity and its landscapes.”
― John Lydon
“The only good political movement I’ve seen lately was Occupy Wall Street. They had no leaders, which was genius. But unfortunately it always ends up with some hippy playing a flute.”
― John Lydon
“I don’t believe in anarchy, because it will ultimately amount to the power of the bully, with weapons. Gandhi is my life’s inspiration: passive resistance. I don’t want to live in the Thunderdome with Mad Max.”
― John Lydon
“I love a bit of flag-waving.”
― John Lydon
“Being born into the Royal Family is like being born into a mental asylum. Marrying into it is not something to be taken lightly.”
― John Lydon
“Periods of inactivity, I don’t know such things. I’m consistently writing. My life is busy. It always is. There are hardly any moments for self-indulgent laziness.”
― John Lydon
“I’ve been asked over the years to compile a list of desert-island discs. I couldn’t do that. If I was trapped on a desert island, I don’t think I’d want 10 songs to bring with me.”
― John Lydon
“I love pop music. It’s not easy to write a good pop song.”
― John Lydon
“I could never be a member of a single party. I want the best of all worlds, thank you.”
― John Lydon
“You know, I’ve been to some superstars’ houses, and I’ve been really disgusted when I see their platinum discs hanging in the toilet. They’re just there on the walls glaring at you when you’re trying to be occupied with other things.”
― John Lydon
“I’ve been in very many situations where I’ve not liked the other members of the band or they have not liked me. I grew up presuming that’s the way music was made. It doesn’t need to be that way. It’s taken me years years to find that out.”
― John Lydon
“Me, as a human, I never want to take away another human being’s choices or lifestyles or anything.”
― John Lydon
“I cannot comprehend fundamentalism. It’s fundamentally wrong.”
― John Lydon
“People should never allow themselves to be dictated to by media.”
― John Lydon
“Listen, you know this: If there’s not a rebellious youth culture, there’s no culture at all. It’s absolutely essential. It is the future. This is what we’re supposed to do as a species, is advance ideas.”
― John Lydon
“If you have something to say then you want someone to pay attention or at least to have the opportunity for them to tell you to shut up and go away.”
― John Lydon
“I love books, and all the best ones are people analysing their own emotions. You can learn from that.”
― John Lydon
“If you can sort out why you feel the way you do then you might be in better shape to meet your maker.”
― John Lydon
“Analog, electronic, whatever it happens to be, I simply love and adore literally every aspect of making music.”
― John Lydon
“There are some Rolling Stones songs that are just stunners.”
― John Lydon
“I never thought of Green Day as a punk band. Just bubblegum, really.”
― John Lydon
“Art should be life. It’s an imitation of life. It should have some humanity in it.”
― John Lydon
“I find Lady Gaga hilarious. And I kind of like her. My heart’s warmed to her.”
― John Lydon
“Just because people think politically different to you doesn’t mean they’re inhuman.”
― John Lydon
“These days young kids don’t have any place to form an epic adventure. It’s more often in front of the TV screen or a laptop. That’s very hard on them. They’re being taught daily unsocial skills. Facebook is an unsocial skill. It’s so sad.”
― John Lydon
“I was a very sickly boy when I was young; nearly died when I was 7. I had a life-threatening attack of meningitis, and that put me in a coma for a few months. It took me four years to get my memory back.”
― John Lydon
“I love boating – not flash, ‘noisy go fast’ nonsense, but the general relaxation of it. My wife and I love to get in our little Wellcraft and go as far out to sea as we can, hopefully beyond land. That is the best thing you can ever do. It clears your psyche.”
― John Lydon
“I love American ski resorts because they’re open to everyone, are not incredibly expensive. They’re not snobby and you can have fun all day long on the most excellent mountains.”
― John Lydon
“I love Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart because they’re bringing irony back into American humor, which is a delicious treat. The entire Colbert persona of being extreme right-wing when he’s not at all is highly amusing. He does it so well, but sometimes a little too well. My wife is convinced he’s completely that way.”
― John Lydon
“I’m not this callous clown walking around laughing at life all the time. I’ve had some serious, serious problems in my life. But I’ve come out with a smile.”
― John Lydon
“I don’t have any expensive habits. I’m not a car collector or any of that nonsense. But I’d love to be incredibly wealthy for no reason at all.”
― John Lydon
“U2 – that’s a band that never should have existed. There’s no life experience in any of their songs.”
― John Lydon
“The record companies fell apart – quite deservedly. Their corrupting, all-binding contract nonsense had to stop.”
― John Lydon
“One of the most beautiful things about Britain, apart from the NHS and the free education, is the British Army.”
― John Lydon
“Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won’t understand how anyone can have a problem with how they’re treated.”
― John Lydon
“I had an Irish Catholic education. Horrible nuns, vindictive and cruel.”
― John Lydon
“I’d rather give up my ears than my eyes, which might sound unusual for a musician.”
― John Lydon
“I applaud the effort it takes to put a record together.”
― John Lydon
“Over the years, during television interviews, whenever the host or the reviewer or whoever gets cynical and nasty with me, I will behave accordingly. I will defend myself.”
― John Lydon
“You need the past as a guideline. The history of music is a good basis, but to escape that stuff, that tortuous rulebook, you have to learn it first. It’s kind of like religion – once you’ve written the Bible, that’s it, move on.”
― John Lydon
“I have a sensible set of values that tell me to never lie.”
― John Lydon
“I’ve always despised the hippies.”
― John Lydon
“Britain’s an island; it’s always had a constant ebb and flow of immigration – it makes it a better place.”
― John Lydon
“Let’s face it, I ain’t ever gonna be the best singer in the world, or the best anything.”
― John Lydon
“Books are like my one and only joy.”
― John Lydon
“Music is a simulation of something, but language is the greatest thing we possess.”
― John Lydon
“If I’m left to my own devices, I will be tempted to make the most unlistenable music possible.”
― John Lydon
“There are no limits to where our brains can take us. We are, if there be a God, God’s gracious creation.”
― John Lydon
“I love America. I love Americans.”
― John Lydon
“We need wealthy dogs off the seats of power. They’re taking us back to feudalism and I really don’t want that. But I’m very far from being a socialist.”
― John Lydon
“I love conversation and the sharing of different thoughts and philosophies. That kind of stuff always makes me happy. I don’t mind interviews, either – I like doing them.”
― John Lydon
“Here’s how I understand music. If you can play the same bunch of noise twice, it’s music. To go beyond that is supercilious and pontificating.”
― John Lydon
“My way of thinking as I approach any human being on this planet is, ‘What are you doing now?’ That’s what interests me. I don’t come at anybody with a whole bunch of assumptions.”
― John Lydon
“Freedom isn’t to do what you want at somebody else’s expense.”
― John Lydon
“When I write, my brain moves faster than my hands so I’m always trying to picture things.”
― John Lydon
“There’s no harm in me. Really, I’m just a big kid.”
― John Lydon
“I hate the technological rip-offs that pass for music formats these days, and go back to vinyl to hear a good record because the sound is always so much fuller. I don’t even like listening to music in the car.”
― John Lydon
“Occasionally, a re-enactment is a fine thing. I love Civil War re-enactments.”
― John Lydon
“Americans being upright and forthright and honest and true to themselves is a very hard concept.”
― John Lydon
“The real color of my hair is mouse. I always want to be ginger, which I was when I was born, or blond, because I live in L.A., and I want to look like I go surfing without any physical effort.”
― John Lydon
“Situationism is a ludicrous proposition. It’s ill-formed and it’s perfectly French. That Gallic disposition towards common sense. L’Anarchie!”
― John Lydon
“Look, if the Situationists achieved what they wanted, they would be very unhappy and they would have to be Situationists all over again. It’s a never-ending process.”
― John Lydon
“For me, the best rock is not what you play – it’s what you’re not playing.”
― John Lydon
“You can always wake up on the wrong side of the bed and, boo-hiss, everyone suffers. We can all be temperamental.”
― John Lydon
“When you grew up like me and my four brothers, you end up feeling somewhat inadequate, like somehow you don’t count.”
― John Lydon
“I hate death; it takes people away from you. You’re left feeling rudderless.”
― John Lydon
“You’d have to be daft as a brush to say you didn’t like Pink Floyd.”
― John Lydon
“As a young concert-going person, I was never enamoured with celebrities who would walk out to feature in certain songs and then walk off.”
― John Lydon
“I always knew the Sixties wasn’t a revolution. It really was just a bunch of university students with wealthy parents having fun.”
― John Lydon
“My biggest fear is mindlessly and stupidly repeating myself.”
― John Lydon
“There’s many, many ways to write a song. But generally, sitting down at a table and writing is not one of them.”
― John Lydon
“I think there’s something basically wrong with the general public that they do need their icons.”
― John Lydon
“A record company used to be a very good thing, but they ended up soul-destroyingly trapping people in the accounting department. And you couldn’t get any further, and the heads of each department were changing all the time, so you couldn’t have any permanent relationship within the corporation.”
― John Lydon
“No matter what you experience in life, it incorporates political tendencies, and in so many ways.”
― John Lydon
“You gotta bear in mind, the youth – and this is just in Britain alone – have nowhere to go in the evenings. They’ve closed all the social centers. There’s not even a patch of grass to kick a ball on.”
― John Lydon
“Obama’s dense as a doorbell; not much going on up there – it’s a wooden top.”
― John Lydon
“I was brought up and raised in Britain as a Labour man, and that quickly changed. And I find there are more working-class people in the Conservative Party than the Labour party.”
― John Lydon
“The joy of life is in the work.”
― John Lydon
“I’ve created several musical trends, really. That’s not because I’m so far out and fabulous. It’s because most bands have no ideas of their own. They’re so desperate they’ll grab at any old straw.”
― John Lydon
“I love discordancy. It makes people ill at ease and wakes up a part of their brain that’s normally asleep.”
― John Lydon
“People think I hate the Royal Family, but that’s not true.”
― John Lydon
“I don’t think there’s any such thing as rock n’ roll anymore – it’s an amalgamation of business interests.”
― John Lydon
“It’s quite clear to me I’m not a sexist and I’m not a misogynist.”
― John Lydon
“Any new ideas go into PiL. My inspiration is everything that the human being gets up to. I don’t listen to any music when I’m in PiL-zone, because influences can poison your well. Otherwise, I listen to anything.”
― John Lydon
“I don’t have huge bank accounts. I’d love one. But it wouldn’t change much. I don’t have any expensive habits. I’m not a car collector or any of that nonsense. But I’d love to be incredibly wealthy for no reason at all.”
― John Lydon
“The so-called alleged ‘art’ of the video – well, the video has killed the radio star, but the video star killed the live musician, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.”
― John Lydon
“I’ve done no harm to no one. In fact, I think I’ve improved the world.”
― John Lydon
“Pop music I have always loved best. But the more extreme, fascist-led examples of the music business I tend to detest the most.”
― John Lydon
“I have values. But morals are Christian. There’s no religion here. Values. Don’t hurt when you don’t need to, but don’t let anybody step over that line – it’s an invisible line, but it’s respect for somebody’s space.”
― John Lydon
“I showed what I can do with butter, right? Eighty-five percent increase in sales. I’m very proud of them Country Life ads. They were funny and clever and classy like the Toblerone ads I grew up with.”
― John Lydon
“I’m not great at dealing with death, I have to say. I find death very hard: my mum, my dad, Sid Vicious. I’m not a monster; I feel it and it scares me. One death at a time, please, is all my heart will bear.”
― John Lydon
“Some song ideas absolutely require a kind of rigid discipline, and others require absolute chaotic abandon. The form is only valid if you know how to un-form it. I don’t mean to sound like an intellectual here!”
― John Lydon
“’Lollipop Opera’ is the backdrop to Finsbury Park. A place that is very thriving, interracial and lot of music stores, Greek, Turkish, all sorts of immigrant music. It’s utter Englishness. It blends the Jamaicans, the Irish. It’s like what Jim Reeves did with American country music.”
― John Lydon
“I’m 100% proud of the TV work I achieved. The work I did on shows on insects and Great White sharks… stuff that’s in school curriculums in England. Now they are showing up on Discovery Channel.”
― John Lydon
“Every single lyric I’ve ever written I meant.”
― John Lydon
“I wanted to wear the most impenetrable suit of armour ever known to mankind. ‘Hello, Mr. Rotten…’ You can’t say anything about me. You can’t put me down in any way shape or form – I’m rotten to the core… you know, what’s left for you? Pleasantries? I suppose the worst insult you could sling my way is ‘Oh, he’s really nice, him.’”
― John Lydon
“I’ve always said, I thought the Sex Pistols was more Music Hall than anything else – because I think that really, more truths are said in humour than any other form.”
― John Lydon
“Punk was never about one particular clean-cut imagery… it’s about many, many individuals coming very loosely together.”
― John Lydon
“I love consumerism, TV culture, shopping malls. There’s nothing I’d ever buy, but I like being there. It’s wacky.”
― John Lydon
“All the things that you would have thought would have made me a professional A1 criminal… wrong. I decided that was too lazy and easy, and because of the way British society is, quite frankly you were denied an education, so I got one of my own.”
― John Lydon
“I’ve never done anything deliberately; I just speak my mind, and that is what I consistently do and will always do in any way shape or form that I can.”
― John Lydon
“When you grew up like me and my four brothers, you end up feeling somewhat inadequate, like somehow you don’t count. I was very ill as a child and in and out of hospital. That sort of alienates you, and in my songs I put that to good use.”
― John Lydon
“It’s volatile, the marriage. Which one isn’t? Nothing better than a good, full-on row. Get it all out. Say rude and nasty things. And then be sorry. Genuinely sorry, afterwards.”
― John Lydon
“I don’t believe in pets. I like animals to be wild and free.”
― John Lydon
“My inspiration is everything that the human being gets up to.”
― John Lydon
“I love being alive so much. When you come out of comas in your childhood, every moment awake is a joyous occasion.”
― John Lydon
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