This is the best kind of music writing - the sort that makes me want to listen to the music you're writing about.
Two things:
1. Maybe Lydon matched the Beatles and Bowie in terms of "incredible restless innovation in a short period of time", but I do not think he surpassed them. The Beatles did EVERYTHING - their entire world-changing career - in just seven years. More than twice as long as the Lydon period you're covering here, sure. But to go from Rubber Soul (65) to Revolver (66) to Sgt Pepper (67), to The White Album (68) to Abbey Road (69) - that's a revolution a year, for five years. And Bowie went from glam rock to plastic soul to austere Germanic art rock in five equally breathless years. If you want further examples of artists who changed everything once a year for a number of years, look to the careers of John Coltrane and Miles Davis.
2. I remember once reading, very likely as an aside in some Q Magazine feature, that manic depressive inmates in certain asylums were played sections of Metal Box, to show them that they were not alone, that others were out there suffering like them. Do you know anything about this?
Ha! Thanks for the feedback! I hear what you’re saying re The Beatles and Bowie - and I don’t really disagree with you - but to my ears The Beatles albums you mention - as much as I love them - were an evolution more than a revolution - Sgt Pepper aside - is there REALLY so much cultural and genre-defining difference between Rubber Soul and Revolver? Or the White Album and Abbey Road? I would argue that their songwriting reached new highs but were they really chameleonic? Bowie, of course - but it feels too like he was making a success of his astonishing way of interpreting existing work, much of the time - T Rex introduced Glam to the world. Bowie introduced Ziggy - and to my mind, far better songs - and then blended soul into it to create Aladdin Sane. Evolving that to the Thin White Duke. Even Low was a reinterpretation of Can and Cluster. I dunno - it feels more like The Sex Pistols and then PiL - came out of nowhere - a revolution, not an evolution. Of course they were inspired by others, but PiL wasn’t simply Lydon’s version of Can. The Pistols weren’t just his interpretation of The Stooges. It’s an interesting thing to think about.
And no - I didn’t know about the inmates! My God - what an experience that would have been!! I can see the relevance but I’m unconvinced it would be the healthiest treatment! :D
Thanks again for taking the time to comment. It’s hugely appreciated.
I will try and find the original Q feature that mentioned this Metal Box trivia. But it might involve delving into the physical archives. I may be some time.
Ok ok, you snagged me enough that I started reading, loved it, am DEFINITELY SOLD on the album and what you say about it. But I need to get back to teaching class! Meanwhile, I am reliving the times I saw Sex Pistols w Sid in London, then again way later when Johnny got bigger and they played Bumbershoot in Seattle, and a PIL show at the Paramount in between. YES, that man is a creative monster. Cant wait to find a way to listen to an album I didnt know about.
I remember taking the bus to San Rafael CA because I heard an independent record store had gotten Metal Box. I got off the bus, walked a mile to the shop and — snagged the last copy of the first issue that they'd receive.
I think Metal Box was the pinnacle of PIL's output — but I don't think it was Rotten/Lyndon's best post-Pistols work...
...that would be the collaboration with Afrika Bambaata on World Destruction.
I love hearing how everyone’s journey is so unique. The Clash didn’t do much for me after Give ‘em Enough Rope but I can certainly see how they would lead you down that path - friends followed similar journies. Thanks for taking the time to respond!
Wow! That’s an interesting opinion - I have to admit that it doesn’t resonate with me at all.
I missed it entirely at the time and it seems quite dated now to my ears.
You were there before me, though - This Is Not A Love Song was my entry point - and expecting more of that kind of melodic stuff, I picked up my first PiL LP - Flowers of Romance!!!
Haha - my 13 year old brain was fried by it.
Not what I expected at all. I hated it.
Eventually it became a favourite, but I really felt duped by it when my cash was so precious.
I didn’t end up adoring Metal Box until after Album, First Edition and Flowers of Romance bed in - in that order, I think, too.
Great memories though. Oddly, one of the strongest is sitting on the floor of my first bedsit/lodgings playing the Seattle cassingle with my pal.
They really went pop in the late 80s, didn’t they?
I got into hip hop pretty early. The Clash doing The Magnificent Seven made me want to check out the artists that he was inspired by, DJ Cool Herc, Grandmaster Flash & Afrika Bambaata. Soon I found The Sugar Hill Gang.
...when I heard that Johnny was doing something with Afrika Bambaata, I was all in...
Funny. For me, though, like most people, my introduction to punk was with the Sex Pistols. The more I learned about them (and Malcolm McLaren) the less impressive they became. When I actually saw the Pistols, they were awful. In fact, a local San Francisco band, The Avengers, opened for them and blew the Pistols off the stage. That turned out to be their last show and those of us who were actually there (if they're being honest) probably thought, good riddance.
The first time I heard the Clash, though...
...they were the real deal. None of Johnny Rotten's theatrics and they actually had real things to say — and those early Clash shows were great (and they kept getting better). Strummer, especially, was the heart and exposed nerve of the band, Mick Jones was sublime on the guitar and Paul Simonon who brought the west African and Jamaican London street sounds into their songwriting were a perfect storm. There's a reason that most music writers put London Calling up there with the greatest albums of all time.
...and here's something about Strummer that a lot of people don't realize — unlike Bono from U2 and others who spout off about socialism and economic equity, Joe lived what he talked and sang about. Bono literally lives in a castle while Strummer lived in small house in the country with his wife when we lost him. He gave most of the money he made away. His final album with his band The Mescaleros was some of his best songwriting and vocal work.
The last thing both recorded was a duet with Johnny Cash of Redemption Song. And it rips my heart out every time I hear it.
Keith Levene was criminally underrated as a guitarist.
A total genius.
This is the best kind of music writing - the sort that makes me want to listen to the music you're writing about.
Two things:
1. Maybe Lydon matched the Beatles and Bowie in terms of "incredible restless innovation in a short period of time", but I do not think he surpassed them. The Beatles did EVERYTHING - their entire world-changing career - in just seven years. More than twice as long as the Lydon period you're covering here, sure. But to go from Rubber Soul (65) to Revolver (66) to Sgt Pepper (67), to The White Album (68) to Abbey Road (69) - that's a revolution a year, for five years. And Bowie went from glam rock to plastic soul to austere Germanic art rock in five equally breathless years. If you want further examples of artists who changed everything once a year for a number of years, look to the careers of John Coltrane and Miles Davis.
2. I remember once reading, very likely as an aside in some Q Magazine feature, that manic depressive inmates in certain asylums were played sections of Metal Box, to show them that they were not alone, that others were out there suffering like them. Do you know anything about this?
Ha! Thanks for the feedback! I hear what you’re saying re The Beatles and Bowie - and I don’t really disagree with you - but to my ears The Beatles albums you mention - as much as I love them - were an evolution more than a revolution - Sgt Pepper aside - is there REALLY so much cultural and genre-defining difference between Rubber Soul and Revolver? Or the White Album and Abbey Road? I would argue that their songwriting reached new highs but were they really chameleonic? Bowie, of course - but it feels too like he was making a success of his astonishing way of interpreting existing work, much of the time - T Rex introduced Glam to the world. Bowie introduced Ziggy - and to my mind, far better songs - and then blended soul into it to create Aladdin Sane. Evolving that to the Thin White Duke. Even Low was a reinterpretation of Can and Cluster. I dunno - it feels more like The Sex Pistols and then PiL - came out of nowhere - a revolution, not an evolution. Of course they were inspired by others, but PiL wasn’t simply Lydon’s version of Can. The Pistols weren’t just his interpretation of The Stooges. It’s an interesting thing to think about.
And no - I didn’t know about the inmates! My God - what an experience that would have been!! I can see the relevance but I’m unconvinced it would be the healthiest treatment! :D
Thanks again for taking the time to comment. It’s hugely appreciated.
I will try and find the original Q feature that mentioned this Metal Box trivia. But it might involve delving into the physical archives. I may be some time.
Hahaa! I’d love to read it - and add it into the article in some way!
Ok ok, you snagged me enough that I started reading, loved it, am DEFINITELY SOLD on the album and what you say about it. But I need to get back to teaching class! Meanwhile, I am reliving the times I saw Sex Pistols w Sid in London, then again way later when Johnny got bigger and they played Bumbershoot in Seattle, and a PIL show at the Paramount in between. YES, that man is a creative monster. Cant wait to find a way to listen to an album I didnt know about.
This is what you want, this is what you get
Masterpiece
I remember taking the bus to San Rafael CA because I heard an independent record store had gotten Metal Box. I got off the bus, walked a mile to the shop and — snagged the last copy of the first issue that they'd receive.
I think Metal Box was the pinnacle of PIL's output — but I don't think it was Rotten/Lyndon's best post-Pistols work...
...that would be the collaboration with Afrika Bambaata on World Destruction.
That Redemption Song cover is my favourite thing he did. :)
And they both passed away, shortly after recording it, within a few days of each other.
Johnny Cash remains the one hero I’ve shed a tear over at news of his death. Those last few American LPs soldified his god-like status. Sorely missed.
I shed tears for both of them.
I love hearing how everyone’s journey is so unique. The Clash didn’t do much for me after Give ‘em Enough Rope but I can certainly see how they would lead you down that path - friends followed similar journies. Thanks for taking the time to respond!
Wow! That’s an interesting opinion - I have to admit that it doesn’t resonate with me at all.
I missed it entirely at the time and it seems quite dated now to my ears.
You were there before me, though - This Is Not A Love Song was my entry point - and expecting more of that kind of melodic stuff, I picked up my first PiL LP - Flowers of Romance!!!
Haha - my 13 year old brain was fried by it.
Not what I expected at all. I hated it.
Eventually it became a favourite, but I really felt duped by it when my cash was so precious.
I didn’t end up adoring Metal Box until after Album, First Edition and Flowers of Romance bed in - in that order, I think, too.
Great memories though. Oddly, one of the strongest is sitting on the floor of my first bedsit/lodgings playing the Seattle cassingle with my pal.
They really went pop in the late 80s, didn’t they?
:)
I got into hip hop pretty early. The Clash doing The Magnificent Seven made me want to check out the artists that he was inspired by, DJ Cool Herc, Grandmaster Flash & Afrika Bambaata. Soon I found The Sugar Hill Gang.
...when I heard that Johnny was doing something with Afrika Bambaata, I was all in...
Funny. For me, though, like most people, my introduction to punk was with the Sex Pistols. The more I learned about them (and Malcolm McLaren) the less impressive they became. When I actually saw the Pistols, they were awful. In fact, a local San Francisco band, The Avengers, opened for them and blew the Pistols off the stage. That turned out to be their last show and those of us who were actually there (if they're being honest) probably thought, good riddance.
The first time I heard the Clash, though...
...they were the real deal. None of Johnny Rotten's theatrics and they actually had real things to say — and those early Clash shows were great (and they kept getting better). Strummer, especially, was the heart and exposed nerve of the band, Mick Jones was sublime on the guitar and Paul Simonon who brought the west African and Jamaican London street sounds into their songwriting were a perfect storm. There's a reason that most music writers put London Calling up there with the greatest albums of all time.
...and here's something about Strummer that a lot of people don't realize — unlike Bono from U2 and others who spout off about socialism and economic equity, Joe lived what he talked and sang about. Bono literally lives in a castle while Strummer lived in small house in the country with his wife when we lost him. He gave most of the money he made away. His final album with his band The Mescaleros was some of his best songwriting and vocal work.
The last thing both recorded was a duet with Johnny Cash of Redemption Song. And it rips my heart out every time I hear it.
Without looking I randomly picked up a record to play this afternoon. It was Second Edition. Creepy.