All Hail Johnny- King Of The Punks!
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Philosophy- Bill Hicks
Topic: Hurrah!


Evening,

I see that John Lydon has been officially crowned king of the punks.

I'm pleased by this as I'm a huge fan of Mr Lydon so any compliment going his way is fine by me. I have to say that the attitude of many people towards him baffles me. They seem angry that he doesen't live in a dustbin eating mouldy leftovers. As if he can't be 'real' or 'authentic' because he has taken the money due to him from his record sales and royalties over the years and lived accordingly. The 'stay in your place peasant' attitude behind this irritates me enormously. Lydon started out in life with fuck all and unusually for someone of his background got into a situation where his talents could be discovered and rewarded. No other rock star has to live by these impossible rules and a lot of them, amazingly get away with crawling after the monarchy and accepting knighthoods.

Ladies and Gentleman I give you Sir Prick Jagger. A disgusting old fraud, fat on the proceeds of other peoples youthful rebellion. Nobody with a title should be allowed anywhere near rock and roll. It is a simple choice. You can either spend your time hanging about in a marquee with Liz Hurley scoffing voluvents or you can be a rock star. Not both. Yet I rarely hear anyone in the media say how let down they are by Mick or accuse him of selling out. Whereas poor old Johnny reforms the Sex Pistols and goes on 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here' and people carry on like he's turned into Cliff Richard.

Of course rock and roll was always a middle class boys club, hence why Richmond boy Jagger can accept a knighthood because he didn't really mean it whereas Finsbury Park boy Johnny who most defiantly did mean it is expected to stay poor.

The whole idea of rock and roll as an anti-establishment force is nonsense. Record companies are massive establishment run businesses.Even indie labels rely on them for distribution and production. Do you honestly believe that anything truly radical would be allowed through?

The only hope for anything truly radical in music is to take the money out of it and have songs freely distributed. No vested interests. No managers. No promoters. Nothing that raises the performer to the status of landed gentry. Just freely distributed music and performances that afford the musicians a living wage. No truly radical artist would accept money from a large multi-national or government. In truth rock and roll has never been more rebellious than the level of 'fuck you I won't tidy my bedroom' or 'I want sex'. In other words it was never anything more than an entertaining diversion and now it's over. Teenage angst has paid off well. Now leave it alone.

So there.