by John Lydon, better known as Johnny Rotten during his fiery younger Sex Pistols days, may have mellowed somewhat with age, but no amount of butter adverts will shake off the reputation he once created.
Rotten was more than a singer in a band; he represented an angry generation that was pissed off with the world. It was celebrated whenever he’d verbally berate the status quo, whether this be the rock ‘n’ roll royalty like The Rolling Stones, or the actual Royal Family.
Lydon represented the underdog. He got a thrill out of kicking out at the establishment, and his fans were cheering him on as he delivered each verbal knock-out. Even after the Sex Pistols disbanded, and Lydon was no longer the fresh-faced hellraiser on the scene, he still couldn’t resist the urge to share his disparaging opinion on others.
The 1980s were a strange decade for Lydon as his star continued to fall, as Public Image Ltd became less of a mighty force in popular culture with every album. Tastes quickly change in the contemporary music space, and the kids who were at the front row of Sex Pistols shows at the 100 Club had become adults in the real world, leaving space for new trends to rise to the front.
The changing of the guard is ever-revolving, and in the early 1980s, Depeche Mode’s pioneering brand of gothic electro-pop captured the hearts and minds of a generation. Despite their avant-garde musical approach, they unexpectedly gained mainstream popularity and asserted themselves as one of Britain’s most successful international exports.
However, unsurprisingly, Lydon didn’t take to the band at first and viewed their position at the top of the music industry as proof of everything wrong with the direction of travel of popular culture. In contrast, his place in the musical hierarchy had become less sacred than it once was, and the coterie of new superstars in town had displaced him.
During a conversation with Q Magazine in 1989, Lydon explained how Depeche Mode represented everything which was wrong with the state of the music business. “A lot of bands just take the easy way out: oh, there’s a computer, that’ll solve all the problems. I’m sorry, but I prefer human beings any day over technology,” he ambiguously said.
Lydon brutally continued: “A bad example of how bad things can be is Depeche Mode, who I absolutely hate. They are completely lifeless. There’s no love in what they do. When you see them live, it’s a tragedy. They don’t move, they’re not excited by what they do …”
Despite his scathing assessment of Depeche Mode, Lydon can admit when he’s incorrect about a band. The release of ‘Personal Jesus’, which they shared the same year as he made his original comments, forced Lydon to reassess his stance on the group, sharing in his 2014 memoir. “It’s a serious problem for me, all this technology,” he wrote. “The people who’ve used it best would be Depeche Mode. ‘Your own Personal Jesus!’ Bloody ‘ell mate, they got it!”
Heaping praise further, he added, “They were using the Casiotone effect, and they wrapped a song around it, but they didn’t let it dictate to the song. That’s another tune I just absolutely love – I was so impressed with the bravery of attempting such a subject matter.”
While Lydon can appear to be stubborn and unflinching in his opinion, he can change his mind on a band, as this instance proves. Or, perhaps, he’s criticised so many bands over the years that his original comments have been erased from his memory, which could be more likely.
