The artist that Sting said never had a proper career: “I think he’s struggling”
When Sting burst onto the scene with his Police bandmates back in 1977, quite simply, they dominated the world but also made it practically impossible for any other artist to compete.
They were a band most strongly tied to the new wave and rock uprising of the 1980s, but they would forget the small pocket of time at the end of the previous decade when The Police started making splashes that would soon turn into a whirlpool. For all the other bands attempting to tread the boards at the time, seeing this trio come in and suddenly set up shop would have been unsettling to say the least, particularly when they had become so used to a punk status quo.
All of this is to say that it’s very easy for a man like Sting to sit in his ivory tower and pass remarks on what he thinks went well and not so well among his rock counterparts of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, largely because he was untouched by all their struggles and plights to keep afloat. But for one person in particular, whose calibre as the scene’s most iconic frontman was almost bestowed upon Sting like passing ships in the night, there were many bitter blows that ensued.
Retrospectively, John Lydon of the Sex Pistols is decorated as one of the greatest punk beacons to ever grace the stage – but in reality, the height of his career was much more peppered, especially through the eyes of someone like Sting, who was mostly there to see it as it happened. But even though Lydon had his moments of stardom, from one frontman to another, there always seemed to be some dark truth left unsaid.
Over a decade down the line, in the heady heights of 1993, Sting told Rolling Stone: “I think he’s struggling,” with regards to Lydon’s continued attempts to keep his status in the industry. “I think it’s difficult for him. I liked what he did at the time, and I like what he’s done since. But it’s a very small part. I loved ‘Never Mind the Bollocks’, and I loved the single, ‘Public Image’. But that doesn’t make a career. I think he’s in a difficult position.”
In fairness, although it may have been hard to hear from someone who was seemingly still on top of the world, Sting did have a point. By 1993, Lydon had put his post-Pistols outfit, Public Image Ltd, on indefinite hiatus – and he went into a period of being at a bit of a loose end, to put it mildly. Floating around the ether of odd jobs and reality TV for the better part of the next decade, it was clearly hard for Sting to see a man who was once a hero somewhat fallen from grace.
Of course, time always has a way of turning around, and Lydon found a way to climb back on top, but it wasn’t without having endured a few bruises along the way. The irony is that the dents in his success were largely inflicted by the exact type of people like Sting, who swung into the music industry from upon high and obliterated the scene. But the fact remains – Lydon was the king who had the throne first, and bands like The Police would have been nothing without his reign.
