The band John Lydon said were never original: “Don’t be silly”
Unlike many artists across the musical landscape, who might prefer to keep themselves to themselves, John Lydon has never been one to stifle his own opinions. Casting scorn upon everybody from punk peers to his own bandmates, the former Sex Pistols frontman is a notoriously difficult man to please.
Despite their manufactured origins, being concocted by manager Malcolm McLaren from the clientele of his Sex Boutique clothing store in London, the Sex Pistols were inarguably essential in spreading the gospel of punk rock across the United Kingdom. With Lydon as their Rotten frontman, the band typified the confrontational look and sneering attitude of the era, but they were far from being the only band to adopt that pioneering abrasive style.
While the Pistols were busy causing shock and horror on the Bill Grundy show, punk had long since taken root on the other side of the Atlantic. Centred around New York’s CBGB club, the city had produced a wealth of pioneering punks before John Lydon ever emerged from the ether, including the leather-clad Queens outfit, the Ramones. Unsurprisingly, though, Lydon wasn’t overly impressed.
In many ways, the Ramones and the Sex Pistols typified the differences between the punk scenes of London and New York. The Pistols were a little rougher and didn’t have quite the same musical knowledge or skill as their Queens-based counterparts, but their attitude was far more confrontational, and their sound was much more aggressive. As such, Lydon never classed the band either as inspiration for his own work, and never even saw them as punk contemporaries.
On the contrary, when asked whether the Ramones were an influence on him, Lydon once retorted, “Don’t be silly. I was up and kicking a long time before them spastics.”
Now, there are a multitude of things that we can dig into within that quote, not least the ableist slurs Lydon directed at the band, before going on to compare them to Status Quo. Namely, the Ramones first formed in 1974, a full year before Lydon joined the ranks of the Pistols, and the band released their self-titled debut in 1976, also a year before Nevermind The Bollocks hit the airwaves.
“The Ramones were deeply unoriginal – that Phil Spector idea with no sensibility or lyrics,” the frontman continued, citing Joey Ramone’s endless adoration for 1960s pop as though it was akin to a cardinal sin. In fact, it was the Ramones’ debt to 1960s pop which made them such a unique outfit, blending the raw power of punk with the timeless pop formula of the Phil Spector age to create songs that were as impactful as they were catchy.
What’s more, it isn’t as though the Sex Pistols never recorded a cover song. Aside from the fact that their version of The Stooges’ ‘No Fun’ formed the B-side of ‘Pretty Vacant’, a lot of the band’s early performances were propped up by covers of The Small Faces, The Kinks, and Paul Revere and the Raiders – hardly cutting edge stuff in 1976.
Whether or not the Ramones were the most original band on the punk scene, the phrase ‘those in glass houses’ certainly springs to mind when it comes to John Lydon’s searing criticism of them. Then again, it is hardly among the most offensive things that have ever been spewed from his mouth.
