“All-time favourite”: the classic rock song John Lydon performed at his Sex Pistols audition
Many people believe that John Lydon has a terrible voice… How lucky, then, that at his Sex Pistols audition, he didn’t sing a single note.
Instead, when the would-be punk pioneers were looking for a singer, the angsty Lydon walked into the room and decided to mime along to a song – his movement and engaging style were so encapsulating that the band were keen on appointing him before he even uttered a word, and while that’s probably for the best, as his vocals were perfect for punk, they likely wouldn’t have auditioned too well.
So, what song was he miming along to? Well, it was none other than Alice Cooper’s ‘I’m Eighteen’. I mean, if you’re looking for a precursor to punk, Alice Cooper is one of the best places to turn. While his music might not have had much of a political edge, the shocking nature of his performance style is something which resonated massively with Lydon and others.
Keep in mind, the Sex Pistols frontman saw right through a lot of flamboyant rock music. Half of the time, he just didn’t buy it. The moment rock bands started to put on make-up and worry too much about their hair and eyeliner, he called those artists out as too transparent and ultimately boring. Take Kiss, for example – while he said he liked them as people, he wasn’t a fan at all of their music or their attitude towards artistry.
“There’s a lot [of artists] that are selling you an image that’s false, deliberately fake, and deliberately commercial,” he said. “I’ve met the Kiss lads. They’re all right. You know, [but] without the makeup, there ain’t much going on.”
This didn’t apply to Alice Cooper, though. When Lydon went to audition for the Sex Pistols, he put a lot of himself into that performance, but he was also channelling the man who was one of his favourite artists of all time. Cooper showed him just how well shock rock could work when it came to not only enticing a crowd, but also antagonising them. When you compare the performance style of Alice Cooper and John Lydon, you can certainly see the parallels.
“A lot of the heavy metal acts that go out dressed up in makeup and tights [don’t have personalities]. It’s an image to them, and that’s very important,” he commented. “Alice Cooper is one of my all-time favourites. The sheer way he turned it into theatre was great. I loved it as a young person, and I still do. Every time I see him playing live, I’m there.”
It’s interesting that Lydon was such a huge fan because the thing that has constantly sat at the heart of his criticism and adoration of different music acts is authenticity. He doesn’t pay much attention to bands who he doesn’t think are being authentic, but Alice Cooper has always been open about the fact that his whole persona derived from an element of fantasy. He wanted to embody a fictional character on stage, and did that with his style, the way he performed and his music. Fiction or not, the punk rocker loved it.
“I was creating a fantasy,” said Cooper. “I looked all around me and saw all these Peter Pans with no Captain Hook. I saw the Black Queen in Barbarella and said, ‘That’s Alice, right there.‘”
Concluding, “I immediately related and knew a piece of Alice had to look like that; the black gloves with the switchblades coming out of the end, the black make-up with the patch over her eye.”
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