John Lydon’s definition of “the establishment”
From the moment the young John Lydon was spotted wearing the “I hate Pink Floyd” t-shirt, it was clear that he was a non-conformist and not one to ever give in to pressure from the outside world. His utter disdain for the establishment would fuel the rise of the Sex Pistols, with his vitriolic lyrics and delivery qualifying the band, alongside their pulsating music, as the vanguard of the punk movement. They led the baying masses forward, sieging the ivory tower where their adversaries lay.
Lydon will always be inextricable from the punk movement. Without him, it’s almost certain that it would not have taken such a firm grip on popular culture and changed the direction of music. Although the first wave might have ended nearly as quickly as it emerged, with the Sex Pistols collapsing due to the tragedy and violence of their second bassist, Sid Vicious, Lydon continued on his way. After forming Public Image Ltd, he evolved his art, expanding its scope and his commitment to subverting tradition.
The flame-haired frontman has always been a divisive figure. While his flirtation with right-wing politics have spurned a lot of longtime fans, no one can deny that he’s ever veered too far off the path he set himself. He might be misguided and foolish for swerving over to the right and throwing his support behind figures that are undeniably from and solely concerned with the establishment, no matter what they say – namely Donald Trump and Nigel Farage – but ironically, it is his dedication to subverting the status quo that led him to such a position.
However, it must be said that some of his other comments, such as those concerning same-sex marriage and Muslims, cannot be defended and rightly threaten to undo the status he’s constructed over the years.
A long time before Lydon became embroiled in the sort of controversy he had this millennium, he was still flying the freak flag of punk in the purest sense, and he defined “the establishment.” Despite preaching anarchy in the UK and calling out people from the highest echelons of society, he’d never actually fully characterised what classes people as his enemies.
Fittingly, this came as he was promoting his first biography, Rotten, on The Bookshow in 1994. At one point during the chat, it was brought up that his memoir was full of observations, including those about other famous figures such as Richard Branson and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, the woman who gave punk its aesthetic and whose ex-husband, Malcolm McLaren, managed the Sex Pistols. In the book, he says the likes of Branson and Westoowood “were sucked into the establishment.”
Asked to describe “the establishment”, Lydon gave as good of a definition as anybody to date. He said: “Blending in, merging with everybody else, doing things to be polite, not wanting to be offensive, not wanting to be perceived as being ‘politically incorrect’. You’ve got to go with your own flow and not other people’s. If what you do offends a great many, well, that’s just the way it is, because what they do is also offensive. Just accept it, but don’t change just to suit others.”
From that statement, it’s easy to understand where Lydon now finds himself culturally, although I feel like his grasp of this definition has warped over the years in light of ageing and the political class becoming all the more outlandish. There’s not being afraid to offend people and then being a total prat; they’re two different things.
