John Lydon on the ultimate hypocrisy of The Rolling Stones: “The system! They became it!”
If you look back over the most notorious revolts throughout history – both cultural and political – there have always been those figures who come to betray the revolution. Even within the rock and roll revolution, which had a staunch ethos of rebellion, the pull of fame and fortune managed to corrupt a fair few stars. When punk rock burst onto the scene in the mid-1970s, led by figures like John Lydon, that set of rock principles had never been so stark.
It is difficult to neatly capture just how revolutionary the punk movement was. For the first time, on a widespread scale, rock was placed into the hands of ordinary people. Punk was also perhaps the first time that popular music held a strong political standpoint, with many groups within the scene operating by hardcore anti-capitalist ethics and a penchant for anarchy. Although the Sex Pistols were something of a manufactured punk band, they were utterly essential in the development of the style.
The Pistols frontman has always been outspoken, regularly calling out the injustices of the music industry. While Lydon has often been guilty of being needlessly harsh towards fellow artists, many of his criticisms do ring true. For instance, during his 1992 memoir Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs, Lydon called out the hypocrisy of some of rock and roll’s biggest stars. Namely, the punk pioneer seemed to take issue with The Rolling Stones.
During their early years, The Stones represented the rebellious youth of the 1960s. Operating by their own rules and putting across a defiant style of blues rock, the Mick Jagger-fronted group were instrumental in the development of British rock and, by extension, punk. Nevertheless, it did not take long before The Stones became part of the musical establishment they had originally been rebelling against.
Lydon was certainly not ignorant of that fact, and he took particular malice from the fact that Jagger was openly critical of the Pistols and punk rock in general. “I saw lots of old rock stars—and lots of jealous rock stars, too,” Lydon wrote, “The Stones were one of the most notoriously inept bands in music, and here was this old coke hag pointing fingers and calling us disgusting.”
Explaining the hypocrisy of Jagger’s group, the songwriter continued, “The Stones were into patting themselves on the backs and being self-congratulatory, like many of those old-timers. The Pistols were an absolute threat to that nice little world they had all built for themselves,” adding, “They came out of the ever-so-generous-and-love-everyone sixties and soon turned into fucking greedy, shifty little businessmen doing their utmost to stifle the opposition.”
“Music became as remote from the general public as you could possibly get,” he continued, “They became like little royal families unto themselves. They carted themselves around the country, waving to us occasionally. They bought immense houses, joined the stockbrokers’ belt, and sent their kids to—public schools!” Concluding his rant, the Pistols frontman offered a final indictment of Jagger’s hypocrisy, “See?” he wrote, “The system! They became it.”
