Steve Vai: The influential guitarist John Lydon called “absurd”
John Lydon is best known for his time as Johnny Rotten, the snarling, youthful frontman of the Sex Pistols. He embodied the punk ethos with his biting lyrics, perfectly capturing the movement’s furious outlook and desire to change the world. Although the London band’s time in the spotlight was relatively short-lived, its impact was immense, setting Lydon up for a more successful future than any of his former bandmates. As he continued to evolve, Lydon moved far beyond his initial punk persona, carving out a diverse and enduring career.
Lydon has always danced dangerously with controversy, and while this has threatened to turn people away from him for good at points, it has also been part and parcel of what makes him so effective. After all, he wouldn’t have risen to become the voice of his generation without such a bold indifference to what people think, with all of his most essential moments characterised by a fearless hatred for the establishment.
While Lydon is, and always will be, most celebrated for his transformative work with Sex Pistols, the outfit he has been most artistically adventurous in is Public Image Ltd (PiL). Seeking a more experimental and “anti-rock” conduit than his previous outfit when forming them in 1978, they have allowed him to express himself more deeply than the ‘God Save the Queen’ band ever could. In many ways, PiL is John Lydon to a tee, with him being their only constant member over the years, successfully steering them through lineup changes and shifting zeitgeists.
Given that PiL is, at its core, an experimental outfit, it has allowed Lydon to collaborate with several figures that fans could hardly have imagined during his time with the Sex Pistols. On one of PiL’s most celebrated records, 1986’s brilliantly titled Album, some of the most high-profile and surprising names joined forces with the punk pioneer, moving away from the genre’s traditional values. These collaborators included Ginger Baker, Tony Williams, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and perhaps the most unexpected of all, Steve Vai.
Although Vai has collaborated with many notable artists across a broad spectrum of genres, his status as a virtuoso guitarist seemingly puts him at odds with Lydon, given punk’s disdain for technical prowess, often seen as a form of arrogance. However, Vai stands apart from other famous guitar virtuosos in that he continuously evolves his craft by exploring new sounds and embracing the avant-garde. His first big break came as the transcriptionist and later guitarist for the legendary boundary-pusher Frank Zappa, immersing him in a world of experimentation and innovation that aligns more closely with Lydon’s own creative ethos than one might initially assume.
Somewhat ironically then, given both men’s antithetical backgrounds, they would both bring to life one of PiL’s most successful songs, ‘Rise’, the lead single from Album. Lydon also has no doubt about the abilities of Vai. When speaking to El Garaje de Frank in 2023, he described his talents as “absurd” and revealed how he witnessed the guitarist refine his craft over the process of making the record.
Reflecting on that creatively fruitful time, Lydon said: “Steve Vai, he is rather an absurd guitarist. A thousand notes a minute. But he was around and so there it goes. He changed his style a lot on Album. He’s featured very, very predominantly, and he came up with some wonderful twists. I think he learnt really how to play rhythm guitar on Album.”
Lydon explained that the original band he had in mind for Album was too young and inexperienced. They struggled to cope with the pressures of being in a recording studio and lacked the endurance needed to extensively practice the songs before tackling such an ambitious project. This lack of experience led him to assemble an all-star group of legendary musicians to bring the record to life. It proved to be a masterstroke, resulting in one of Steve Vai’s most significant cultural contributions.
