“What a pompous prat!”: The moment that made John Lydon loathe David Bowie
Few artists have found favour with John Lydon. The Sex Pistol turned Public Image Ltd leader is entirely committed to his outspoken, punk image, throwing criticism at his peers and predecessors with little care for their feelings or friendship. Throughout a career spanning half a century, Lydon has lashed out at some of the biggest names in the game, from The Rolling Stones to Black Sabbath—and David Bowie is no exception.
While Lydon spent the 1970s penning indictments of the establishment and the monarchy with punk rock prowess, Bowie was honing his sound and style in the glam rock realm. He won audiences over with a variety of personas and ambitious singles, but he couldn’t quite win over the Sex Pistols frontman. Although the pair shared a love for adorning their personas with outrageous outfits, this was not enough to protect Bowie from Lydon’s wrath.
Unlike some of the other artists Lydon chose to take aim at, his hatred for Bowie didn’t necessarily spawn from his artistry. In fact, he adored Hunky Dory. He didn’t consider Bowie to be hypocritical like the Stones or unoriginal like Siouxsie and the Banshees. He didn’t critique Bowie’s image, as he did with Kiss or his champagne socialism as with The Clash. Instead, Lydon’s dislike for the art rocker stemmed from a personal interaction.
The incident occurred backstage at an Iggy Pop gig in Camden, as Lydon recalled it in his book, Rotten. “I went backstage to say hello because I had met Iggy a year before,” the frontman explained, “Mr. Bowie wanted me removed – thrown out, in fact. He wasn’t touring with Iggy, he was just backstage.” Lydon didn’t give any reasoning for Bowie to request his private bouncers to orchestrate his removal, describing the interaction as “odd.”
From that moment on, Lydon stated that he had developed an “utter loathing for Bowie”.
“What a pompous prat!” he exclaimed. It wasn’t until a few years later that the post-punk frontman seemed to get his revenge on the art rocker. As he recalled it, he was playing in Switzerland with Public Image Ltd when Bowie appeared backstage.
The ‘Heroes’ singer had brought his son to the show, as he wanted to meet Lydon. “I don’t know anyone who could deal with that shit two minutes before going on,” the singer commented. Still, he held back on his anger, careful not to be rude to Bowie’s son. His response was so measured, in fact, that he didn’t even return the favour to Bowie and have him thrown out.
In an unexpectedly restrained response, he simply said to Bowie, “Now if this was your gig and I came back, would you have thrown me out?” With that, he walked away. Though it seems a little out-of-character for the notoriously fiery Lydon, this response is almost more powerful than pulling in security to remove Bowie from the building. Perhaps Lydon wanted to feel superior to the art rocker, refusing to stoop to his level.
Despite his ongoing loathing for Bowie, Lydon had held himself back for once and rose above his rival. We will never know if Bowie would have thrown him out of the show had the tables been turned.
