Why John Lydon considers the Eagles “irrelevant”
Former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon has never been one to dilute his thoughts and always offers his raw, unfiltered opinion on matters. Whether this is related to politics, the monarchy, or beloved American rock bands, Lydon says what he thinks — earning him a reputation as rock ‘n’ roll’s ultimate controversialist.
More recently, during an exclusive conversation with Far Out, Lydon brazenly compared President Trump to The Sex Pistols and said his love of the former President is because “he was not a politician at all in any way and he threw an anarchistic spanner in the works and shook them all up.”
He elaborated: “The Sex Pistols of politics, yeah! Fantastic, fantastic! And, oddly enough, and it has to be said: he did wonders for this country. Unemployment down, fucking no wars, wow. Wage earnings became a serious possibility, fantastic.”
Additionally, he’s always used his platform to badmouth other bands and once harshly said the following about Depeche Mode: “A bad example of how bad things can be is Depeche Mode, who I absolutely hate. They are completely lifeless. There’s no love in what they do. When you see them live it’s a tragedy. They don’t move, they’re not excited by what they do…”
Another one of his musical pet hates is the Eagles, who he believes to be responsible for making music a lifeless endeavour devoid of humour.
During an interview with Cream in 1992, he said of the group’s leader: “Don Henley, that’s the man. That’s the man responsible [for the dull seriousness of “doom-laden” music].”
He continued: “There’s a man with no humour. Same with Sting, he’s gone and taken himself far too seriously, hasn’t he? ‘I am an intellectual, honest, please believe me. Look how unshaved I can be.'”
Meanwhile, 15 years later, Lydon reignited the one-way feud and said of the Eagles: “They’re irrelevant. A band like that doesn’t write songs that mean anything. We’re the Charge of the Light Brigade, with decent generals, right?”
Although Henley and his bandmates in the Eagles have never directly responded to the insults lodged by the Sex Pistols founder, the drummer has previously explained his critical stance on punk. Henley told Rolling Stone: “There has always been the opposing school of thought, especially after punk came in, but I always saw that as a cover-up for lack of ability. But obsessive perfectionism can be oppressive, stifling, paralyzing. Never let the great be the enemy of the good. We understood that.”
Ultimately, Lydon’s ramshackle brand of music is the polar opposite of the clean-cut sound of the Eagles, who approached the recording process with the utmost levels of technical proficiency, which the Sex Pistols compensated for with heart and intensity.
