John Lydon

Punk was never about one particular clean-cut imagery... it's about many, many individuals coming very loosely ...
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If you ever want to know why I'm not on a record label, look at 'The ...
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U2 - that's a band that never should have existed. There's no life experience in any ...
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Let's face it, I ain't ever gonna be the best singer in the world, or the ...
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I don't tolerate liars. When somebody lies to me, that's really, like, just unbearable.

All the things that you would have thought would have made me a professional A1 criminal... wrong. I decided that was too lazy and easy, and because of the way British society is, quite frankly you were denied an education, so I got one of my own.

A record company used to be a very good thing, but they ended up soul-destroyingly trapping people in the accounting department. And you couldn't get any further, and the heads of each department were changing all the time, so you couldn't have any permanent relationship within the corporation.

Any new ideas go into PiL. My inspiration is everything that the human being gets up to. I don't listen to any music when I'm in PiL-zone, because influences can poison your well. Otherwise, I listen to anything.

Analog, electronic, whatever it happens to be, I simply love and adore literally every aspect of making music.

As a human being, I'm work in process.

Art should be life. It's an imitation of life. It should have some humanity in it.

Being born into the Royal Family is like being born into a mental asylum. Marrying into it is not something to be taken lightly.

As a young concert-going person, I was never enamoured with celebrities who would walk out to feature in certain songs and then walk off.

Do not stand in the middle, go to the right or to the left.

Britain's an island, it's always had a constant ebb and flow of immigration - it makes it a better place.

Don't accept the old order. Get rid of it.

Do what I want, be honest to myself and then it would do good for others, that's all, full on.

Every single lyric I've ever written I meant.

Dummy Dum Dum was my nickname for years at school. I was the strange one of the family, the one who couldn't remember his name.

Freedom isn't to do what you want at somebody else's expense.

For me, the best rock is not what you play - it's what you're not playing.

Heaven is on this earth. There are no angels on the clouds with twanging harps... That's just another man's fantasy.

Having a birthday cake squashed into your face by young kids? Delicious. I always don a Santa suit at Christmas. Remaining childish is a tremendous state of innocence.

Gossip is a very dangerous tool. We should be more wary of the gossiper, and not the gossip they're trying to relay to you.

Here's how I understand music. If you can play the same bunch of noise twice, it's music. To go beyond that is supercilious and pontificating.

I always find the mirror in the dressing room is where the best artists are.

I applaud the effort it takes to put a record together.

I always knew the Sixties wasn't a revolution. It really was just a bunch of university students with wealthy parents having fun.

I could never be a member of a single party. I want the best of all worlds, thank you.

I cannot comprehend fundamentalism. It's fundamentally wrong.

I don't have any expensive habits. I'm not a car collector or any of that nonsense. But I'd love to be incredibly wealthy for no reason at all.

I don't believe in pets. I like animals to be wild and free.

I don't believe in anarchy, because it will ultimately amount to the power of the bully, with weapons. Gandhi is my life's inspiration: passive resistance. I don't want to live in the Thunderdome with Mad Max.

I don't like the monikers, and I don't like being pigeonholed. You know, I'm a human being.

I don't have huge bank accounts. I'd love one. But it wouldn't change much. I don't have any expensive habits. I'm not a car collector or any of that nonsense. But I'd love to be incredibly wealthy for no reason at all.

I don't think there's any such thing as rock n' roll anymore - it's an amalgamation of business interests.

I don't release records to be anything but enjoyable.

I find Lady Gaga hilarious. And I kind of like her. My heart's warmed to her.

I don't tolerate liars. When somebody lies to me, that's really, like, just unbearable.

I hate the technological rip-offs that pass for music formats these days, and go back to vinyl to hear a good record because the sound is always so much fuller. I don't even like listening to music in the car.

I had an Irish Catholic education. Horrible nuns, vindictive and cruel.

I have one major problem with the internet: It's full of liars. There doesn't seem to be any way to answer to people lying about you.

I have a sensible set of values that tell me to never lie.

I have values. But morals are Christian. There's no religion here. Values. Don't hurt when you don't need to, but don't let anybody step over that line - it's an invisible line, but it's respect for somebody's space.

I like America's diversity and its landscapes.

I keep falling off the edge of the stage because I can't see it. I can't see my wrinkles in the mirror either, though.

I love a bit of flag-waving.

I like crazy people, especially those who don't see the risk.

I love American ski resorts because they're open to everyone, are not incredibly expensive. They're not snobby and you can have fun all day long on the most excellent mountains.

I love America. I love Americans.

I love boating - not flash, 'noisy go fast' nonsense, but the general relaxation of it. My wife and I love to get in our little Wellcraft and go as far out to sea as we can, hopefully beyond land. That is the best thing you can ever do. It clears your psyche.

I love being alive so much. When you come out of comas in your childhood, every moment awake is a joyous occasion.

I love conversation and the sharing of different thoughts and philosophies. That kind of stuff always makes me happy. I don't mind interviews, either - I like doing them.

I love consumerism, TV culture, shopping malls. There's nothing I'd ever buy, but I like being there. It's wacky.

I love books, and all the best ones are people analysing their own emotions. You can learn from that.

I love discordancy. It makes people ill at ease and wakes up a part of their brain that's normally asleep.

I love pop music. It's not easy to write a good pop song.

I love Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart because they're bringing irony back into American humor, which is a delicious treat. The entire Colbert persona of being extreme right-wing when he's not at all is highly amusing. He does it so well, but sometimes a little too well. My wife is convinced he's completely that way.

I nearly die of fear before I go on stage. Something wicked. I can't eat a thing the day before a gig.

I mean, the genuine roots of culture is folk music.

I never thought of Green Day as a punk band. Just bubblegum, really.

I never take any commitment lightly, and I certainly don't take my wife lightly. I never did and I never will. That's permanent. That's true love.

I showed what I can do with butter, right? Eighty-five percent increase in sales. I'm very proud of them Country Life ads. They were funny and clever and classy like the Toblerone ads I grew up with.

I never wore a studded leather jacket, y'know. Ne-va!

I think national pride leads to nothing but wars and hate.

I think I have something valid to say. My words are my bullets. I like to brag that somehow I got it right.

I think there's something basically wrong with the general public that they do need their icons.

I was a very sickly boy when I was young, nearly died when I was 7. I had a life-threatening attack of meningitis, and that put me in a coma for a few months. It took me four years to get my memory back.

I wanted to wear the most impenetrable suit of armour ever known to mankind. 'Hello, Mr. Rotten...' You can't say anything about me. You can't put me down in any way shape or form - I'm rotten to the core... you know, what's left for you? Pleasantries? I suppose the worst insult you could sling my way is 'Oh, he's really nice, him.'

I went to visit Alcatraz years ago when I was on tour with the Pistols, and I really liked the atmosphere of the place. I genuinely, really, thoroughly enjoyed the whole morning there. I just liked the quietness and stillness of what is basically a cruel prison complex. I still found some kind of joy in that. That's how I am.

I was brought up and raised in Britain as a Labour man, and that quickly changed. And I find there are more working-class people in the Conservative Party than the Labour party.

If anyone asks for your autograph they're showing you respect and give it back to them.

I'd rather give up my ears than my eyes, which might sound unusual for a musician.

If you can sort out why you feel the way you do then you might be in better shape to meet your maker.

If my leg falls off, I'll get a prosthetic. There'd be no deep sadness about. I'd just get on with it! It's called life, and I love life. You have to be positive, and you have to crack on no matter what.

If you give me the chance, I'll destroy America for you.

If you ever want to know why I'm not on a record label, look at 'The X Factor!' Honestly, of all the people that strive to break barriers in music and do good things and write great lyrics, not one of them would ever pass the first round on any of these competitions.

I'm 100% proud of the TV work I achieved. The work I did on shows on insects and Great White sharks... stuff that's in school curriculums in England. Now they are showing up on Discovery Channel.

If you were to look back at me as a school kid you'd see a very quiet little church mouse kind of character.

If you have something to say then you want someone to pay attention or at least to have the opportunity for them to tell you to shut up and go away.

I'm no one's lap dog, you can't put me on a leash.

I'm in England so often I haven't really left, but Americans aren't at all like they're misrepresented through their politicians.

I'm not great at dealing with death, I have to say. I find death very hard: my mum, my dad, Sid Vicious. I'm not a monster, I feel it and it scares me. One death at a time, please, is all my heart will bear.

I'm not blowing my own trumpet here, but I made a rap song 20 years ago with Afrika Bambaataa.

I'm not this callous clown walking around laughing at life all the time. I've had some serious, serious problems in my life. But I've come out with a smile.

I'm not here for your amusement. You're here for mine.

It's nice to be irritated. It's a very joyous thing.

It's a repressive society where you can't be horrible, I'm not horrible, they made me horrible, I'm just honest.

I'm sort of of the belief that people kill themselves from the inside out. When they're unhappy with what they're doing, or not achieving things - when your focus is off-kilter. The thing that keeps me ticking is my values. And I maintain them, because they're worthy. I like to wake up and feel I've done no wrong. I like that feeling.

It's volatile, the marriage. Which one isn't? Nothing better than a good, full-on row. Get it all out. Say rude and nasty things. And then be sorry. Genuinely sorry, afterwards.

It's no good being nice and young and naive. There's no good in that at all. You've got to do it all yourself, and you've gotta learn quick. And you can't look for sympathy either.

I've always said, I thought the Sex Pistols was more Music Hall than anything else - because I think that really, more truths are said in humour than any other form.

I've always despised the hippies.

I've been in very many situations where I've not liked the other members of the band or they have not liked me. I grew up presuming that's the way music was made. It doesn't need to be that way. It's taken me years years to find that out.

I've been asked over the years to compile a list of desert-island discs. I couldn't do that. If I was trapped on a desert island, I don't think I'd want 10 songs to bring with me.

I've had great pleasure meeting the likes of Newt Gingrich and having a chat with the fellow on a staircase. I found him completely dishonest and totally likeable, because he doesn't care! He knows what a politician is, and he's a perfect embodiment of one.

I've done no harm to no one. In fact, I think I've improved the world.

I've created several musical trends, really. That's not because I'm so far out and fabulous. It's because most bands have no ideas of their own. They're so desperate they'll grab at any old straw.

I've never done anything deliberately, I just speak my mind, and that is what I consistently do and will always do in any way shape or form that I can.

I've helped launch 49 careers - those that have been in PiL. To me, they are my babies, whatever they get up to, they know I love them. They've been living in my pockets, and they should show more gratitude.

I've never told anyone this. But I suffer from terrible stage fright. True. You can't tell though, can you? Unbelievable, the panic. I nearly die of fear before I go on stage. Something wicked. I can't eat a thing the day before a gig. It'd make me vomit.

I've never said I'm a communist.

Let's face it, I ain't ever gonna be the best singer in the world, or the best anything.

Just because people think politically different to you doesn't mean they're inhuman.

I've turned arrogance into an artform, where it's so absurd that it becomes comedy. But I've never done anything to hurt anybody or steal from anyone.

Live music is healthy.

Listen, you know this: If there's not a rebellious youth culture, there's no culture at all. It's absolutely essential. It is the future. This is what we're supposed to do as a species, is advance ideas.

Love is 2 minutes and 52 seconds of squelching noises.

'Lollipop Opera' is the backdrop to Finsbury Park. A place that is very thriving, interracial and lot of music stores, Greek, Turkish, all sorts of immigrant music. It's utter Englishness. It blends the Jamaicans, the Irish. It's like what Jim Reeves did with American country music.

Music can describe emotions far more accurately than words ever can. As soon as I realised that, I knew music was where I wanted to be.

Move to Italy. I mean it: they know about living in debt, they don't care. I stayed out there for five months while I was making a film called 'Order Of Death,' and they've really got it sussed. Nice cars. Sharp suits. Great food. Stroll into work at 10. Lunch from 12 till three. Leave work at five. That's living!

Me, as a human, I never want to take away another human being's choices or lifestyles or anything.

My biggest fear is mindlessly and stupidly repeating myself.

Music is a simulation of something, but language is the greatest thing we possess.

My inspiration is everything that the human being gets up to.

My entire life, socially, was all around the Maggie era. That was the great challenge as a Sex Pistol was how to deal with Margaret Thatcher. I think we did rather good.

My words are my bullets.

My way of thinking as I approach any human being on this planet is, 'What are you doing now?' That's what interests me. I don't come at anybody with a whole bunch of assumptions.

Obama's dense as a doorbell, not much going on up there - it's a wooden top.

Occasionally, a re-enactment is a fine thing. I love Civil War re-enactments.

One of the most beautiful things about Britain, apart from the NHS and the free education, is the British Army.

Over the years, during television interviews, whenever the host or the reviewer or whoever gets cynical and nasty with me, I will behave accordingly. I will defend myself.

Oscar Wilde turned the world upside down and was able to laugh at it, and hopefully by the time I'm 120 and worn out, that's what I will achieve. I love being alive so much.

People don't like other poor people, and rather than blame the people that make you all poor, you blame each other.

Periods of inactivity, I don't know such things. I'm consistently writing. My life is busy. It always is. There are hardly any moments for self-indulgent laziness.

People think I hate the Royal Family, but that's not true.

People should never allow themselves to be dictated to by media.

Pop music I have always loved best.

Records were vitally important to the development of music and of all music cultures. With that being pushed by the wayside, I can't see an iPod uniting us. In fact it separates us, the streets are full of people bumping into lamp posts, listening to their own little universe, and there's no sharing in that.

Punk was never about one particular clean-cut imagery... it's about many, many individuals coming very loosely together.

Pop music I have always loved best. But the more extreme, fascist-led examples of the music business I tend to detest the most.

Rules are important, but they're temporary and they're always supposed to be changed.

Remaining childish is a tremendous state of innocence.

The day I run out of ideas is the day I stop making records.

Sometimes the most positive thing you can be in a boring society is absolutely negative.

The only good political movement I've seen lately was Occupy Wall Street. They had no leaders, which was genius. But unfortunately it always ends up with some hippy playing a flute.

The joy of life is in the work.

The so-called alleged 'art' of the video - well, the video has killed the radio star, but the video star killed the live musician, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

The record companies fell apart - quite deservedly. Their corrupting, all-binding contract nonsense had to stop.

The real color of my hair is mouse. I always want to be ginger, which I was when I was born, or blond, because I live in L.A., and I want to look like I go surfing without any physical effort.

There are some Rolling Stones songs that are just stunners.

There are no limits to where our brains can take us. We are, if there be a God, God's gracious creation.

There's nothing glorious in dying. Anyone can do it.

There's many, many ways to write a song. But generally, sitting down at a table and writing is not one of them.

U2 - that's a band that never should have existed. There's no life experience in any of their songs.

These days young kids don't have any place to form an epic adventure. It's more often in front of the TV screen or a laptop. That's very hard on them. They're being taught daily unsocial skills. Facebook is an unsocial skill. It's so sad.

We need wealthy dogs off the seats of power. They're taking us back to feudalism and I really don't want that. But I'm very far from being a socialist.

Until I see an Arab country, a Muslim country, with a democracy, I won't understand how anyone can have a problem with how they're treated.

When you come from desperate poverty, and that's exactly what I come from, you know that nonsenses are not to be tolerated. I'm not sure who gains from chaos, but I know it's not the poor folks in the council flats. The politics of vindictiveness is never, ever anything like a solution.

When I write, my brain moves faster than my hands so I'm always trying to picture things.

When you grew up like me and my four brothers, you end up feeling somewhat inadequate, like somehow you don't count. I was very ill as a child and in and out of hospital. That sort of alienates you, and in my songs I put that to good use.

You can always wake up on the wrong side of the bed and, boo-hiss, everyone suffers. We can all be temperamental.

Words cannot express quite a lot of feelings, whereas a noise or tone or drone or sound, an accordion falling down a staircase, can somehow capture an emotion much better.

You gotta bear in mind, the youth - and this is just in Britain alone - have nowhere to go in the evenings. They've closed all the social centers. There's not even a patch of grass to kick a ball on.

You know, I've been to some superstars' houses, and I've been really disgusted when I see their platinum discs hanging in the toilet. They're just there on the walls glaring at you when you're trying to be occupied with other things.

You have moments of grief in life, and if you can put pen to paper and capture that, that's something wonderful. I can revisit actual songs about past deaths, and I know that emotion is as true now as it was then.

You'd have to be daft as a brush to say you didn't like Pink Floyd.

You're made to feel ugly, and I made ugly beautiful. Just by sheer persistence. Nobody has the right to say that I am ugly, and I will not be a professional victim, you know. Sorry!

You'll find that empty vessels make the most sound.