It's funny to me seeing Mr. Lydon on his high horse. While I do perceive one album that he made, over his 15 or so year career as a musician, as genuinely disquieting and subversive (The Flowers of Romance, if you're keeping score), I don't see this album alone (nor even Metal Box, which is lovely if remarkably humble and unconfrontational) as qualifying John Lydon for judging other people's subversiveness or insight.
If swearing on English TV qualifies him for such platitudes, then we might need to give similar credence to the cast of Saturday Night Live once upon a time (or maybe Janet Jackson for her wardrobe malfunction).
Among my favorite albums this year, and probably the one that has impressed me the most, Machinefabriek Weleer is every bit as subversive as The Flowers of Romance, maybe moreso (time will tell). It's disquieting, uncomfortable, and incredibly in your face. Everything that I want a great album to be.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Mr. Lydon
Posted by SMSorrow
Labels: self-aggrandizing egos, the guy who invented punk rock
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The Flowers of Romance changed me. I heard banging the door on WMSE and freaked out and bought it. I loved it. I also bought a Shock Therapy EP that week. And a Severed Heads EP that's way better than you'd think (Dead Eyes Opened).
Anyway, I like PIL a ton. Three records at least. I never, ever owned a Sex Pistols release, but I like Lydon fine in his context.
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