PiL (Public Image Ltd)
 After the demise of The Sex Pistols, Johnny Rotten reverted to
being plain old John Lydon and became the leader of PiL (Public
Image Ltd).
Instead of the Pistols' angry, straight-ahead punk
rock, Lydon launched into abstract, obscure and often formless
jazz-based music which was "inaccessible" to say the
least.
Their debut album on Virgin in 1978 featured such items as a
Lydon-recited poem called Religion 1, and tedious chants
reminiscent of Sgt Peppers-period Beatles on bad acid.
Album number two was called Metal Box (1979) and
consisted of four 12-inch discs in a steel film can (in Britain at
least - in the US it was simply a double album entitled Second
Edition). If anything, the music was even more severe.
1986's Album (alternatively called Cassette or
Compact Disc depending on the format ) was
essentially John Lydon's solo debut, involving producer (and jazz
expert) Bill Laswell and a hot-shot session crew that included, of
all axe heroes, metal twiddler Steve Vai.
This detour into
neo-stadium rock might have been a career low based only on Lydon's
typical efforts to challenge and alarm but there was much joy to
be had in the clash between his caterwauling whine and the steely
craft of an AOR powerhouse.
|
