Sunday, May 26, 2019

No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs by Johnny Rotten


Here is the Sex Pistol's performing God Save the Queen.  I would suggest watching the video, because to me, what they do should be classified Performance Art.




Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No DogsRotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs by John Lydon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I saw John Lydon on the Conan O'Brian show and was impressed with his thoughtful intelligence. He was also promoting this book, so I bought it.

It is difficult to say whether I gained any insight to the Punk movement of the late seventies. After reading this book I conclude that everyone involved was a bunch of illiterate reprobates who were anti-everything, including each other. The Sex Pistols glorified in their disgusting shenanigans on stage, got lots of trash thrown at them while they were performing and, unsurprisingly imploded without hope of recovery only a couple of years after they began.

Most people who are remotely interested in this genre are familiar with Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungeon and their fast track to perdition, but this book only speaks of them peripherally. I did find it ironic that they all hated Nancy so much because of her aggressive, abrasive and immoral character. Uh, isn't that the embodiment of the Punk movement?

But they also hated her for getting Sid hooked on heroin. I personally think his mother, a heroin addict, and Sid's supplier, had something to do with that, although no doubt, Nancy accelerated Sid's race toward destruction, but the reality is, no one takes you where you don't want to go.

The book is narrated by many people, not just Mr. Lydon, and I will give him credit that he does not censor anyone's commentary, even if it does not put him in a good light.

Finally, I have to say I got tired of reading it, because regardless of what middle schoolers and emotionally immature adults think, dropping the F-bomb every other sentence and describing how you trashed people's houses or how many women you were with, is actually a banal read. I started racing through the last quarter just to finish it.

I have already bought Lydon's second book, Anger is an Energy. He was older when he wrote it. Let's hope he's grown up a little as well.


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6 comments:

Brian Joseph said...

I have not followed Lydon’s Career with that much detail but I am familiar with the basics. I always got the impression that there was something intelligent underneath it all. I think that came out a bit later. I like some of the music that he created with Public Image Limited. It was very different from what came before. Thus I am curious as to what the next book is like.

RTD said...

Thanks for warning me about a book I will vigorously avoid.
FYI … I had to reinvent blog with new address to escape certain invading trolls and infectious dingbats …. here is latest metamorphosis:
https://rtdsmarginaliaredux.blogspot.com/2019/05/dashiell-hammetts-birthday.html
Best wishes,
Tim

Sharon Wilfong said...

Ha, ha, ha..Now I would have thought Punk Rock would have been right up your alley (not)! It's not up my alley either, but I like to read about different sociological phenomena.

Thanks for the heads up about your blog.

Sharon Wilfong said...

HI Brian. I watched some of the videos of PiL and I think they are very creative. He is an interesting person. He reads the classics, Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, which, considering his working class background in south London is impressive.

mudpuddle said...

i admire your dedication to other pov's... i don't have the patience or time for such, i guess... i consider myself too narrow minded sometimes, but i really don't have much interest or sympathy for modern viewpoints... every one just seems crazy to me, mostly...

Sharon Wilfong said...

Thanks, Mudpuddle. It's true that these are not people I'd want to meet on the street and, frankly, it got tiresome reading about them. The vocabulary and thoughts were so limited. Still, I'm glad I learned about them. It's a subject I've wanted to know more about.