Few songwriters have been as integral to punk as John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten). The Sex Pistols’ frontman is equal parts agitator and inspiration. Their particular subset of music wouldn’t have reached the heights it did without Lydon’s contributions.
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Check out 15 of the punk legend’s best quotes, below.
[RELATED: The Writer’s Block: John Lydon Leans on “Organized Confusion” for Songs]
1. “I love consumerism, TV culture, shopping malls. There’s nothing I’d ever buy, but I like being there. It’s wacky.”
2. “Freedom isn’t to do what you want at somebody else’s expense.”
3. “I think I have something valid to say. My words are my bullets. I like to brag that somehow I got it right.”
4. “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.'”
5. “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.”
6. “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.”
7. “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.”
8. “I like crazy people, especially those who don’t see the risk.”
9. “Rules are important, but they’re temporary and they’re always supposed to be changed.”
10. “Pop music I have always loved best.”
11. “Don’t accept the old order. Get rid of it.”
12. “Sometimes the most positive thing you can be in a boring society is absolutely negative.”
13. “I don’t tolerate liars. When somebody lies to me, that’s really, like, just unbearable.”
14. “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.”
15. “I love discordancy. It makes people ill at ease and wakes up a part of their brain that’s normally asleep.”
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