Product Description

Punk has been romanticised and embalmed by the media. A youth revolt that became a world-wide fashion statement, punk s idols were the Sex Pistols, and Johnny Rotten was its sneering antichrist. Now, John Lydon - aka Rotten - looks back at himself, the Pistols and their time. Rotten is a history of punk: angry, witty, poignant and crackling with energy. Malcolm McLaren, Sid Vicious, the 70s, the Pistols story are all here, in one of the best ever books about youth culture, by one of its most notorious and influential figures.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10473 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

The Guardian, January 31, 2004
'Rotten... captures the rancid flavour of Lydon's punk and pre-punk life... a good read'

Kerrang!, January 24, 2004
‘Lydon’s story is one of struggle and an almost foolhardy courage... for sheer eye-of-the-storm authenticity, this is hard to beat.'

NME, January 24, 2004
‘This autobiography remains – ten years since it was first written – a nihilistic, gross-out masterpiece.’

Customer Reviews

Terrific autobio by one of the founding fathers of punk
Unfortunately, with all of the hype concerning the infamous Sex Pistols, their rapid rise and just as rapid decline and break-up, people have a tendency to forgot about the people involved in the band. Although Johnny Rotten is probably the most well-known member of the Pistols (I say probably because Sid Vicious is, quite possibly, more well-known), he is often seen as little more than a "punk rock" icon. In this book, he sets it straight, as he sees it. It is an incredibly good read, and Lydon (his real last name) is brutally honest about his home life, his childhood, his inclusion into the Pistols and the breakup and demise of the Pistols. The book is, at times, depressing, touching and upsetting, but it is always entertaining and, surprisingly, incredibly funny. Lydon is a very witty guy, and he holds nothing back in this autobio. Definately recommend for anyone interested in the man, the Pistols or punk in general.

Extremely readable memoir of musical revolutionary....
Last time I checked, this was out of print, so discussing Lydon and his amusing appearance on TV's I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! I found it has been reissued. Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs is Lydon's first memoir, generally centred around his perception of life in the Sex Pistols (though he does offer other people's views); he is due to publish a second book, on his superior act after, Public Image Limited, which after reading this several times, is something I'm looking forward to...

Lydon has always been great with words, something you can't doubt from the lyrics to debut Anarchy in the UK alone; his lines at the notious winterland concert ("ever felt you've been cheated?") are typical of him. Whichever way you cut it, Lydon is one of the great English characters- he's up there with William Blake, Anthony Burgess, Graham Greene, Morrissey, Tony Hancock, Sid James, Pete Townshend, Virginia Woolf- a typically individual English voice...

No Irish No Blacks No Dogs probably tells it like it is, though of course we all have our own perspectives on experiences- Lydon discusses The Sex Pistols, the split after and of course Malcolm McLaren. Key events are seen from Lydon's POV, though perhaps the brilliant documentary The Filth&The Fury has surplanted that- I loved the scene from The Filth where the Sex Pistols played a Xmas party for striking miner's kids and a kid chucked a pie or cake in Lydon's face. This is why it seems perfectly natural he's on I'm a Celebrity!. Lydon makes lots of amusing bitchy comments about other people, from Shane MaGowan to Joe Strummer, and shows that he has remained an individual. He discusses that radio show he did, where lots of those who'd bought into a uniform notion of what punk was were aghast at his picking tracks from Kevin Ayers, Can, Miles Davis & Peter Hammill- the same idiots who took task with albums like Metal Box and Secondhand Daylight for supposedly prog-tendencies. The classic Pistols TV moment is recalled & it's interesting to have Lydon's view from inside the maelstrom that was the Pistols...

In many ways, the stuff about Nora and the post-Pistols era prior to Public Image are the best & Lydon advances on the personal themes of PIL's Death Disco (about his mother's illness which lead to death), as well as his feelings on Sid Vicious. The episode where Lydon goes on Virgin's money to Jamaica to check out the dub sound that would become apparent in PIL's early work is of note & it's nice to see that Lydon punctures myths throughout the book. Which was the point of the Pistols really; as a book it feels utterly related to the band who did that storming version of The Stooges' No Fun...

It's a compulsive read, can't wait for the follow-up, and stands easily alongside such rock autobiographies as Diary of a Rock & Roll Star by Ian Hunter and Head On/Repossessed by Julian Cope. A brilliant memoir from a great British/English voice & a sound purchase; one you'll read and re-read. He did you no wrong...

Rotten to the core
Here Lydon gives his version of the turbulent days of the Sex Pistols plus an insight into his childhood days spent in North London. At the age of 37 when this book was published, Lydon hadn't changed much: burping through a book-signing session, he still despised authority and laughingly concedes that Diana and Fergie had succeeded in what the Sex Pistols first undertook with their mocking version of God Save The Queen: to put a nail in the coffin of the royal family. Even music's royal family gets their share of flack. In a Daily Mirror article, freespeaking Lydon labeled the likes of Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney 'social climbers', branded Elton John 'a fat buffoon' and called Bowie 'a pompous prat.' Strong words, but the book as a whole is a lively read.