John Lydon 1978

[witchever99]

You are witnessing the beginning of the indie movement .Shortly after this he created Public Image Ltd. A company, not a band. Johnny speaks of the crowd only being interested in the clothes and the colour of his hair . Musing lyrics on the edge of making history again .

Ironically many so called indie band have no idea of this . Fans flock to hipster chic like flies on a carcass. The bands put up production costs and give control to industry masters.

Check mate rock and roll. So occupy ?

[fakeis751]

I bet John had a secret crush on her

[eddiemperor]

Watching this footage and seeing him with that hat, makes me wonder if Beethoven had this same attitude as Rotten. Both genius!!!

[diane8cupcake]

"Cheap-looking camera."

[diamond21450]

John for world PRESIDENT

[artfuldodger214]

thats janet street porter FYI

[secondhanddaylight]

Johnny you mug (-_-)

[jordo678456]

Is that Janet Street Porter..?

[Punk1984Rock]

@jordo678456 yes, i'm sure there is a vid of her interviewing the clash somewhere too

[SuperSquishface]

THE BIG BOOK OF BRITISH SMILES

[eatmyfaceee]

he prolly phucked that chick after the interview.

[spankymacfarlan]

Compare and contrast: This shark eyed, Dickensian, undertaker's corpse genius with the post 1983 onward L.A based clown fake!

[PostPunkFan]

LOL dat hat

[phanplan]

"hahahh.." 

[phanplan]

GOD HE'S HOT!! ...that smile...those eyes......the way he speaks... EVERYTHING IN HIM! damn hot.

[jameyinegypt]

He is the spit of The Sherminator off American Pie!

[PooTillYouWin]

God, he was sexy.

[AnarchyforUKs]

Ouh, I love this man.

[flaxonx3]

Possibly as 'real' as I've ever seen him. Not a put down but he has always played to the gallery a bit.

[rebecca1257]

fuck he is hot ...

[SKOTP69]

An' I was gonna start wearing a top hat like that, and he beat me to it! ...but the Artful Dodger beat 'im to it I guess!

[ilmc1yt]

John Lydon represents " London"= Tradition and avangard to me.

He is an amazing creature. Love him so much.

I

[HardLuckGambler]

honest shit

[MrLiamHenderson]

Holy fuck. Is that Janet Street Porter?

[slipknotskate1]

Rhubarb, lols

[apresluissera]

But....He had long hair ! :D oh !

[CH242]

there's really nothing more cuter than this. johnny "rotten" is a sweetheart in the truest sense of the word

[mekissingyou]

Was that janet street porter? Maybe johnnys more kinder to women than men.

[Louisefalk78]

nice to see johnny smiling and not interupting... Love you so much mate

[petraSID]

Johnny was a very handsome guy!

[sexpistol455]

him nd sid awesome i wish i could have a drink with them

[eyesofthebluestskies]

Your hair looks like rhubarb.

LOLOL

[13kiikii13]

he is so cute in this hat <3

[MurdercoreDeathroar]

"cheap lookin camera" LMAO 

[petraSID]

i think he was very very HOT! i love bad boys! he's honest and naughty and he looks like MAD HATTER :) i love johnny, you are THE BEST!

[01fey]

He was realy beautiful.

[MetalHippiePunk]

Happy Birthday Johnny XD

[nikoguy]

all i see is teeth.

[Fenderkicksass]

pure class

[Noodles37UK]

I like his gormless charm here. Never knew this interview existed.

[TheStgmp44]

the press was only interested in his cloths or the colour of his hair....we know a song about that lol

[webboffin]

6:33 those are some teeth Janet.

[postnothing1]

genius

[postnothing1]

genious

[rocknrao]

bad English teeth all round then?

[niklasthesinger]

next question!

[zazeify]

nice to see John interviewed by someone he doesn't despise.

which is rare.

[bumchunk3]

@zazeify shes lovely itd probly be hard to be a doucher to her

[NinjaOutfitInTheWash]

@highschoolmusical841 Guess I was off then.

[MsJeffersonAirplane]

he is very handsome. He didn't even mind the kids that were watching him. He is a really good person. Man, I wish I couldve met him. I would waunt to be in his band. Man why couldn't I be alive back then why!!! I feel like crying now. I love you John Lydon!!!!!

[surferdudette19]

Johnny Rotten you the real-life Mad Hatter ! :| your hair, your swag, your Disney's Mad Hatter hat ..

[twilit]

"well i went to see half the world, didn't i? i thot that was a bit of alright."

aw he is so adorable in this, straight out of a dickens novel.

[kitten170]

He's fuckin hot and he's a genius. A great combination!

Now if only I could travel back in time and snatch him up how he looked here.

Oh, and bring back Sid Vicious

[maccermacnab]

He's actually a very smart witty guy.....

[brentjeeeeee]

hehe good old John

[jeymahn]

"...next question" good save, if he died in a firey car wreck the next day, i wonder where the cops would look, also either he rehersed this or he is one of the sharpest minds, no hesitation in his answers, self-aware, honest, unapollogetic, but far from a jerk, these are the qualities that should be nurtured, couple this interview with the "check it out" interview and you get a good media clip of a worthwhile person

[IfuckinLuvBillieJoe]

He use to be s0 cute!

Look at his top hat lol!

[scootermartinez]

there hasn't been a serious cultural uprising, musically, in thirty years. i wonder when it will ever happen again.

[MsGORGONS]

@scootermartinez it wasn't much of a movement.it was and it wasn't.the press loved a label, then they ditched the punks meanwhile Clash/pistols/damned all a bit competitive in 1977. It did die with the Pistols hitting the buffers in '79 but it wasn't friendly...was not a sorta pUNK BLOC against the establishment, it was spontaneous with loadsa people basically saying they'd had enough. Some of it was constructive some of it was destructive. By '79 the originators had moved on.hence Reggae Lydon

[BayviewFinch]

@scootermartinez - That's a pretty limited view. Do you ever listen to music outside of your cultural conditioning?

[MsGORGONS]

@123hilk Hallelujah...I think it was down to Lydon's persona...ye it's healthy to get a guy like that comes to prominence.Sadly, the worlding of music is possibly worst NOW that it was in 1976...so we're gonna need mega punk to sweep all the trash and destroy it.

[isaHIM666]

He was so cute, back in the day. And my favorite interviews are the ones that Janet Street Porter did with him. He's cool, was and always will be. Adorable.

[MsGORGONS]

Juliet Lewlynn-smith

[MsGORGONS]

fuck me \i like her but she certainly needed a good haircut...for god sake...what's her name again...Cindy Chritsmas-Jones, Jane Horror-smyth...something like that...she was the aristocracy of TV presenters in them days...awful hair...Johnny's cool

[gsh73la]

@MsGORGONS "Cindy Chritsmas-Jones" lol

[MsGORGONS]

he obviously liked her...he's smiley and everything...normally he eats presenters alive...what's her name again? I always forget her bleeding name ! Carol? Jane?...Sharon...?

[bumchunk3]

i thought that was a bit of all right

[clumpft]

The interviewer was good, and got a lot more out of grumpy-bum Rotten, than a lot of others have. For the record tho, I'm fucken glad Johnny left the pistols and formed PIL - an infinately more interesting band than the sex pistols.

[jennyjennyhunt]

"Your hair looks like rhubarb!"

[NorseMaiden]

Johnny looks so cute!

[byboringbrick95]

Wasn't he gorgeous? He was absoloutley adorable. It's nice to hear him so honest and just being himself. Hes very witty, theres just something about him that just makes you want to watch this over and over again.

[assi81912]

his kind of speaking reminds me a little to the clockwork orange movie *lol he talks a little like alex

[spikesification]

rotten...true icon in his youth....the mad 'atters 'at....the artful dodger with a bit of english sewer rat...scarlett creepers..heh heh

[Slance1Himself]

2:53 Doesn't that remind you anything?.. ;) "You only see me for the clothes that I wear! Or did the interest go so much deeper?.. It must've been the color of my hair!"

Amazing!

[woody7able]

ur hair looks like rhubarb

[peechyq]

he was so cute back then! look at him now...ew

[byboringbrick95]

@peechyq Yes he was cute. Really he was absoloutley gorgeoys. But hes gotten old like everyone else. Maybe you should cut him some slack on his appearance now as he's 50 something.

[MsGORGONS]

@byboringbrick95 he shoulda been running in the park like Lord Jagger...Jagger still performs...in and out of the bedroom aha ahaha

[gsh73la]

@byboringbrick95 Man, that is not old, get a fucking grip, people

[fuzzyone99]

Wow. So young and amazingly down-to-earth at the same time.

[supisto]

I love him! He's so... uncommon!

[StevenRotter25]

this his best interview i ever seen

[FanzReviews]

Pause @ 6:34. Most beautiful grill i've ever seen.

[blackmaster666]

kill him.....

well he died didnt he malcom

[ashetonpop]

Ist die Reporterin die Schwester von Victor "Vic" Dorn?

[HaBenOni]

@ashetonpop Nein, Sie ist doch nur ein Hasslisch Reporterin von Der 'Weekend show' Tv program.

[CoralineWinter]

He's got the cutest smile and laugh, I wish he did that more often in interviews.

[gerbilsaurusrex1]

This must be when he go the idea for the song Public Image.

[leemeires]

i was always a mug lol

[Lieu3C4]

What a charming young man!

[MrTamerlan1980]

he looks like alekxandr pushkin..greatest russian poet.

[jameyinegypt]

@MrTamerlan1980 The Sherminator i think.

[HAMSO61]

never seen him smile so much....

[CageKiller1]

fuck mclaren

[Elektrapunk1]

Wonderful Interview this - no thanks to Janet Street Porter though :-)

[vastere]

Your 'air looks like rhubard

[missSuchashame]

ah, he was so damn cute. love the man!

[gaara2910]

6:35 HOLY SHIT! :O

[Eidelmania]

the interviewer looks hideous

[SonickBlue]

Excellent vid!! I love John Lydon - and so diz my 7 year old son :-D

[edisacuntface]

aaaaaawwww i love this video

[BlackStarWorld]

johnny could of been in a mood were he didnt feel like acting like a prick

and just thought to take it smooth this time that all

[SovietTelevision]

He wants to give this chick the ol pokey poke, being all sweet and amusing.

[poeni7]

I think he liked her

[NinjaOutfitInTheWash]

Didn't he get married this year? Or am I very off?

[acorton2]

R.I.P Michael Mclaren

[tatethompson1234]

@acorton2 michael???????? its MALCOM ! lmao wow dude some pistols fan you are

[Slance1Himself]

@tatethompson1234 LOL

[jm31563]

A very interesting interview here. Lydon, with no money and practically homeless, was in transitional period at this time. This lady remarkably interviewed him as he was trying to figure out what he was going to do next after the Sex Pistols broke up. He was still under contract with Malcom and is pretty upset about it becuase he couldn't really work until he was free of that contract or at least, was free of Malcom's evil grip. Eventually he he went on to form PIL, and, the rest is history.

[ndangerify]

Absolutely the most legendary legend in the history of musical rebellion - John Lydon takes no shit! From anyone! Anytime! This is a rare occasion - he liked this girl enough to give up a little piece of himself without taunting the interviewer - just liked her, not trying to get laid. Snotty, self-righteous, highly intelligent! I love this man.

[Iolimcool]

He looks like he really liked that lady XD

[TheAliceBeth]

@Iolimcool I know! he looks verry nice in that interview <3

[4everliam]

by far my favourite video ever. johnny rotten might just be the coolest human in the entire universe.

[marissac95]

omg hes like the pied piper of little punk children

[hospitalcolours]

the kids are following them!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHAH!!!!!

[OpenedCanOfWhoopAss]

2:52 - 2:58...the birth of Public Image? (the song that is)

[malollipop]

hes so hot! why i wasn't born in 70's? oh why

[calsonicsky]

@malollipop well, you would still be to young, you'd have to be born in the early 60's or late 50's..

[malollipop]

@calsonicsky haha well I thought about that after I had comment but yeah if I we're born in 1960 then I would be 18 years in 1978 and that would be fantastic!

[calsonicsky]

@malollipop well, if you wanted to be with him if you where younger than 18 in 1978, than id say go for it. haha

[MetalHippiePunk]

@malollipop Wewould have to fight about him then! =D

[matt13104]

@malollipop because you would be old now and that sucks.

[gsh73la]

@matt13104 Old ? Are you retarded ?

[earinsound]

@malollipop

if you were born in the 70s you'd just be a child at this time, like i was.

[gsh73la]

@malollipop He was born in the 50s.... He wouldn't have been interested in a child, I think ??? lol

[RoninAvenger]

@malollipop no be born in the 60's so youd be a teen or young adult in the 70's. if you were born in the 70s youd be in the 80s as a adult or teen :(

[diodepio]

did Malcom killed Bambi perhaps??

[tommyboynude]

in which area of London was filmed this interview?

[louisthunders]

"Kill him... Oh no i mean subtlety! Car accident and all that. That would be good fun. Go down real well in the papers, real good publicity stunt."

How about a slow death of mesothelioma, Johnny huh?

hahaahaahahhah

too soon?

[TheMadmaster1000]

He so cocky, and he's so good at it.

[nerp23]

I could listen to him all day long

[maccermacnab]

@nerp23 That's because he's probably the most shoot from the hip, straight talking honest speaker I've ever heard.

[idi1234]

He's really cute in this clip. I love him.

[teletiger7]

Thats cause you weren't there to smell him at the time :P LOL

[AnnArckey]

... JL - what a gorgeous face, and an attitude to match. A TRUE individual, at a point in time when it was SO much harder to be an individual on the streets, nevermind on radio/tv - he paved the way.

[15h0tmy531f]

i almost screamed aloud at 6:32. that has to be the ugliest interviewer in the music business.

[scallywag86]

oh leave her alone...ugly is as ugly does like steel toed boots or an A-10 Warthog

[chrisnoaro1]

i don't reckon she looks bad at all, it's more the way she talks! she does a well-known interview with bowie in 1978

[NinjaOutfitInTheWash]

@15h0tmy531f that is just irrelevant.

[ebbabra]

I'm so inlove with that guy.

[scallywag86]

I love this! It`s great to see him treat an interviewer as well as he did here. He seemed friendly and comfortable, like he was in his own skin.

[waynealarsen]

here comes PIL

[SrtaPelo]

3:24 i love his laugh

[rutlandplace]

That looks like the covant Garden refurb.Great postings thanks for sharing.

[kathodehay]

Thanks for posting this. Johnny is so cute and charming.

[LynnDynn]

I wish I knew him in 1978

[ghostrebel666]

Lydon the best

[LynnDynn]

You know he actually seems like  such a nice person to be around. With such an interesting face.

[MoonchildMindaugas2]

No reggae on PIL's first album, but that's fine coz that record turned out to be even better than Bollocks :D

Johnny, love him!

[machiaveliyoohoo]

Yes, great seeing any Rotten/Lydon interview , but particularly one where he's so relaxed and just...being Johnny.....He's funnier when he's snarling and spitting fire, though...there's no better interview in rock.

[MadcapMan]

"Your hair looks like rhubarb"

[astroroadsign]

@MadcapMan

[MartaCherry]

he's cuuute

[thatsmydaw]

whaaaaaat ? :D

[muckletoon]

how the heck have i missed this for 2 years, rare as fuck this! superb

[niernlad]

Holy fuck Janet Street Porter was ugly back than as well lol.

[mxrty78]

this is the most honest ive heard him be. usually in interviews especially the later ones you can tell he's sort of putting on a show and being an ass for fun

[astroroadsign]

@mxrty78 Yeah, he comes across as the super smart young man he really was.

[jamesoblivion]

@mxrty78 I think John was always honest...he always said what he felt. Just in most interviews, he was stuck in a TV studio after waiting in the green room for fuck-knows-how-long, being asked idiotic and/or patronizing questions by - let's face it - morons. Here, he's out and about, on the streets of London, and clearly in a good mood (best I've ever seen him in for an interview), being asked reasonable questions by someone he respects, and who respects him. Same honesty, different situation.

[Monchi2006]

can anyone tell me what a "mug" is??

[dream6cold6code6]

it means silly, stupid. as in "you got ripped off your a mug" english slang.

[Monchi2006]

oh geez,poor guy gettin insulted like that on a daily basis,he really did get ripped off in front of everybody now im starting to understand why he turned into such an asshole later on

[dream6cold6code6]

well financially I guess thats true, but his message about image being more of the corporate concern to sell records rather than being human if you will or real, is ruining musical culture and style.

they were just extreme for there time which was in a sense, part of music evolution and more individual style which you have now, a more open minded musical world. free expression, but back then such a thing never really happened. they were realists gone mad to be blunt, and I admire it.

[Monchi2006]

chick at 6:37 looks like Freakin Joey Ramone!!

[Monchi2006]

i like this a lot,id never seen anything after the pistols broke up,i woulda tought he dropped out of sight,being bitter as hell,but he seems real cool here,how'd he turn into such a asshole in later years?

[bluememeitschi]

Usually he always seems bored.

But here he seems amused!

[gor069]

Janet would have got it after about six pints I think is fair to say.

[elfshane]

lol at :24 he looks at her crazy hair.

[ahctl]

hahahahahas yeah LOL

[wisesatyr72]

wow that lady reporter at the end had the worst teeth ever..although not rotten lol

[MsAffenschiss]

Rotten is a funny Guy!!!

[ukp571]

You've gotta love that at 6:00 how f,kin random lol.

[crapple009]

Exactly. "Your hair looks like rhubarb".

Classic Lydon.

[acinemajunkie]

this is fucking magic...what if you walked up to him in london '78?

[dontCryVainly]

"Cheep looking camera... What?" I just love him. I love his way to speak at interviews and I love the way how he just is himself and not try to please anyone.