Public Image Ltd - Seattle

[2428steve]

Indeed John McGeoch, you are best guitarst of the 80's and inspired many...

[Hot80s]

has 0 to do with the city it's named for. wtf

[JailWeddings]

i want to bend jonny over my knee and smack his bare white butt. Id bite it and lick it too

[fuckweed]

@PuppetDani Ah right, maybe I'll sing it more accurately now!

[arqpita]

"What goes up must come down". Os conflitos em Seattle, em 1999, mostraram que essa música era premonitória mesmo sendo de 1989!

[fuckweed]

Palaces, Barricades, threats, Meet Promises. Love it. So infectious it's almost toxic

[PuppetDani]

@fuckweed  greed promises

[switchbladejohnnygrl]

Am I the only one that finds it ironic that their videos are on the EMI channel when John wrote the Sex Pistols song EMI about his distaste for the company and spoke out against them in interviews?

If someone could explain this I'd be thrilled.

[crusherbmx]

@switchbladejohnnygrl Simple, there is no such thing as bad publicity..I never really cared who EMI were until I heard that Sex Pistols song.

[deftones311100]

did you guys n\know they are working on a new album! it should be out lat 2012

[LiveCrueltyFreeNow]

A strangely charismatic and photogenic man, is Johnny Rotten.

[ingaros74]

this song is so cool, but man is johnny boy ugly or what? ha ha ha

[MsCellolad]

Is that Pat Metheney?

[cadeeshak]

Johnny Rotten, that is one big suit.

[airvee]

fuck la PUB

[sacrottt]

SEX PISTOLS!

[AWYMARI3HORN]

tis` been a favorite song for years Brilliant

[modsleix6]

R.I.P John McGeoch... We miss you man. Music ain't the same anymore without you....

[Ramonajunie3]

PALACES PALACES BARRICADES BARRICADES

[Ramonajunie3]

i'm going to somehow climb onto the roof of the school, blast this, and throw melons near where people are walking.

That's my plan to be queen of the school. :3

[anarchy4life12]

just got happy? on cassette

[niktusacid]

This song and entire Happy? album has some kind of magic for me

[KingxJamie]

This band should not have vevo

[Seiryuto]

Johnny could be a perfect Joker in a batman's film

[MrBurb3rry]

@Seiryuto he was actually the inspiration for the look of the joker

[citizenjlk]

@Seiryuto haha perfect.

[ItsAboutGreatButter]

I wish I was alive in '89 (so I could see the New Order/PIL tour)

[PostPunkFan]

@ItsAboutGreatButter I know! New Order AND PiL? Man that sounds like a dream come true.

[PostPunkFan]

This is catchy and good (and I don't slag off later PiL like some fans) but I prefer old school, experimental PiL. Check out Second Edition, First Issue, Commercial Zone and Flowers of Romance for some good early PiL. Go-to songs include "Public Image," "Death Disco/Swan Lake," "Poptones," "Careering," "Flowers of Romance," "Annalisa,""Religion II," "Banging the Door," and basically every song on Commercial Zone (particularly "Bad Night" and "Love Song"). All these songs are on youtube.

[xnonsuchx]

Production doesn't ruin a message if there's a message to begin with.

[The300x300]

mcgeoch made pil better, as good as levene. RIP man, you were awesome

[krystalkakes35]

LOVE THIS SONG!!!

[koldfushen]

I do not know why these guyz name this song "Seattle". I saw them in the late 80s when they came through here in Seattle.

[ljwjfac110369]

the most infulental bands of the 80s. good to see them back

[littleboeep]

FILTHY LUCRE!

[leftdust]

Just the right amount of "pop" in this - accessible progressive.

[JackBandicootsBunker]

Get out of the Rock 'N' Roll World Yanks!

Brits rule in this genre!

[niktusacid]

One of many PIL´s pearls

Johnny´s attitude always amaze me... it´s 100% crazy, genuine, straight...

[TheCrypticjosh]

O man I hope I can catch the next Pil show! Wall of Voodoo and Pil would be killer!

[allanricharddias]

The only reason the name Seattle is connected to this song is that we wrote the music there, in a hotel room and that was the working title. No doubt that the name, eventually, as John wrote the lyrics, inspired the opening line!

[captaindaring]

Anybody comparing the Madchester scene to the Seattle scene is clueless. Carbon copy? Seriously? Just because a city has a flourishing music scene and creates a buzz doesn't mean they have anything in common. Also to say the UK will always beat the US for the rock crown is ludicrous. I love British music as much as anyone but we invented rock and roll for crying out loud. People please remove your head from your ass before you write such nonsense. 3 bands: Pixies, Replacements, Husker Du. Cheers

[plushoom]

FUCK EMI

[SumFungi]

Anyone who can provide a link to anything John Lydon ever said in reference to this song (ie. an interview where he speaks specifically about the inspiration or meaning of the lyrics for this song), would be greatly appreciated. I lived in the city for 6 years and the lyrics are suspiciously relevant to the creepiness of both the people and the city itself. There is something very very wrong going on there.

[inkjetresurrection]

@SumFungi Don't have the link where I saw the quote, I read him give a brief explanation saying the band got stuck there for a couple days somehow, they were deathly bored with the town and he wrote the song.

[JackBandicootsBunker]

Seattle is crying today... hahahahahaha

[wa2ise]

Seattle is just a fairly generic American city, like fifty other American cities. But with crappy weather, interstate highways, Burger Kings, shopping malls and so on.

[Person1036]

@wa2ise Yeah, like every other American city doesn't have crappy weather, interstate highways, Burger Kings and shopping malls.

[PopeSalty1]

I'm with the Brits on this one. I'll take Manchester over Seattle any day. Manchester gave us the Hacienda, which gave us the Happy Mondays and E. Seattle gave us grunge, which gave us Nickelback. Now which would you rather have: An E or a Nickelback CD?

It's a no-brainer. And I lived in Seattle for two years.

[captaindaring]

I wonder if Johnny Rotten shit his pants when he found out that vevo was corrupting his music.

[plushoom]

@captaindaring

FUCK VEVO

[RayRoark2009]

COOL SONG ^^

[JackBandicootsBunker]

Nice way of showing hatred towards what I think is the most OVERRATED town and music factory ever on the music industry.

Musically, Seattle will always be the shadow of what London and Manchester were, specially during the 90's.

As for the song, just like almost any PIL song, it's simply AMAZING.

[Metalhead732]

@JackBandicootsBunker I agree with the music part, BUT I do enjoy living in Seattle...

[JackBandicootsBunker]

@Metalhead732 I don't have a reason to go against a part of Seattle's population, just the overratedness of said town, musically.

[youruglyandfaggy]

@JackBandicootsBunker what other city in america puts out as much music as seattle has

[JackBandicootsBunker]

@youruglyandfaggy None other, but that doesn't justify how overrated the town is. As I said, London and Manchester are more important than Seattle (also explains why when it comes to Rock Music, UK will always beat the US)

[sinnergy73]

@JackBandicootsBunker Apparently you've never heard of Jimi Hendrix or Kurt Cobain...sounds like nationalist bullocks to me.

[JackBandicootsBunker]

@sinnergy73 Nationalist? I'm not from the UK, FYI. I can respect Hendrix... but the grunge movement making Seattle a far better music capital than Manchester or London? Grunge was a carbon copy of Madchester, only more famous because "it's the US", just so you know.

[Darkiver]

@JackBandicootsBunker

ahaha, what?? Grunge sounds nothing like Madchester music.

[JackBandicootsBunker]

@Darkiver The movement itself, culturally speaking, is a carbon-copy out of Madchester.

[crlumberjack]

@JackBandicootsBunker sorry, minneapolis, the replacements speak for themselves.

[JackBandicootsBunker]

@crlumberjack Not enough to go against London and Manchester...

[halation777]

@youruglyandfaggy Minneapolis

[wa2ise]

Yeah, today's music all sounds like a badly compressed mp3 file. Yuck, and autotune also sounds like crap...I gave up on new music around 1994... :-)

[HippieJimi]

Happy Birthday Johnny.....stay outta trouble......:-)

[luckygarbo1]

i would wiswh VEVO would DIE

[heyufool1]

So i got to a PIL video and the advertisement is some bitch with red hair using some autotune bullshit... What the fuck is the world coming to?

[Arrow69hunter]

@heyufool1 yOU ARE 100% CORRECT I hate autotune bullshit, Gone are the days were talent was a precursor to fame. Lady GAG GAG and all her ilk suck. get it out get it out get it out of my world!!!!

[piginasack]

@Arrow69hunter - Um, your forgetting the wealth of shit around during the 60s/70/80s/90s - The only difference now is there not much good stuff to balance it. Stock/Aitken/Waterman anyone?

[skouf007]

Saw PiL twice only. First at Massey Hall in Toronto (198?) and then with the Sugarcubes and New Order (1989). Strange triple bill but still a good show..

[captaindaring]

@skouf007 Yes the show was a bit incongruous but great nonetheless. As mush as I enjoyed PIL, I was there to see New Order and they killed it. It made my year. Strange that the Violent Femmes closed the show in my town though. The Sugarcubes and the Femmes were the bookends. It doesn't get much stranger than that.

[ACF417]

1 person needs to Get Outta My World! haha

[litmus0001]

@obnoxiousnickname listens to Nickelback

[obnoxiousnickname]

The pistols were a fluke. This is probably the most dated and completely empty music I've seen come out of a man who's demonstrated such obvious talent. I frankly only listen to this because of the hipsterish irony of listening to lame 1980s new wave songs. Other than that it is empty music, devoid of energy, charisma or staying power.

[shazmin41]

@obnoxiousnickname Then my friend go and listen to Wham . Probably wore the t-shirt hey buddy?

[modernman12345]

as in as out we never stay the same



[Leighbo1]

I NEVER get tired of this.

[MrSeventhElement]

Look mummy, it's the butter salesman!

[wagsouza]

BIZARRE LYDON !!!

[musicmasterliam]

just remember JOHN LYDON IS A TORY!

[RootDown18]

If you read Our Band Could Be Your Life, it talks about one of the Seattle bands (Mudhoney I think) trashing Lyndon on stage. So I guess this was his response to that. Not many bands liked playing with PiL when they found out how much of an ass Lyndon was (in their opinion).

[SuperUnison92]

@RootDown18

Well, Lyndon is so up his own ass. I don't blame Mudhoney for messing with him. As much as I love P.I.L. and Sex Pistols, Johnny is such a douche.

[danielsimonon]

Theories were abundant in Seattle to what this song was about when it was released, but the video is no help at all as not a single shot of Seattle is in the whole thing. There was some rumor that he made it after getting punk'd by Green River when they opened for him around 86, but he doesn't reference the incident at all.

[albatross1977]

@danielsimonon i wanna learn more about that incident

[danielsimonon]

@albatross1977 I wish I could find more info on it. I read about it eons ago in "The Rocket", which was the local Seattle Music magazine until around 1992 or so ("The Stranger" pretty much killed it). The rumor was that Green River raided his backstage area, stole his fancy British beer, stuff like that, etc.

[ronniedoll]

Never gets old does it?

[kangfesher]

An absolute genius!!

[IDontKnow733]

"Palaces (palaces), barricades (barricades), threats (treats), meet promises (meet promises)"

[badlydrawnkristi]

I used to play this song every morning before I went to school when I was 18... God I miss those days.... LOVE this song so much..

[autoforthepeople]

@badlydrawnkristi I'm doing that nowadays before uni!!! Timeless :- D

[unmedication]

Thank you Johnny !

[obnoxiousnickname]

Rotten you're a fucking madman. It takes some real guts to bring punk to mainstream popularity and then go off and make a new wave band

[autoforthepeople]

I'm all for PIL and the Wall of Voodoo!

[BadgerPat]

@autoforthepeople Agreed! Stan Ridgway from Wall of Voodoo is a genius! Or at least really, really cool!

[zackz22]

love this song.

[piginasack]

This video is a quick shot fest!

[johnbyronartist]

love PiL

[fishtacojunkie]

Ahhh, memories of 1987-1988, junior in high school, driving to the beach with this cassette blaring out of crappy ass Kraco stereo system! hahahaha "Open & Revolving" was my favorite song off the album... hey I see someone mentioned PiL's touring again, I'll have to check into that and go see Mr. Lydon again for the umpteenth time. Good stuff

[FlabbyCelt]

Geeeeeeet outttta myyyy world!!!!! good stuff!

[MyNameIsShelby]

Love this!

[RZKarter]

For the first 17 in 17 years, PIL is doing shows again. Don't miss them!!!!

My dream convert would be PIL and Wall of Voodoo.

[piginasack]

Nice choice...!

[Blank1Reg73]

Too bad Marc Moreland and Joe Nanini are now dead. Wall of Voodoo and PIL together would have been great!

[IhateNZ]

I wish there was a radio station that would only play PIL.

[nwcoastlife]

Once upon a time KCMU (now KEXP) and 107.7 would play them

[Mrjoeypunkrock]

@IhateNZ SIRUS SATELITE RADIO" FIRST WAVE" CHANNEL 22. "SUNDAY DARK WAVE" 9:00p.m. TO1:00A.M .GOATH

[OneTruFu]

@IhateNZ It's called Pandora :) (admittedly it DOES play a few other things but it will deliver what you ask for!)

[juliadennehy]

@IhateNZ Just a suggestion, but try 'First Wave' channel 33 on SiriusXM. That's what brought me here...

[allanricharddias]

The song was written in a Seattle hotel room and it was a reference title that stuck!

[Ratt1971]

the owner of the worlds first sid cut made alot of good xenomorph workers;;lydon is a favourite!!!

a descendant of terra firma's first sea mammals;;-we will evolve the human species!!!

[grayngreen]

Being from Seattle, and having seen them there... I understood that he wrote the song after having his favorite armchair, that he used to tour with, stolen in Seattle .... lordy knows ~

[RHutton2710]

Aye - one of the great eccentrics.

[409E]

No. He wrote this based on a documentary on drug addicts in Seattle. Predated grunge. Forgot the title of that film. Did see the show where Green River opened. I remember Mark Arm saying, "We met Johnny Rotten backstage, and while I was butt-fucking him, all he could say was "God Save The Queen." ALBUM tour. Fuck Mark Arm. Old Seattle loser.

[showtechnique]

I am either old, jaded or brain damaged but what on earth does this have to do with Seattle?? Is there a Seattle in the UK? I love Johnny and have for more years than I care to think but I don't get the Seattle reference.

Anyone care to explain please?

[Bladerunner788]

From what I remember reading years ago, PIL played a show in Seatle with Green River? The U-Men? The Melvins? one of those bands opened up for them. Anyhow, Lydon was of coursing being his usual snotty self, the opening bands we're bummed out, and they trashed his dressing room. Something like that anyways. He was so inspired by the incident he wrote this.

[Ratt1971]

the name 'sean' can numerogicly calculated to 666(the written word is a lie!!!)

[Cobain9Musician76]

brilliant song always Johnny Rotten is a genius.wish I'd written this song. I've been to Seattle and, although I LOVE Nirvana,[R.I.P. Kurt Cobain] it is a VERY BORING TOWN!!

[missxradio]

To see what Johnny and others spawned, see me getting interviewed on tv 'interview with a vamp' on my home page here.

[missxradio]

2:04 always remember, Johnny.. dying your eyebrows is very dangerous.. of course his eyes survived it fine.

[missxradio]

Sounds so much like 'there's more to life than 'bling' to me' . HA HA, My lyrics are always better. When he's saying 'this mortal life can bring to me'.

[daftchemicals]

I didn't even know there was a video of this song until today. Anyone know what place on Billboards Hot 100 chart this went to?

[Gonzalez2500]

#47 Uk charts

Wikipedia!

[eedjal]

Got to LOVE Johnny....cannot believe there are not more people watching this...hmmm...love ya JL.

[axxionman69]

I liked this LP back in the day , still have the CD though !