Public Image Ltd.- Interview With JJ Jackson (MTV 1982) 1st Part

[Rikitocker]

Even here Levine was well on his way down junkie highway ...

[dancindandanson]

Lydon looks like an early but spiky Beatle.

[UnchartedYT]

Flowers of Romance more commercial?

[clickswitchh]

Is it me or does Johnny Rotten have the attitude of a teenage girl mad at her parents for some reason. ...

[PahubianInfluence666]

@clickswitchh it's you

[GreenGrayRain]

how did you get the first raw footage?

[kristianfagerheim]

Fucing idot camera man

[niktusacid]

PIL pop era with j.mcgeoch was incredible

[Jassurin85]

MTV became commercialised shit!

[mrjones1917]

really informative interview. great to see some though provoking questions asked. this was indeed a great line up of pil with half of 'brian brain'. they seem really happy together and i wonder why keith was suddenly sacked. i bought the other 'c. zone' in vancouver (levene's version), upon release.

[ronbo11]

I really liked this interview. It was interesting to hear the chatter before and after the official Q&A started, John Lydon was actually somewhat "friendly" and Keith Levene was a revelation to me. I think J.J. did a great job and I just wish PIL had stuck together (and gotten Wobble back) - they were great but could have contributed so much more.

[spunkets]

Armchair analyses:

J.J. Jackson was more interesting to listen to than the both of them.

John, as he says, was "acting." Says more with his face and defensive posture anyway. Keith was being himself.

Gotta say, "Home" is epic.

[MisAnnThorpe]

@spunkets Yeah you're right about Lydon acting but then again that's exactly what he's been doing for so long that even he can't remember when it started. It's very noticeable how his manner changes as soon as the interview goes out on air. Prior to that he seems perfectly 'natural'. God, imagine having to pretend to be Johnny Rotten for 35 years! Kill your heroes and all that punk crap!

[rjplamf61]

@MisAnnThorpe  Johnny Lydon = Phoney. Need I say more

[MckyMseNTarotCrds]

Did this air in its entirety on Mtv? Minus the beginning part of course. I can't believe there was ever a time Mtv assumed their audience had attention spans long enough to watch this. 

[kathy197778]

Keith was really into this interview, and yes he was talking with a lot of enthusiasm. He always tried to be the voice of reason, even when Lydon went off on the interviewer.

[MisAnnThorpe]

Thanks for putting this up. Would never have got to see it otherwise. I find it rather sad that Levene is still talking with such enthusiasm about PiL & he & Lydon seem to have a good relationship & yet it must've been only a very short while later that he and Lydon fell out leading to Keith doing a runner with the Commercial zone master tapes. I've still yet to hear the original Commercial zone as in, the white cover with the embossed PiL logo. Maybe one day I'll get lucky and find a copy.

[PostPunkFan]

Excellent interviewer. Did his research.

[PostPunkFan]

Bonzo rules! 

[NewYorkCanWait]

Bonzo is the fucking man!

[trangressions]

Love this. Nice seeing the shit that happens before the camera rolls. Sadly, Levene is clearly nowhere near as bright as Lydon, or indeed the interviewer...

[rajnos]

Brilliant



[hiddenfire65]

When I listen to "Flowers of Romance" or "Commercial Zone" I don't hear any there there. I hear the emporer's new clothes. Lydon was a creative force briefly but his personal demons apparently kept him in his house doing drugs and being depressed rather than going for it and really making music. Compare his career to someone like say Mark Smith of The Fall who kept at it. Levine I've come to hear as Wobble describes him in his biography : brilliant briefly, but out of ideas long ago.

[werobanks]

@hiddenfire65 i was thinking john looks a bit depressed in this video...at times, kind of like he feels locked in, free floating anxiety, sort of...ahem . takes one to know one

[markusa]

dont agree.... wobble was a great miss.... keiths guitar sound is awesome. after keith went the pil went pop !

[hiddenfire65]

What a couple of clowns. Wobble was the musical one in the original band, and when he left all the air went out.

[hummingbird830]

@hiddenfire65 You only have to listen to the poptones riff to realise how great levene was/is.

[67psych]

I've watched this a few times now! this has to be the BEST interview with John & Keith,The interviewer knows his music.He must be a big fan of Music,no matter the Genre,he had been a DJ sice the 60's,hes the man! I have also now have Respect for Keith,he has pleny to say & opinions of his own,not just john's Puppet! I now need to really check out PIL again!!

[katoness]

Its the early days and they respect the interviewer. Great insight.

[aldelorge]

D.I.Y.

[myspaceisforfags82]

I am amazed by the level of intelligence this interviewer has got to offer, he asks the right questions, doesn't piss the band off and he takes the band seriously.. I havent seen many PiL interviews where the band took the interviewer seriously also...

[LBjim]

@myspaceisforfags82 The interviewer is the late JJ Jackson, who was a very knowledgeble rock journalist and quite popular. He died a few years back and he is sorely missed...

[madcapoperator]

I thought it would be easier to do things in england over the US tbh...

[myspaceisforfags82]

@madcapoperator Keep in mind that John Lydon was pretty much banned in England cause of his Sex Pistols history, no british record label took him seriously or wanted to have anything to do with him, goes the same for the british media. In the USA he was free to do what he wanted to do and i think they took him more seriously over there.

[madcapoperator]

@myspaceisforfags82 Well he was signed to Virgin (a predominantly british record label) whilst many american labels like Warner bros and even some independant ones completely shunned him and everything to do with PiL (their first album for a start was never oficially released in the US under 'quality control' grounds). And even though the sex pistols history did contribute to people not wanting anything to do with him that happened EVERYWHERE. As for media, is was tame on all fronts.

[myspaceisforfags82]

@madcapoperator I can see your point, and yes he was signed to Virgin but he himself had little do to with Britain, after all he hated England and moved to the USA, i think that's a sign that he felt his options in England were running out.

[neurogami]

Nice how the camera stays on Lydon even when Keith is speaking. :) Funny, too, to hear MTV considered a music channel. Once upon a time ...