There’s lots of irony in there, like in “Pretty Vacant.” I’ve never considered myself pretty, nor vacant! At the end of “God Save the Queen,” the chorus repeats “No future for you” because it’s what awaits you if you do nothing. I was saying that the government and the institutions were misleading us.įor some people, the fact that you sang about “No Future” and another punk slogan, “Do It Yourself,” was contradictory… How is that contradictory? There can be no future unless you do things yourself. When I wrote songs for the Sex Pistols, I wasn’t talking about chaos for the love of chaos. Punk is a state of mind open to new ideas, with a desire to constantly evolve, to find the next step, not only in music but also in the world around us. What were the most common misinterpretations about punk? It was neither a manifesto nor a fashion. After all, I’m supposed to be the king of punk. If not, I’ll have to have a quick word with him.

I don’t know the organizer or the content of the exhibition, but I hope elements of truth will come out of it. Punk has been misinterpreted so many times, especially in Britain, under the influence of Rupert Murdoch’s rags. What do you think about the punk movement being turned into a museum piece? JOHNNY ROTTEN: I’m aware of what’s at stake and the problems it can represent. 23 concert in the French capital with Public Image Limited, the band with which he invented post-punk in 1978, the man who wrote “God Save the Queen” and “Anarchy in the UK” and who now lives serenely in Los Angeles, rekindles a few memories. It was only natural for the “Euro Punk” exhibition in Paris to hope that John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, would pay a visit.

His provocative texts and venemous singing with the Sex Pistols helped spark the punk explosion.

Pistols johnny rotten