Tom Snyder Vs John Lydon: a classic late night TV interview

Public Image Ltd. : Chant

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On June 25, 1980 Tom Snyder had Public Image Ltd's John Lydon and Keith Levene join him for a confrontational pair of segments on NBC's Tomorrow Show. Snyder had trouble with the name Public Image Ltd asking the pair "Limited. What is that? Is a band? Is it a public relations firm? What does it do and what is it?" 

Lydon responds  "We ain't no band, we're a company. Simple. Nothing to do with rock 'n' roll. Doo dah." 

After trying to convince Snyder they were interested in doing soundtrack, Lydon goes on a tear about rock'n roll: 

"It's dead. It's a disease. It's a plague. It's been going on for too long. It's history. It's vile. It's not achieving anything, it's just regression. They play rock 'n' roll at airports. It's about as like advanced as it can possibly get!"

After a stern talking to over the break, Lydon and Snyder return for Round Two. Snyder asks the two whether they care what their audience thinks about them. Lydon confesses he doesn't:

"If people appreciate it, that's fine; but we're certainly not going to condescend. Too bad if that makes us look like snot-nosed little gits, but that's probably what we are. At least we're doing it. This ain't no armchair outfit"

Snyder is fed up and can't wait to end the interview."It's unfortunate that we are all out of step except for you. I wish that something could be done."

Lydon "This is what I've been telling the world for about five, six years now! I wish you'd all grow up!" 

Snyder responds  "Well, I hope we do," 

Choking On a Bed

Public Image Limited : Death Disco

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On June 28, 1979 Public Image Ltd released "Death Disco",b/w "No Birds" the first single from the forthcoming Metal Box. Lydon wrote that the song was for his mother who was dying of cancer. 

"When I had to deal with my mother's death, which upset the fuck out of me, I did it partly through music. I had to watch her die slowly of cancer for a whole year. I wrote 'Death Disco' about that. I played it to her just before she died and she was very happy. That's the Irish in her, nothing drearily sympathetic or weak...She was tough, my mum. She asked me to write a disco song for her funeral. This was hardly happy stuff."

Not with lyrics like :

Watch her slowly die 

Saw it in her eyes 

Choking on a bed 

Flowers rotting dead

While Jah Wobble lays down a cool to cold bass line and David Humphrey plays something of a disco beat, Keith Levene plays some crazed guitar with traces of Edvard Grieg's "The Hall of the Mountain King". 

Two days after the single's release, John Lydon joined the panel of Jukebox Jury. Brutally honest, Lydon hated everything from Donna Summer ("I hate it. It's awful") to The Monks ("Patronizing rubbish") and clashed with Alan Freeman. Eventually he walked off the set.

Treated as Property

Public Image LTD : Public Image

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On October 13, 1978, the day after Sid Vicious had been arrested for the murder of Nancy Spungen, Johnny Rotten's new band, Public Image LTD released their debut single "Public Image". It begins with the lines"You never listen to a word that I said, you only seen me for the clothes that I wear, or did the interest go so much deeper it must have been the colour of my hair... "

Lydon had written the song while he was still in the Sex Pistols. Now he was in a band with former Clash guitarist Keith Levene, inexperienced bassist Jah Wobble and,  for a short time,  Canadian drummer Jim Walker.

Lydon called writing the song 

"the freest moment, like escaping the trap of the Pistols at a stroke...I wanted to declare where we stood in the world, and 'Don't be judging me by the publicity machine and all that nonsense that I had to put up with the Pistols'."

Lydon continues:

This bit was important: 'I'm not the same as when I began/ And I will not be treated as property'. It's just saying 'Who are you telling me what is and what isn't? You can wither pay attention or you can get stuck in that hole in the ground that you've all buried yourselves in. Well, put the soil over the top. Goodbye."

PiL signed an eight album deal. The single peaked at UK#9 and ranked #2 on NME's list of the best singles of the year.  As one fan of the record said "Everything on U2's first three albums has its roots in this song."