John Lydon's butter commercial
The incomparable John Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten) stars in a new television advertisement for Country Life butter. (via Laughing Squid)
The incomparable John Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten) stars in a new television advertisement for Country Life butter. (via Laughing Squid)
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Appropriate, still shilling after all these years.
He's become an embarrassment in recent years, going on about Britishness constantly. He never used to, now he talks about little else, I wonder what happened.
I'd say he sold out, but he's always maintained that was really the point of punk rock.
Still, less pretentious than the Dylan commercials.
Well, those sex pistols were thrown together to sell clothing...so his punk rock was certainly about selling out. At least the Damned and the Ramones existed first so we do not have to claim Lydon as one of the founders of the genre...
"God Save the Cream!"
Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?
Ever feel like you've been cheated?
I guess it really is better to burn out than to fade away.
Oh, come on. He's respectably self-supporting. Would you rather see him up on stage doing a Sex Pistols revival tour?
Jolly good, pip pip and all that rubbish!
If I felt like there were any sense of irony, selfloathing or Lydon taking the piss and entertaining himself in there I could smirk along. Maybe the concept of the commercial is poking fun at this Britishness someone else mentioned. Frankly I am just slightly embarrassed for him.
Too bad they spent all their money on Lydon and couldn't afford a decent piece of music. The art direction is good though.
The middle age of rockers is not to be contemplated without horror.
Being a non-punk person now or in a former life, I thought it was pretty amusing.
Very odd, but not quite as odd as seeing him on Judge Judy.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=p2CnwYPhcQk
First, my friend's Romani professor writes me an e-mail about how Eugene Hutz exaggerated his "gypsy" heritage and got many of the facts wrong. Now, Johnny Rotten selling butter?
God, I need some Stiff Little Fingers today.
Is there some reason he should be exactly the same person he was (or pretended to be...) when he was 17 and just joined the Sex Pistols? Why not have a laugh and take the filthy lucre? To quote the man, "Enjoy or die..."
Holy crap is he really that...portly? I'm gonna have to start calling him "Tiny Rotten."
those sheep were cgi'd in
SELL OUT
er -- doesn't he live in los angeles now? does he have it shipped over to him?
Makes me sad. Who (sniff) is left?
#9: He _is_ on stage doing a Sex Pistols revival tour, and has been for a couple of years.
Rotten, Jones, Cook, and Matlock (Sid wasn't available). All the hits, fury, and filthy lucre.
I don't see anything wrong with this. It's no better or worse than most other ads. Maybe the problem is that people feel he has somehow 'sold out' as the saying goes? In which case I would point out that The Sex Pistols, Punk et al. was a commercial venture from it's inception. Besides, we've seen him before on reality TV and realised then that the anarchy was just a veneer. He's been a caricature of himself for some time.
Oh no. Please, don't bring out the hand-wringing about "Selling out" and "Who is left unsullied by all this horrid capitalism?" That kind of purity is for chubby rock critics and music snobs. Demanding a sort of monastic life, free from the worries of money from one's heroes is just childish.
John Lydon's a living cartoon character, I laughed and watched the ad twice. Good on him and the creators of the ad.
Anarchy in the Dairy!
I AM AN ANTI-CHRIST. I AM AN ANARCHIST.
I was never a huge Pistols fan (more of a Ramones guy, myself), but what about P.I.L.?? There was some pretty decent stuff happening there for a while.
You can watch their (in)famous 190
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/10/pil_on_american.html
Highly entertaining.
I guess we have to get him one of the "I guess I was punk once" T-shirts from here:
http://www.unamerican.com/catalog/index.htm#shirts
Meh. There is no G-d.
(1980 American Bandstand appearance here:)
- don't quite know what happened there.
I think that we all knew that this day would come.
...putting the *count* back into country
I just don't know why any one is surprised...THE SEX PISTOLS WERE THROWN TOGETHER TO SELL CLOTHING!!! Simple as that.
It's too bad Joe Strummer's dead, 'cause Dep hair gel could certainly increase their sales by a couple of points by paying The Clash to shill for them.
Maybe Shane McGowan can do an Oral-B ad.
It was either this or Outback Steakhouse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Mvm6KfJDE0
I caught the Sex Pistols revival in Chicago a few years back. The weird thing -- and nobody else seems to have heard of this or noticed it -- was that Johnny had a body double hiding out behind the stage speakers for the entire show. Same clothes, came out just behind the band, looked a lot like him. A couple of times Johnny frantically pointed at his body double and tapped his throat but the guy never stepped forward.
Anybody have any idea wtf that was about? This was in 2003 or 2004 at a famous old ballroom in Chicago (name escapes me at the moment, sorry).
(re #8) or is it better to *churn* out then fade away. HA butt(er) jokes, what could possibly be better!!
Being a pure, unsullied rock-and-roll star is not a sustainable life strategy. Pete Townsend didn't die before he got old, and doesn't appear to regret it.
I can't believe it's Rotten!(tm)
SCHR0559 -- I believe you mean the Aragon Ballroom.
I don't think that this is somehow J. Rotten selling out -- Sex Pistols were on EMI remember? No I just think his performance in the spot is rather mirthless but then, being American, maybe I don't get the "Britishness" joke.
Who cares about the Sex Pistols, Johnny redeemed himself completely with Public Image Ltd. So he has a personality and is banking off it, good for him. Bunch of wankers.
No, no, no: what happened is these ladies accidentally got his script, and he got theirs. See? It all makes sense now!
The last person who really cared about punk is dead - RIP Lester Bangs - so let Johnny be. We all need to cash in now and then. I agree with the above - Punk was birthed in NY (and Cleveland).
That American Bandstand video is hilarious. It's stuff like that that makes me forgive the shill aspect.
HEY! Does anyone have video of the PiL riot at the Palladium? They were apparently playing behind curtains and the NYC audience didn't like it, so they pulled the large carpet on which the band and their stuff was playing out into the hall...people were making off with their synthesizers, amps and other gear.
Ah...the Palladium. I remember it well.
Anyone who believes for one second anything said about The Sex Pistols or Lydon or anything remotely to do with them that came from the mouth of Malcolm McLacren is being suckered.
McLaren has variously over the years said he invented them they could have been anyone the music was crap, but also how the muisic was superb and all down to him.
What ever he says depends on the prevailing winds of the day.
As for John doing a butter dvert...fine, I am big fan of his but also recognise that he doesn't give a f*ck what any one thinks of him. I think he's great, he doesn't care, soem think he sold out, he doesn't care, some think him ridiculous, he doesn't care.
Though it must be the first time that any food product has actively sought to be associated with ROTTEN.
an earned retirement.
Hello, hello, hello (ha, ha, ha)
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
The Public Image
What you wanted was never made clear
Behind the image was ignorance and fear
You hide behind this public machine
Still follow same old scheme
Public Image
Two sides to every story
Somebody had to stop me
I'm not the same as when I began
I will not be treated as property
Public Image
Two sides to every story
Somebody had to stop me
I'm not the same as when I began
Its not a game of monopoly
Public image
Public image
You got what you wanted
The public image belongs to me
It's my entrance
My own creation
My grand finale
My goodbye
Public image
Goodbye
Which says it all. I think.
a-hah-ha! A pinch of snuff, Lord Hassan?
Disappointed a few people
When friendship reared its ugly head
Isn't that...
What friends are for?
At least now he knows what he wants and knows how to get it!
Re all the selling out... waaah waaaah. I will never begrudge Johnny Rotton a thing.
Wow, man makes living when alleged fans would really rather he was dead in a pool of his own vomit. The cheek! Hey, at least it's not as tiring as Suggs endlessly selling frozen crud.
Don't mind if I do squire,is it mentholated?