JOHN LYDON : Stories of Johnny Lauren & Johnny 50508 Johnny Zippered Pencil Pouch, 8.26 x 2.12 x 3.70 Inches, Black with Red Accents

This was a gift. I knew the book was not new but I did expect very good condition to be a little better. However the recipient thought it was brilliant.

Very informative, and a good read

good

The correct ratio of arrogance and enthusiasm can be a positive thing. John Lydon has spent his entire life making himself a visible target for the socially repressed and political ideologists to attack, and in so doing he exposes the attacker's own prejudices and fears. Love him or hate him, the world needs Lydon. Truth needs Lydon. He admits the things he says can seem contradictory and that his opinion will change from day to day but it always reflects how he feels at that time, and the core values that underline his philosophy never change.This book is similar to the kind of critical studies you find on every academic reading list at school, the kind of thing that collects together essays offering different perspectives on a chosen topic. Together they build up a picture of Lydon; whether or not it's an accurate picture is open to debate. Nevertheless, it's a fun undertaking and the constantly shifting topics keep it interesting.One chapter focuses on the rise of punk, one on the reaction of the media, and another on the nuances of Lydon's unique vocal delivery, etc. You don't need to start at the beginning and work your way through to the end, you can jump in anywhere. It's focussed primarily on the Sex Pistols era but there are enough Public image Ltd anecdotes to please fans of both sides.Black & white photos are scattered haphazardly across the pages. They're obvious filler, sometimes bearing no relation to the text whatsoever.The entry by Kris Needs, and similarly the essay by Judy Nylon are essential reading. On the flip side, Legs McNeil proves once again he's an egotistical idiot piggybacking on the nearest bandwagon; how that man has been allowed to pursue journalistic endeavours for so long remains a mystery.

This book can be a good starting point, but you need a knowledge of the underlying subject matter (punk rock in both Great Britain and USA) to get the full flavour, so it will be best appreciated by those who already know a lot about punk and its main characters.If you feel a little bit lost after the introduction, then you are advised to either read first the titles proposed there (at the very least "England's Dreaming") or to have them ready for help when needed (I will also add two more fundamentals: Clinton Heylin's "From The Velvets To The Voidoids" and "Please Kill Me" by Legs Mc Neil and Gillian Mc Cain, incidentally the first two of them among the contributors of this compendium).Five stars? Yes, for the Judy Nylon essay alone.Hence I disagree with the other reviewer in terms of why this tome gets a very high praise, but I praise it as well.

it could have been so rubbish, it really coulda. Picture the scene - rope together a bundle of old punk has-beens and get them to squawk about how brilliant 1977 was and completely miss the point that johnny actually left all that punk gubbins behind the day he slammed the door on the pistols - BUT IT AIN'T!!Thankfully, what we get is this collection, which, admittedly, does have some punk has-beens in it, but they don't get all dowy eyed and over sentimental, instead offering a CAREER LONG view of rotten.I like PiL for instance, sometimes more than the pistols, so i was chuffed to see clinton heylin's chapter on the pioneers (although it;'s something of an expansion of his Rise/Fall book from the 90s, you gotta admit).Elsewhere rotten's clash with tommy vance is detailed, and there's a fair bit of chin stroking from UK and US punk journos (as seems to be the norm these days), which is great bog reading.If you're wondering whether or not to buy it, then you should, as it's criminal how little work is available on this icon. Johnny'll probably hate it himself, but that's what you'd expect i guess.