“Pistols” feuding over music rights
Former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones said Friday that he dislikes former bandmate John Lydon and hasn’t spoken to him since 2008 but denied that a TV series about the band would make the singer once known as Johnny Rotten look bad.
Jones and drummer Peter Cook are suing Lydon at Britain’s High Court for the right to license the band’s music for the Danny Boyledirected series “Pistol,” which is based on Jones’ memoir “Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol.”
Testifying in the legal dispute, Jones disclosed that he was stung when Lydon’s manager blocked an offer to use the Sex Pistols’ punk anthem “God Save the Queen” in another series, “The Crown.”
Lydon has slammed the Disney-backed “Pistol” as
“disrespectful” and is refusing to grant permission for the songs to be included. He contends that music licenses can’t be granted without his consent, but Jones and Cook say licensing requests can be decided by a majority of band members.
At a hearing on Friday, Lydon’s lawyer, Mark Cunningham, took Jones through extracts from the guitarist’s book, including a passage describing Lydon as an “annoying little brat.”
“There’s a lot of praise in the book as well,” Jones said.
Asked if he dislikes Lydon, Jones said: “I guess so, yes.”
He said the two had not spoken since 2008, the year of the band’s last reunion tour.
Jones, who appeared as a witness by video link from Los Angeles, said there was nothing unusual about acrimony among bandmates.
The band’s original bassist, Glen Matlock, and the estate of Matlock’s replacement, Sid Vicious, support the position of Cook and Jones in the court case.