Parting Shot

John Lydon

john lydon deserves as much credit for the punk explosion as any other living human. Not that he is eager for a formal title. “I don’t see music in categories like that,” the 62-year-old says. “You should never allow yourself to be categorized or bracketed or contained or neatly packaged in somebody else’s phraseology.” As Johnny Rotten, the sneering frontman for the Sex Pistols, Lydon mocked the queen, swore on live TV and incited concert mayhem. But he has made far more interesting—and brashly anti-commercial—music as the leader of the pioneering post-punk group Public Image Ltd, which went from 1979’s abrasive and inscrutable Metal Box to an unlikely hit with 1986’s apartheid-inspired “Rise”; the band is currently working on its 11th album. Lydon’s improbably long career with PIL is chronicled in the new documentary The Public Image Is Rotten, in which everyone from Flea to Thurston Moore praises the band’s long-tailed influence. Asked if the film presents the truth, Lydon tells Newsweek, “It’s as good as anything else I’ve ever seen or heard.” You’ve been called a supporter of President Donald Trump. True? I’m far from it! But I’m not a hater either. I feel like I’m watching one of those strange TV comedy series, where you can’t possibly guess [Trump’s] next one-liner. Of course, I’m very frightened by the prospects of the end of it. I’m not insane.

In 2009, in a surreal twist, you reformed PIL using money made from a Country Life butter commercial.

It’s the most anarchic thing I’ve ever experienced in my life! “How could they think I’d be promoting butter!” It came to meetings, and I found the [company] to be really open. I came to terms very easily: Look, they’ve offered me all this money, and I do eat butter. Yippee!

[We’re] now working on making the perfect record, although I don’t know if such a thing could exist. I like the philosophy of Turkish carpetmakers; they’ll always make that one bum stitch, because nothing could be perfect in the eyes of their God. That’s a rather lovely philosophy.

How did David Bowie’s death affect you?

It was shocking. But I think the man died so reasonably regally. Wonderfully brave, to just go quietly and let the work speak for itself.

What would [Sex Pistol] Sid Vicious be doing if he were alive?

I don’t know. I can’t answer imponderables. I just miss him! —Zach Schonfeld

“Never allow yourself to be contained or neatly packaged in somebody else’s phraseology.”