{"id":378493,"date":"2026-01-19T14:35:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T14:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/378493\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T14:35:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T14:35:12","slug":"the-only-musician-who-left-john-lydon-starstruck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/378493\/","title":{"rendered":"The only musician who left John Lydon starstruck"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"John<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still)<\/p>\n

Sun 18 January 2026 15:30, UK <\/p>\n

If there was ever a musician who doesn\u2019t bat an eye in the face of authority, it\u2019s John Lydon<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the 1970s, and the would-be punk icon is walking around London with a penchant for anarchy and the words \u201cI hate\u201d written on a Pink Floyd T-shirt. Punk didn\u2019t even have a name yet<\/a>, but Lydon was the living embodiment of the words before they were spoken into existence. The music played a big part in establishing the movement, but more than anything, it was his attitude.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The reason his music resonated so much with people was because of how effectively he was able to convey his point. The lyrics were good and pretty hard-hitting, sure, but the way that he sang them, and the means by which he carried himself, sold the punk aesthetic as something entirely believable and intentional.\u00a0<\/p>\n

People reacted so strongly to it because they believed everything that the band was saying. The proclamations of being an antichrist and an antichrist weren\u2019t brushed off as something nonsensical; some rigid minds heard the song and viewed it as a soundtrack to a revolution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always thought that anarchy is mind games for the middle class,\u201d said Lydon when discussing the meaning behind the track, \u201cIt\u2019s a luxury. It can only be afforded in a democratic society, therefore kind of slightly f\u2013king redundant. It also offers no answers and I hope in my songwriting I\u2019m offering some kind of answer to a thing, rather than spitefully wanting to wreck everything for no reason at all, other than it doesn\u2019t suit you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maintaining authenticity<\/a> has been at the heart of Lydon\u2019s career ever since the Sex Pistols disbanded. He is one of the most opinionated musicians out there, and while some of his thoughts might be better left unsaid, one of his most consistent is that artists should be true to themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For instance, while a lot of punk fans are big fans of both the Sex Pistols and The Clash, Lydon always took issue with Joe Strummer\u2019s band, as he didn\u2019t think they were an authentic representation. You could call it a creative clash, maybe even jealousy, but if you were to ask Lydon, he would attest that his disdain for the minds behind \u2018London Calling\u2019 was due to a clear and obvious phoniness, as he called them \u201cchampagne socialists.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When you have such an unwavering outlook on music and aren\u2019t afraid to give your opinion, it\u2019s pretty difficult to be intimidated by other musicians. Punk artists aren\u2019t the kind to get starstruck, given their whole identity revolves around sticking their middle finger up to any kind of authority, which includes celebrities. However, everyone has a kryptonite, even John Lydon, who, despite this anarchistic nature, couldn\u2019t help but become shy when meeting one particular musical hero.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Nora, we were going in a cab in Tottenham to visit my brother who is an Arsenal supporter, and there was a traffic jam,\u201d he recalled, \u201cIt was a Sunday afternoon and it was outside Harrods. Across comes running Paul and Linda McCartney and they\u2019re banging on the window and they\u2019ve got all these bags: \u2018John it\u2019s you!\u2019 I got shy, so nervous, I just put the lock on and hid down low [\u2026] I couldn\u2019t handle it at the moment. I suppose you could call that starstruck.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still) Sun 18 January 2026 15:30, UK If there was ever a musician…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,65872,15743,56,54,55,41297],"class_list":["post-378493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-john-lydon","tag-sex-pistols","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}