And I like Green Day

[thepilot]

Is Johnny Rotten jealous?


A Sex Pistol slams Green Day
10/02/2006 12:00:00 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(KP International) - John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten), frontman of the influential '70s British punk band the Sex Pistols, has sneered at the idea of Green Day being called punk.


"Don't try and tell me Green Day are punk," said Rotten recently. "They're not; they're plonk and they're bandwagoning on something they didnt come up with themselves. I think they are phony."

The punk legend, whose brazen band's defiance of censorship and authority defined a generation, seems to think that Green Day, who just won a Grammy for Record of the Year for their hit "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," "didn't earn their wings... and if they were true punk they wouldn't look anything like they do."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Smother]

ahhh...he's just a JEALOUS freak!!! Who cares about them!!
I heard their albums in the past.....they're not that great at all in my opinion!
Probably because he ( sex pistols ) never got awards or sold as many albums has Green day has!!
Award winning Rock bands always get knocked by veteran bands who never got it!!!

GREEN DAY ROCKS!!!

 

[Maury Beniowski]

The point Johnny Rotten is making is, he never sold out. Something Green Day can never stake a claim on...

You have to listen with both ears! Or, read between the lines! Or, look for the hidden message!

 

[smackyo]

i agree with what rotten said. to claim that you are fan of punk and say that the sex pistols records suck means you are not a fan of punk. in fact you are a fan of pop. i used to like green day before the "dookie" album.

also the sex pistols were not after awards. they basically invented punk and i think to see groups come along that embody none of what punk is but use the name kind of pisses him off. haha just like the black eyed peas and the hip hop lable.

 

[steverino]

I think that....

the Monkees played more chords than the sex Pistols.

 

[lenharper]

Since when did playing anything more than three chords matter in rock and roll? As for Green Day, I think they are a great "power pop" band and that American Idiot is a dumbed down version of Quadrophenia, there is plenty to chew on in that album if one can look at all objectively. but it is not, and never will be "Never Mind the Bollocks."

That album, along with Ramones first couple, have been the template for "punk rock" for the last twenty five years. Cook and Jones were an awesome duo (listen to some post Pistol's Iggy albums for confirmation) Sid Vicious was a great mascot -- kinda a goofy Johnny Thunders -- Glen Matlock wrote great pop songs and Johnny Lydon/Rotten was the ultimate showman with a snarl.

While they never won any "awards" (and indeed it would have been horrifying if they did) it meant they never descended into AOR mediocrity.

Rock and roll is about myth making. it is not about musical proficiency. it is about hitting and defining a moment in time. Beck's "Loser" did that. "Teen Spirit" did that. And as much as "born in the USA" signalled the moment that Bruce jumped the shark, that song did it as well.

"god save the queen", "anarchy in the UK" and "bodies" did the same thing as well. They defined a moment in time in Thacher's England and the band struck a pose that, twenty fives years later, others are still struggling to emulate.

 

[therealrex]

Big deal if the Pistols had maintained their popularity for a couple more years they wouldn't have been punk either. Its not like they consciously decided to stop despite whatever bullshit Lydon is selling today they just self destructed. If old Johnny Rotten could find something people wanted to buy he'd gladly sell out.

 

[kafka555]

Green Day, Weezer and their like come across as a bunch of whining mopes. You don't see Johnny Rotten whining, you don't see Iggy Pop whining, you don't see Lemmy, or Ozzy, or Joey Ramone, or Maynard James Keenan whining. That's because they're men, and Billy Joe Armstrong, Rivers Cuomo and all the emo crowd are little boys.

 

[missing link]

Are green day midgets? Atleast the lead singer. Seriously, I think he is under 5 feet tall. Anybody know for sure?

 

[wolverine]

If you ask me, those Pistols reunion tours would be considered "selling out" - indeed they freely admitted that they were only doing those tours for the money.

And anyone who knows their music history would tell you that the Pistols became popular in the UK not because of the music, but mainly because of the public controversies and rebellious images that were concocted and manufactured by their skillfully-manipulative manager.

 

[smackyo]

Since when did playing anything more than three chords matter in rock and roll? As for Green Day, I think they are a great "power pop" band and that American Idiot is a dumbed down version of Quadrophenia, there is plenty to chew on in that album if one can look at all objectively. but it is not, and never will be "Never Mind the Bollocks."

That album, along with Ramones first couple, have been the template for "punk rock" for the last twenty five years. Cook and Jones were an awesome duo (listen to some post Pistol's Iggy albums for confirmation) Sid Vicious was a great mascot -- kinda a goofy Johnny Thunders -- Glen Matlock wrote great pop songs and Johnny Lydon/Rotten was the ultimate showman with a snarl.

While they never won any "awards" (and indeed it would have been horrifying if they did) it meant they never descended into AOR mediocrity.

Rock and roll is about myth making. it is not about musical proficiency. it is about hitting and defining a moment in time. Beck's "Loser" did that. "Teen Spirit" did that. And as much as "born in the USA" signalled the moment that Bruce jumped the shark, that song did it as well.

"god save the queen", "anarchy in the UK" and "bodies" did the same thing as well. They defined a moment in time in Thacher's England and the band struck a pose that, twenty fives years later, others are still struggling to emulate.

well said. also i don't think the pistols reunion tours are "selling out" they played venues and when you are in a band and play music at venues you get paid for it. they didn't sellout their principles. they just played gigs and made some money at like the old days.

also if johnny could find something to sell he would i think is an un-educated opinion. take for instance a punk compilation that came out a few years ago. now i forget the name of the album but they wanted to use a quote from johnny rotten as the cover name "ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" it was said at their last concert in the u.s. however johnny having something to sell would not let the album use his quote and he would not release the rights to any of the pistols songs for that album.

but yeah i guess if he had anything to sell he would gladly sellout.

 

[DJLAW]

green day did sell out. back when they first started, they used to play that club....i forget the name of it.....it is the one that jello biafra was almost killed at because the patrons thought he sold out.

green day knows that they can never go back. so why not try to appeal to the masses and make sick amounts of money while they are at it?

they have families now. that ususally changes artists. take liz phair for example. she had indie cred up the yin yang. her last two albums have been total pop radio friendly unit shifters. she even admitted it. "im sick of having indie credit. i want some real credit." i think was the quote. she did it for her daughter.

i agree with johnny rotten.

if you want some REAL punk, listen to Lars Fredreksen And The Bastards.

.

 

[smackyo]

green day did sell out. back when they first started, they used to play that club....i forget the name of it.....it is the one that jello biafra was almost killed at because the patrons thought he sold out.

green day knows that they can never go back. so why not try to appeal to the masses and make sick amounts of money while they are at it?

they have families now. that ususally changes artists. take liz phair for example. she had indie cred up the yin yang. her last two albums have been total pop radio friendly unit shifters. she even admitted it. "im sick of having indie credit. i want some real credit." i think was the quote. she did it for her daughter.

i agree with johnny rotten.

if you want some REAL punk, listen to Lars Fredreksen And The Bastards.

.

is the club you are thinking of the "cbgb" if so yes you are correct green day can never go back there.

 

[therealrex]

Are green day midgets? Atleast the lead singer. Seriously, I think he is under 5 feet tall. Anybody know for sure?

The bass player seems to be semi normal in height but the other 2 are Hobbits.

 

[DJLAW]

is the club you are thinking of the "cbgb" if so yes you are correct green day can never go back there.

no, it is some other club. it is sad that cbgb is gone. soo much history. i always wanted to go there.

 

[Maury Beniowski]

I've thought about this thread over the last few days, and arrived at the following conclusion. Selling out has nothing to do with money. If you happen to get some in the process, as the Sex Pistols did, all the power to you. You gotta eat, after all. Selling out is moving away from the principle of artistic integrity, or sticking to the path that was the genesis of your mission in whatever art you are dedicated to. That's where a lot of groups fall down, as their audiences peter out. Sure, it's sometimes a matter of financial survival to change gears, and a lot of bands do it. But the point here was, the Sex Pistols didn't, at the cost of their eventually demise as a band. But the concept eventually stuck, and was emulated into a culture. I wasn't a fan of the Sex Pistols, but I admired how they stuck to their philosophy.

 

[therealrex]

Their demise had a lot more to do with a crooked manager who took every cent of money they made than any real philosophy they followed. Even Rotten's famous line " Ever feel like you've been cheated" wasn't some sneering comment on the state of music at the time it was the point when Rotten found out he'd just had a hit record and completed a tour of America and he realized he was flat broke.

 

[lenharper]

In a way the Pistol's ceased to be a band when Matlock was replaced by Sid. It was replacing the musician with the sideshow freak and a clear admission that this was now just show business. Sid did not play on the early recordings and in fact never learned how to play. But he was an element that added to the appeal. He contributed to the stance of the band but nothing to the substance.

And I reject the idea that he died a hero. He died a junkie. Nothing heroic about it.

 

[missing link]

Green days target audience is 14 year olds. Every band sells out..the whole idea of music "contracts is "selling out"

You can't put inspiration on a deadline. Everything changed after woodstock..big biz saw music as a big biz. Music producers, managers, and artists whore themselves for the almighty buck because the realize their window of fame has shrunk to two successful albums (at best)

Selling out..I always hear that..what the fuck do the bands care? You think they feel they owe the stupid fools who bought their albums? They don't care. Money is the beginning and the end of all art.