Public Image Ltd.

Tired of the chaos that filled the Sex Pistols’ final tour in 1978, the flame-haired singer formerly known as Johnny Rotten quit in order to create a new band, one whose creative vision was far beyond anything he’d previously attempted. Formed by the punk icon (now using his real name, John Lydon) with guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble and drummer Jim Walker, Public Image Ltd. brandished an experimental and decidedly post-punk sensibility, with Lydon drawing from his love of dub reggae and progressive rock to devise the vanguard death-disco that fills 1979’s Second Edition. PiL followed with equally fascinating excursions into dance music on the 1983 club hit “This Is Not a Love Song” and heavy rock on 1986’s Album. Reliably unpredictable, the band has remained Lydon’s primary artistic vehicle in spite of innumerable line-up changes and the occasional hiatus to accommodate Pistols reunions and his sideline career as a reality-TV star.