Latest Release
- AUG 11, 2023
- 13 Songs
- Album · 1986
- First Issue · 1978
- This is What You Want ... This Is What You Get · 1983
- This is What You Want ... This Is What You Get · 1984
- Happy? · 1987
- Second Edition · 1979
- 9 · 1989
- Album · 1986
- Second Edition · 1979
- 9 · 1989
Essential Albums
- After the self-destruction of the Sex Pistols, singer Johnny Rotten reclaimed his given name of John Lydon and formed Public Image Ltd. with guitarist Keith Levene and bassist Jah Wobble and a variety of drummers. Their first album, released in the U.S. as First Issue years after the fact, was a caterwauling of post-Pistols guitar distortion and Lydon raving in the wake. Second Edition was initially released as three 12” 45s crammed in a film canister as Metal Box, before being issued as a standard 2-LP set. The music is unlike anything else the band had ever recorded. It went deeper into dub dynamics, with Wobble’s bass often leading the attack on instrumentals such as “Socialist” and “Graveyard” and the lyrical declamations of “Albatross,” where Lydon swears off his previous life. Echoes of Amon Düül II and Krautrock in general can be heard throughout these performances, which are highlighted by the fantastic “Swan Lake” and “Memories,” where the music finds a completely new gear to shift up to. Quite simply, along with its follow-up The Flowers of Romance, one of the greatest albums of any era.
- 2023
- 2012
Artist Playlists
- John Lydon's bitter response to rock success.
- Never mind the Pistols—take a PiL.
- Moving past post-punk gloom into arena rock and tropical pop.
Singles & EPs
About 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.
- ORIGIN
- London, England
- FORMED
- 1978
- GENRE
- Rock