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I can’t talk about punk sociologically, only subjectively—I just wanted to live. Recently, I popped into a local boozer, and it felt like pre-punk again—a living death, everybody getting tanked up, and then it’s back to work in the morning. There’s got to be more to life than that. I was very against authority, against formularised structures, and I still am. I’m still very adolescent, without being boringly so. Seeing people in their thirties who haven’t matured can be a sad sight. You can’t just be against things, you have to offer something as well.
Jah Wobble

My 82 Favourite Punk Rock Singles ‘77-‘79

#16 Public Image Ltd. - ‘Public Image’

“You never listened to a word that I said / You only seen me for the clothes that I wear / Or did the interest go so much deeper? / It must have been the colour of my hair / The public image”

John Lydon’s first post-Sex Pistols single sounds pretty much like the Sex Pistols - which may actually be a bit of a surprise if you’re only familiar with PiL’s later, more abrasive material. Regardless, it’s an extremely good song. The classic PiL elements are already in place - Jah Wobble’s ridiculously deep, melodic bass, Keith Levene’s harsh, metallic guitar, and Lydon’s quivering, almost histrionic falsetto. Lydon’s voice is already quite different to that which he used in the Pistols - more tuneful (although not really in a conventional sense), more unstable, and less aggressive. Some would cal it whiney I suppose. The lyrics here are quite clever as well - ruminations on the Sex Pistols phenomenon and the reasons for their fame.

Listen to this song, then listen to ‘I Will Follow’ by U2 - similarities?

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I’ve got ‘Metal Box’ and I think it’s superb, the only thing is, I have to put various amounts of weights on my stylus to stop the thing jumping…
Ian Curtis discussing Public Image Ltd.
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Disappointed a few people / When friendship reared its ugly head / Disappointed a few people / Well, isn’t that what friends are for?
Public Image Ltd. - ‘Disappointed’
rebjukebox: We only wanted to be loved?

rebjukebox:

We only wanted to be loved?