Quietus Editor John Doran talks to John Lydon in the eighth episode of British Masters for Noisey, and the former Sex Pistol and current PiL frontman is in unusually contemplative mood.
As well as talking about dedicating ‘Rise’ to Nelson Mandela at Glastonbury he recalls having a loaded gun pointed at him by Harvey Keitel on a movie set, how he side-stepped becoming a drug addict and his anger at white bands appropriating black music as their own.
Speaking about his trip to Jamaica in 1978 to sign reggae acts to Virgin’s Frontline imprint he said that the areas he was visiting were very different to the places frequented by Joni Mitchell and The Clash.
Speaking about his punk rock rivals he said: "What were they going for? The Clash have no background of multicultural inheritance. They weren’t brought up in the council flats like we were… [They were] white boys trying to imitate the black man’s music.
"It’s like all of these bands in the 1960s [ripping off R&B]… to me that’s racism."
Head to YouTube to watch the British Masters series in full.
PIL AUTUMN TOUR
PiL UK October Tour 2013
Sat 12 – Bristol O2 Academy
Sun 13 – Bournemouth O2 Academy
Wed 16 – Liverpool O2 Academy
Thu 17 – Leeds O2 Academy
Fri 18 – Glasgow O2 ABC
Sun 20 – Birmingham O2 Academy
Mon 21 – London O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
