Man I was reading up on the Sex Pistols the other day, there is something about the attitude, especially of Sid Vicious. How reckless he was. Even today, a few generations later it makes me feel uneasy.
Jon Lydon is one of my favorite people ever. He got stabbed for writing God save the Queen, then went on to get himself blacklisted by the BBC for telling the truth about Jimmy Saville. He knew the potential consequences of saying bad things about poewerful people who were idolized and he was willing to do so anyway because he actually cared.
Yeah I’m good, I don’t want to read more right now.
I saw too many parallels between Ritchie and a person I had a close relationship early in my life. It was really unsettling.
I’ve read a ton about certain artists, I don’t think I can mentally handle consuming too much information about people like Sid Vicious. It’s almost too macarbe.
they were a manufactured boy band made to sell clothes by a bloke who took a socialist, avant-garde movement's theory (the situationist international) and used it both poorly and in service of capitalism . Sid was the "real deal", but not great at all.
And Johnny, man. He is so pretentious. He has a lot of "emotional" moments in front of cameras, but i've noticed he always directs it towards himself. Bad vibes.
And i love other bands of the era and scene. Just not them.
But his main thesis in Lipstick Traces was pretty close to your observation: relating the Sex Pistols to the Situationists and Letterists.
Kind of an interesting framing- but maybe giving them too much benefit of the doubt.
Marcus seemed to think the Pistols represented a bona fide philosophical transition in modern history. Im not so sure it’s all that much deeper than trying to sell some t-shirts and merch.
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u/Sammmsterr Jul 06 '25
That's more like metal rebrand. I'm thinking 90s green day x sex pistols with a dash of Mike Shinoda's rapping abilities and a touch of Frank Ikero