Hi. Today I am reviewing John Lydon's book, Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs. Great read. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I loved this book. It was fucking brilliant. That's what I'll say, that's what I'll say about it. It was fucking brilliant reading, and if you want a real understanding of the punk scene, read this book. It's just fascinating and I connected with it in so many ways that, well, all I can say is it's just great.
It tells you so much about the British music scene, about British society that I never fully appreciated until now. I mean, I knew, but I didn't know. Let's put it that way. It's one thing to know, it's another thing to hear it from the mouth of somebody who had to live through it. And yeah, a lot of the same story you hear about. "Oh, we got a record deal!" And gee, isn't that nice? Isn't that not quite as nice as you imagined it?
And the legal stuff that happened afterward brought back terrible flashbacks of being a lawyer practicing law. It's like, this is why I don't practice law anymore. So yeah, this is a wonderful book and a great read and a must-read for anybody who's interested in British society, the music scene, what punk was all about, how it got started and all of that. It's just fucking brilliant.
I will just read you one little part. Absolutely. There are parts that just made me laugh out loud. This kind of did, if I can find it. Oh, here it is. Yeah. Alright. Somebody writes here. This is not from John Lydon because this is made up of different contributions here and there from different people, but somebody wrote here, "Punk challenged the class concept. The whole class system in England is Know Your Place. You keep the place that you were born to. That's the old idea of it. I've actually met members of the royal family and they are the most unpleasant, disgusting, vile people you could ever meet anywhere.
“It's like the point of racism where you hate everybody just because they are not born in your family. Everybody is below them. The queen is not this happy smiling lady. She's not that at all. She's a fucking hard bitch."
I am reading to you from this book and yeah, it's not all like that, but I got to tell you, it gives you the real lowdown. So anyway, I thought it was a blast and very sad about Sid, who apparently was quite stupid. I'm sorry, but some of the stuff he did. Oh, well, I won't go on, but I will just say that I thought it was a wonderful book. And, yeah, ever get the feeling you've been cheated? The answer is a definite yes. Thank you and I will talk to you later. Be seeing you. Cheers.
You can get the ebook from this retailer.
You can also get it in print from my online bookstore and support indie bookstores.
You can also get it on eBay!
PS: Oh … never mind the bollocks me! :)
PPS: Just found this on Twitter.
Share this post