Metal Box: Stories from John Lydon's Public Image Ltd

PiL took the power encapsulated in the Sex Pistols and allowed it to express more complex music. It was only Lydon who progressed, who moved forward. Forget Grundy and Malcolm’s grandiose claims. John came again. In different clothes. That were just as beautiful’ Tony H. Wilson Metal Box features riots, axe attacks, addiction, sonic terrorism, all-out confrontation and the artist formerly known as Johnny Rotten. John ‘Rotten’ Lydon – Jubilee ‘Public Enemy No. 1' – quit the Sex Pistols at the height of their fame and formed Public Image Limited, the ultimate cult band, as anarchic as the Pistols but with truly groundbreaking music that lived up to punk’s Year Zero rhetoric. From the druggy haze of Lydon’s Gunter Grove flat, amid endless police raids, PiL harnessed their disparate personnel to somehow produce three albums – First Edition, Metal Box and Flowers of Romance – as original as any ever issued. The group’s corporate styling and innovatory sound were unique: dub-sonic bass overlaid with haunting guitars and Lydon’s banshee-wailing, combining elements of punk, reggae and dance. Lydon’s attitude led to riots at gigs and more tabloid outrage, as well as hits, multiple albums and some remarkably durable music. Drawing on new interviews with PiL boys Jah Wobble, Keith Levene, Martin Atkins and Jim Walker, as well as pivotal figures Don Letts and Dennis Morris, Metal Box is the first time the insiders have told the true and torrid tale of Lydon’s long, strange trip. Praise for Metal Box: 'PiL’s avant-garde eclecticism was f*cking amazing’ - Alan McGee ‘We were four total maniacs making extreme music’ - Jim Walker, PiL ‘A more than decent addition to the Lydon pantheon. A proper warts’n’all biography’ – Guitar and Bass Magazine, February 2008 ‘Band members Jah Wobble, Keith Levene and original PiL drummer Jim Walker tell their tale with panache’ – Classic Rock Magazine, October 2007 ‘Lively and sharp’ – Mojo Magazine, April 2008 'One of the best music books to be produced for a very long time’ – The Irish Post, 17 November 2007 ‘Strongman’s account of the ‘good years’ is rich in new data’ – Simon Reynolds, Frieze Magazine, Nov-Dec 2007 Phil Strongman is a film-maker and the acclaimed author of books Cocaine, a novel, John Lennon: Life,Times and Assassination and Pretty Vacant: A Punk History. Read more