About this Book

Annotation Love him or hate him, when it comes to the man they once called 'Rotten', what you can't do is ignore him. And with two big anniversaries in 2006 [in November it's 30 years since the release of the Sex Pistols' first record and of punk in general going overground - and Johnny Lydon's 50th was celebrated in January], there won't be much chance of avoiding him at all this year. Because 12 months of commemorative programmes, films, books, magazine special editions, articles and all manner of other media events is already underway and is set to reach fever pitch this autumn. With all this in mind, there couldn't be a better time to explore exactly what it was John Lydon did, thought and achieved; that which made him the focal point of the whole British punk movement. The book further explores what his post Pistols / Punk career meant; was he simply riding on the back of his punk credentials, or was the man blessed with a special talent which allowed him to achieve far, far more than any other individual musician or performer to come out of Punk's first wave way back in 1976. Not a traditional biography as such, John Lydon - Stories of Johnny - A Compendium of Thoughts on the Icon of an Era contains a series of stand alone essays written by the cream of rock music's writers and commentators. A book which can be either dipped in and out of or read cover to cover, and which both tells the man's story and gets behind what he was - and indeed is - all really about; this work could well be the final word on Lydon and a fitting tribute to an underdog of sorts who became the anti-hero to millions.