Two articles on John Lydon

I recently read two interesting articles on John Lydon:

Former Sex Pistol John Lydon pops off on loving, living, and having been Rotten

John Lydon Unveils 'Antireligious' Art for New Public Image Ltd. Album

I'll check out the new PiL album. I'm a big fan of John Lydon, as a musician and as a person.

I Like the Cover Better: Don't Call Me White

This might be the first NOFX song I ever heard. It's also my favorite, closely followed by "Brews."



I got that on a punk mix CD (Probably from the Give 'Em The Boot series from Epitaph) and put it on a mix tape with a bunch of songs by The Offspring (Jennifer Lost the War), The Ramones (extras from the end of the All the Stuff series), Rancid 45s (Hyena, I Wanna Riot), and Down By Law.

Later, though, Rancid and NOFX did a split CD covering each other, and Rancid just destroyed the original for me. Here is Matt Freeman on a bass-and-deep-voiced-vocals version of Don't Call Me White.



And yeah, I like their cover of Brews better, too. But that's another post.

Wire - Map Ref. 41N 93W

The is my favorite song by Wire. I happened to turn on WFMU just in time to catch it on Fabio's show, Strength Through Failure.

"Map Ref. 41N 93W"



I especially love that they introduce the chorus by saying, "Chorus!"

I must have worn out the section of audiotape where I had that song back in the mid-90s. That's when I discovered Wire and a lot of other UK punk I'd missed when I was younger - Wire, the Stiff Little Fingers, the Undertones, Poly Styrene and X-Ray Specs, Infrariot, Television, and more. Some bands I'd heard of, but never heard - some neither. Some I knew the catalog backward and forward - Sex Pistols, The Clash, Buzzcocks. Wire was a "neither." This song just blew me away . . . and I hadn't listened to it in years. Time to pull out all my Wire stuff and re-listen. They're touring the NY area right now, but work means I won't see them. Maybe someday.