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John Lydon

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Anger is an Energy: My Life Uncensored Paperback – 7 May 2015

by John Lydon (Author)

4.4 2,295 ratings

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This is the definitive autobiography of John Lydon, one of the most recognizable icons in the annals of music history. As Johnny Rotten, he was the lead singer of the Sex Pistols - the world's most notorious band, who shot to fame in the mid-1970s with singles such as 'Anarchy in the UK' and 'God Save the Queen'. Via his music and invective he spearheaded a generation of young people across the world who were clamouring for change - and found it in the style and attitude of this most unlikely figurehead.

With his next band, Public Image Ltd (PiL) Lydon expressed an equally urgent impulse in his make-up - the constant need to reinvent himself. From their beginnings in 1978 he set the template for a band that continues to challenge and thrive in the 2010s. He also found time for making innovative new dance records with the likes of Afrika Baambaata and Leftfield.

Following the release of a solo record in 1997, John took a sabbatical from his music career into other media, most memorably his own Rotten TV show for VH1 and as the most outrageous contestant ever on I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!He then fronted the Megabugsseries and one-off nature documentaries and even turned his hand to a series of much loved TV advertisements for Country Life butter.

Lydon has remained a compelling and dynamic figure - both as a musician, and, thanks to his outspoken, controversial, yet always heartfelt and honest statements, as a cultural commentator.The book is a fresh and mature look back on a life full of incident from his beginnings as a sickly child of immigrant Irish parents who grew up in post-war London, to his present status as a vibrant, alternative national hero.

About the Author

John Lydon is a hero to millions, across every continent and several generations. Without parallel, he changed the game in popular music, not once but twice, first wreaking political chaos upon starchy mid-'70s Britain with The Sex Pistols, then shapeshifting with Public Image Ltd (PiL) as a free experimentalist. 'Rock' simply wasn't big enough to contain such an immense, shapeshifting character, as he scored global hits with the likes of Afrika Bambaataa and Leftfield, and then diversified into television, where the erstwhile Johnny Rotten ended up presenting his own nature series.

Print length

544 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Simon & Schuster UK
Publication date

7 May 2015
Dimensions

19.7 x 3.6 x 13.2 cm
ISBN-10

147113721X
ISBN-13

978-1471137211
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster UK (7 May 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 544 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 147113721X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1471137211
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 19.7 x 3.6 x 13.2 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 62,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 65 in Punk Music
- 394 in Rock & Pop Musician Biographies
- 1,285 in Theatre & Performance Artist Biographies

Customer reviews:
4.4 2,295 ratings

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4.4 out of 5

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Paul Robinson

Wonderful

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 February 2024

Loved it.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 February 2024

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Really enjoyed this! The jumping backwards and forwards of timeline can be a little irritating but that’s a minor whinge. Would recommend. He’s so funny!

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Mr. George Johnson

Honest and truly positive person we could all learn something from!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 December 2014

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I've always liked John Lydon, his honesty has always been refreshing in a world of fakes and frauds, he's a refreshing beacon of light. I was born a little too late to be able to fully appreciate the punk movement, I was only 7 years old when the Pistols were at their infamous best. I remember seeing PiL a few times on TV and hearing bit but it never really appealed to me. As I hit my teens I chose to become a "metaller" and took the path of thrash and death metal. However I always enjoyed the Pistols music, it has an honesty to it but I never really took it for more than what it was at face value.

I bought Lydon's book hoping to find out how much of the character we're led to believe he is, was media story and how much was truth. I quickly learned within the first pages to have an even greater respect for Lydon than I had before. The book is very forthright and frank, there's a statement at the start about it being in Lydon's own words with only basic corrections for spelling and grammar. It's exactly what you'd expect from Lydon, nothing but an honest appraisal of his life from his earliest memories and lots and lots of opinions of what he thought of those around him as he moved through life.

I suppose the most surprising thing I learned is how emotional and honest Lydon is, everything he did was driven by a desire to simply entertain and educate. Contrary to the nonsense printed in the press, nothing he's done ever had any intended malice but simply through necessity. I was interesting though to see how much he's mellowed, despite his need to be seen as a grumpy old curmudgeon, he comes over as a very friendly and open person. The press have always painted him as a divisive person but he's the opposite, he wants nothing but to be inclusive, drawing in all forms of music, all races, colours and creeds. Growing up in a truly multi-cultural environment of north London, he learned early on that if you have 2 arms, 2 legs and a head then your a human being, race and religion are things simply used to try to divide people.

After reading the book I have much greater respect for him as a person. The main message he puts over is, do what you want and follow your own path of creativity and you'll be far happier than if you simply follow the herd. If you want something, get off your backside and work for it and never let anyone stop you, side step them if you have to and get where you want to be.

As an aside I've also started buying PiL albums and having an understanding why he wrote the music he did and how hard it was to get the music out here, it means so much more when listening to it.

11 people found this helpful

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john

Was awake back in the 70s

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 October 2023

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If you were / are a pistols fan it’s a must have.

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Arthur potts

John overstays his welcome, but is difficult to ignore

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 November 2014

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Imagine you're in a bar on your own and start talking to the resident eccentric. At first it's diverting and fun, but after the 20th anecdote, the 100th ill- thought through opinion and, worst of all, the constant repetition - 'I love that. Love it' - you're just about ready to run out screaming. Now, I speak as a fan of John - just imagine what it's like for someone who isn't? He is difficult company - provocative, disgusting, but ultimately a bit boring. The really fascinating aspect of this confession ( because that's what it is) is the point where John becomes a parody of himself - probably some time in the late 80s. Before that, he is unsure of himself, and touchingly unsure of his talent. After that, he's often (but not always) a bombastic buffoon, playing up to a parodic image of the art-school anarchist he once was. Despite his best efforts to depict himself as a working class hero, describing - in stomach turning detail - the deprivations of his upbringing, his outlook is too intelligent and inquisitive to fit in with his working class peers. One aspect of his character that's undeniable is his courage ( often overstated by Mr Rotten) - particularly in the face of the moral panic and police harassment post the Grundy debacle. He is, in his own words, a bit of a Twot, but you can't help admiring him.

You'll notice that this review is about him rather than the book, because the book is, for better or worse, Johnny Rotten.

3 people found this helpful

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Simon Hawkins

Possibly the most intelligent and talented Englishman of his generation

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 December 2014

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I have always admired Mr Rotten.

I am a few months younger than John and grew up a couple of miles away from him. My childhood was more fortunate than his but in almost every other respect we experienced and saw many of the same things in our early years. He came to the same conclusion that I eventually did about the world, but much sooner.

I have just received the book and not yet read it but read a few recent interviews. He is often regarded as 'angry' or 'bitter' or 'difficult', and he sometimes is those things, but his main characteristics are passion and intellect. He is also clearly an emotional man and is not at all embarrassed about that now, which very few men are ever able to do.

The lyrics to 'Never Mind The Bollocks' deserve a re-appraisal. They are witty, clever and incisive and they express certain emotions that some young males (and no doubt females as well) felt, and still feel I expect, in a way that was unique. He used rhythm in an extraordinary way to do this and Paul credited him with that in a documentary on the making of NMTB. The only other artist I know that did something similar is Dylan on his earlier stuff (you try singing along in time to 'Chimes Of Freedom'). Steve, Paul and Glen were all very talented guys and they had real passion about what they were doing.

It is a pity they had a manager who was also 'talent' but lacked intelligence. All good managers are the exact opposite to this and none of the Pistols realised it at the time. It must still torment John. I think he has controlled his anger remarkably well given the crap he had to put up with from McLaren for so many years.

Two LPs from that period were head and shoulders above anything else and are still landmarks that I never tire of hearing. 'Never Mind The Bollocks...' and 'The Ramones'.

3 people found this helpful

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James Hartley

Meanders

Reviewed in Spain on 26 November 2020

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Waaaay too long and in need of some serious editing, this is entertaining enough for its first god knows how many pages before meandering off into contradictory, self-serving rants. It picks up again in places but by the end it became - for me at least - a chore.
I haven't read Lydon's first autobiography, which sounds great (he writes/talks brilliantly and evocatively about his childhood and family) but the later stuff is mostly point-scoring and bitching. This is fine when the subject is something as interesting as his Sex Pistol or even PiL days, but it becomes dull when he's on about his nature documentaries and I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!

Tye J.

A decent read

Reviewed in Australia on 27 December 2022

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Haven't completely finished this book yet but it's so far been a decent read from one of the legends.

Captain Manotick

Rotten Read is Worthwhile

Reviewed in Canada on 3 April 2016

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An engaging read from Mr. Lydon. As much as he is supposedly known for being difficult etc.I came away from this book liking him for his honesty and self-effacing humour sprinkled through the book alongside the tragedies, tough times and even a few triumphs. Essentially, he is an iconoclast as happy taking down his own status as a national treasure in the UK (Who could have seen that coming in 1978?) as he is with others in the entertainment field. As the only Sex Pistol to sustain a post-breakup musical career of any note, John Lydon can stand tall atop a stack of good to great recordings made with a series of fluctuating line-ups, but always with Lydon clearly at the helm. If you lived through the late 70s and 80s and you loved this music, you will enjoy this book. If you didn't live through it, I would venture to say that that you will still enjoy it.

3 people found this helpful

Natia

Fascinating account of a mad, mad world

Reviewed in the United States on 17 April 2015

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I stumbled across the previous work by John Lydon - `No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs' - because I got interested in the punk scene of 70-80s. This period in music is what I have totally skipped during my teens. Now I grew to like some of the bands from end of 70s-start of 80s and I read some stuff on them. Then Billy Idol mentions Sex Pistols a lot (no surprise), I read about them and discover Johnny Rotten has a biography. That was nice. After reading the book I got so hooked up I could not wait for the announced "Part II". Eventually, out it came and of course, I grabbed it.

Well, where should I start? I totally love `Anger is an Energy', much more than `No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs'. It is less aggressive and very positive in a way. However, if you are hunting after juicy details and scandals, this book is obviously not for you. Mr. Lydon is quite decent in these regards and does not mention many names or private stuff. This book is more about emotions, ideas and trends in a man's life, memories and deeds re-thought and re-analyzed.

Now I don't think that everything in this book is 100 % accurate and it should be regarded as gospel of any sort. No, it could not possibly be so - a guy is talking about his life, it should be subjective and biased. The ghost writer - Andrew Perry - is Lydon's fan all right, so I don't think he interrupted or opposed Mr. Lydon's speech much.

Yet `Anger is an Energy' is full of amazing vibe. I generally enjoy an interesting plot and whatever else, Lydon definitely had / has an eventful life. He talks of himself and unveils his story in a very appealing, humorous and acid way - even if the described story is quite grim.

The main character - with bits and tats from real Mr. Lydon, I hope - is hilarious. He really has a rough start, but his relentless energy, audacity and people around him are such great fun. His life is actually very rich - with events, people, ideas, music, pain, gain, evil and good luck, death of the loved ones and near-death experience. The variety and differences are rather colorful. And these colors are not much smudged by drug haze which is a great thing for a reader.

"We were often portrayed as speed-crazed maniacs onstage, but that was far from the reality. The other three weren't `up there' at all. Regardless of Steve joining AA years later, he's never been big on anything, barely a pinch of salt by equivalent. And me, I stopped. I wasn't going to become too infected with drug pleasures, because I really wanted to conquer the opportunity. Also, you can't be singing on any kind of upper, forget it, ain't gonna work, with your heartbeat racing..."

The guy there is not lucky at all. Everything he touches turns out to be a problem or at least an issue. Yet his sentiments are quite understandable and his ideas reflect some individuality. He is not preaching any ideology or offer universal pill of happiness, but in the end this book is a praise to being what you are and doing what you - and only you - think is right, no, what you feel is right for you. Then everything is easy:

"When we went back to the shop and I sang to Alice Cooper's "Eighteen" and various other records off the jukebox, I really wanted it. I was up for it. I instantly had the mannerisms, the characterizations of the words. That I could do, I just couldn't sing. A minor thing..."

And yes, I am quite biased, because I really, really loved this guy, main character - and I don't care if he is a fiction or reality. He has charisma and bravery - in very nontraditional and somehow uncomfortable way. He takes the risk to be beaten up just because of weird clothes and color of his hair. Now, that is a strange cause to die for.

"So, there I was in mid-Hackney at 3 a.m., and I had to run the gang gauntlet to get back to Finsbury Park. That was a death walk, a serious death walk, particularly how I was dressing and how I was. I gave a toss for no one. I knew it was coming. Even local Arsenal boys, they'd still have a reason to row with me, just because of my attitude and I - don't - back - down."

It is hard to resist such approach to life and some funny quirks of character put out with utmost style and force. However, if you do not like lunatics, you obviously will never like the book. It is a story of a crazy human being, very determined, straightforward, stubborn, witty and maddeningly irritating. All his friends and people who matter in his life are also quite lunatic. Even his enemies and people who harm him - they are far away from being normal. The book is full of mad, mad world and uncompromising ideas, violence, twisted but powerful energy while at the same time offering positive and optimistic approach to all of these. I was literally roaring with laughter while reading through Mountjoy prison experience:

"On my arrival, the warders decided to make an example of me. They stripped me, threw me into the yard and hosed me down. But you know, you can strip me, cover me in flea powder and laugh at the size of my penis, it doesn't matter. It - does - no - matter. Over the years I've noticed that when these institutions get hold of you, the one thing they're trying to embarrass you about is your nakedness, and your penis. Let me tell you, Johnny's got a perfect penis to laugh at, and he don't care. That's not ever going to be a problem."

Admittedly, after reading Lydon's biographies, I tried to listen to his music. I still don't like it - just a couple of songs from Sex Pistols and 4-5 from PiL, but whether I am influenced by his books or not, after listening to his bands, I actually understood why he is considered influential by some.

What I did not like about the book - well, the detailed description of bands and songs the main character is listening to. I love music as well, but reading about music is not very captivating for me. Sometimes it was hard for me to understand the language - well, English is my third language, so all the manipulations, somewhat unconventional wording and slang, which I could not possibly look up in a dictionary - these were a challenge for me. In a way these add up to the flavor of the book, but it was hard for me to unveil the idea behind some paragraphs - and it took some time and consideration.

I suppose some will find Lydon's words offensive - even when describing his friends (Sid Vicious, for example) or discussing some of the popular groups, but I don't mind his subjective opinions (although I am a fan of the majority of the music bands he so passionately criticizes, like Rolling Stones, Nirvana, to name a few). He also seems contradicting himself a lot, although I attribute the discrepancies to his sense of humor and irresistible urge to disturb the audience. Eventually, he forces the reader to take everything with a grain of salt and have a good laugh. I think Lydon sums that all up very well:

"I'm not deliberately out to antagonize an audience or spite them or anything like that, but if they adopt the attitude of `This isn't what we expected', then yippee, I'm gonna wallow in that, because you shouldn't sit back and expect anything at all. You can make the choice to like it or not like it, but if you're going to hate it because it doesn't sound like the previous album, you're not a John Lydon follower at all. You don't understand me. I don't follow myself so please - don't - follow - me."

All in all, the book turned out to be one of my favorites. I have not enjoyed reading literature for quite a while, so thank you, Mr. Lydon, I had quite a time. I will definitely recommend this book to anybody - either interested in music or not, it is captivating and rich, much better than most of modern fiction.

18 people found this helpful

neeaberauch

Unterhaltsamer und informativer Einblick in John Lydons Leben

Reviewed in Germany on 26 June 2016

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John Lydon weist zweifellos eine faszinierende Biographie auf. Nicht nur musikalisch, sondern auch menschlich gewährt Johnny Einblicke in seine Herkunft und Entwicklung. Ähnlich seinen Songtexten beschreibt er humorvoll, aber kompromisslos seine Erfahrungen und Ansichten.
Besonderes interessant sind dabei die Hintergründe der Entstehung einiger Lieder und Hinweise auf die damit verbundenen Thematiken.

Natürlich sind solide Englischkenntnisse hilfreich für die Lektüre, aber die Sprache ist zumeist einfach gehalten. Der working class Jargon beinhaltet zwar auch einige Vokabeln, die ohnehin in keinem Wörterbuch zu finden sind, doch der Kontext macht die Bedeutung ziemlich klar. So entgehen einem als nicht englischer Muttersprachler vielleicht ein paar sprachliche Nuancen, aber die grundsätzliche Aussage ist gut verständlich.

Mir hat das Buch viel Spaß gemacht und den Mensch John Lydon etwas näher gebracht.

3 people found this helpful

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