听 Public Image Ltd《Metal Box》
挺地道的post-punk。。。毕竟是 John Lydon1979年的大作。。。看清楚发表年份后必须满评。。。豆瓣强人多。
JOHN LYDON原名JOHN JOSEPH LYDON，生于一个有爱尔兰血统的贫困的工人阶级家庭。七岁的时候，由于患上了脑脊髓膜炎，JOHN在长达半年的时间里都是呈半昏迷状，伴随的后遗症就是不得不总是睁大着眼睛专注注视着物体。因祸得福，这也成了他后来最显著的现场标志。更糟糕的是，JOHN富有机智的、创造力又极端利己的个性却与英国学校系统完全的格格不入，就是在那时起，他那日后流行起来的反流行式的穿着开始在他身上慢慢体现。因为经常逛一家名为SEX的服饰店，JOHN遇见了说不清是恩人还是仇人的人---MALCOLM MCLAREN---THE SEX PISTOLS的发起者。在1977年发表了那张惊世骇俗的NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS, HERE'S THE SEX PISTOLS的唱片后，乐队俨然就是全世界的朋克之王。但是因为MALCOLM错误的主导思想和JOHN的强硬态度及侮辱性歌词，主张要诋毁大众；反对女王，如此鲜明的政治主张一下使得乐队成为了众矢之的，JOHN也遭到了保皇派的袭击，这也直接导致了二人的决裂。1978年的美国公演后，乐队宣告解散，JOHN独自一人返回英格兰，着手组建PUBLIC IMAGE LTD.(PIL)，玩儿起了包含很多音乐元素的后朋克。虽然PIL的成就远没有THE SEX PISTOLS高，但若论音乐本身，却大大好于THE SEX PISTOLS。尤其是乐队1979年的第二张唱片METAL BOX(美版SECOND EDITION)，后朋克音乐里程碑式的作品，使JOHN二次踏上巅峰。在乐队又陆续发表了几张作品后，JOHN在1994年决定解散PIL，开展个人音乐生涯。但在1996年，JOHN却令人吃惊得重组了人们最不想看到重组的乐队---THE SEX PISTOLS，并展开了名为FILTHY LUCRE LIVE的演出。20年后，人们记忆中的那个JOHN还是一点儿没变，尽管岁月不饶人，但舞台上活蹦乱跳、依旧圆睁着双眼、嘴上毫不留情的他还是让那些口是心非的人们宁愿自食其言。1997年，盼望已久的JOHN的个人唱片PSYCHO'S PATH终于问世了。这是一张从里到外都非常个性化的唱片，电子是其中的主要元素，给人一种耳目一新的感觉。依旧是那标志性的鼻音，充分展示了JOHN能驾驭各种风格的能力。
As the true brains behind the Sex Pistols, John Lydon -- formerly Johnny Rotten -- is easily one of the most influential and revered figures in rock & roll. The godfather of British punk, a leader in the arty post-punk movement with Public Image Ltd., and a participant in the alternative rock scene his earlier work helped inspire, Lydon has forged a stubbornly idiosyncratic body of work that reflects both his love of challenging his audience and his snarling contempt for shallowness and conformity.
John Joseph Lydon was born in Finsbury Park, London, England, on January 31, 1956, into a poor, working-class family of Irish descent. At age seven, Lydon contracted spinal meningitis and spent half a year slipping in and out of comas; when he finally recovered, most of his memory had been erased, and he was left with minor damage that eventually popped up in elements of his stage persona (i.e., a piercing stare necessary for him to focus on objects). He proved quick-witted, creative, and highly individualistic, qualities that were not necessarily welcome in the British school system. A move to a state-run school as a teenager allowed greater freedom of expression and dress, which young Lydon used to cultivate the "anti-fashion" look that punk would later popularize. Lydon frequented a clothes shop called Sex, which was run by would-be rock & roll gurus and provocateurs Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood; McLaren eventually had Lydon audition for a band he was putting together called the Sex Pistols. Lydon's audition consisted of tunelessly bellowing Alice Cooper's "Eighteen," but he did so with panache, and was hired as lead singer.
There are several versions of where the name Johnny Rotten came from; Lydon himself asserts that it was bestowed by Pistols guitarist Steve Jones on account of his teeth, which were green at the time he joined the band. As Johnny Rotten, Lydon's performing persona was sneering, cocksure, and sarcastic, yet with an intelligent underpinning of disillusionment with the political, social, and musical status quo; while McLaren and the Pistols had vague ideas about provoking the public, it was Lydon's attitude and lyrics that provided the direction, as he sang of "Anarchy in the U.K." and mocked the Queen herself in "God Save the Queen" ("she ain't no human being"). Such political heresies got the band attacked in the streets of London; Lydon was stabbed in the hand in June 1977 by a gang of angry pro-royalists.
The Pistols quickly spiraled out of control; Sid Vicious' musical incompetence and heroin addiction, plus McLaren's glaring mismanagement, took their toll on the bandmembers. Lydon became increasingly dissatisfied and frustrated, essentially alone in his criticism of McLaren, and tensions between him and the rest of the group escalated. When the band broke up after the disastrous San Francisco gig of their 1978 American tour, Lydon made his way back to England, where he put together Public Image Ltd. under his real name later that year.
Groups like Wire, the Fall, and Gang of Four had already begun experimenting with the new sonic possibilities that punk had opened up, a movement tagged "post-punk." Lydon's taste in music had always run toward the eclectic and experimental -- Can, Captain Beefheart, reggae and dub, and exotic sounds from Asia and the Middle East -- but Public Image Ltd. gave him the opportunity to put them all together with rock & roll. Early PiL efforts like Metal Box (aka Second Edition) and Flowers of Romance were arty and highly experimental, yet somehow commercially successful in England, even in spite of a backlash from punk purists. As the band's personnel shifted, Lydon directed their sound toward a more accessible guitar-heavy dance-rock on records like Album and Happy?, which helped earn the group a following among American alternative rock fans during the mid- to late '80s -- again in spite of carping from those who preferred the group's more challenging early efforts.
The final PiL album, That What Is Not, was released in 1992 to less than enthusiastic reviews. Lydon took time off to write his memoirs, published in 1994 under the title Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs. He then dissolved Public Image Ltd., ostensibly to pursue a solo career; however, he announced a different direction in 1996, when he again confounded expectations by reuniting with the original Pistols lineup to play a series of summer tour dates and record the album Filthy Lucre Live. 1997 finally saw the release of Lydon's first solo album, Psycho's Path; while the music was both guitar-based and danceable, in the tradition of later PiL, Lydon also attempted to incorporate some of the innovations of the wave of electronica that had taken shape since his last PiL effort. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
"I don't give a fuck about John Lydon ... still, I think he knows what he's doing, and PIL is the proof ... because Metal Box is one of the strongest records I've heard in years." - LESTER BANGS, 1980
"Summons up everything from the unpleasant portentousness of middle-period Jim Morrison to what sounds like the deranged Kaddish of a punk rabbi. This is not, in short, exactly a party record ...the joke, of course, will be on me if fifteen years from now everything on the radio sounds like this. But it wouldn't surprise me too much." - STEREO REVIEW , 1980
The second album by John Lydon's post-Sex Pistols outing Public Image Ltd. was originally released in the UK in 1979 in a limited edition film canister-style metal box containing three 12" 45s. Some copies managed to float across the Atlantic into the hands of a fortunate few, making it a post-punk collectors' holy grail.
Unavailable for almost thirty years, the Metal Box is back as an exact replica of the original, remastered for better sound than the 1979 vinyl!
In Lydon's own words: "Metal Box was hard work. First, Virgin weren't very sure about the metal package, you know, cost, blah blah blah. So we offered to pay for some of it by reducing our advance from them. Obviously the idea of putting a record in a metal box was a bit unusual. The idea came from film canisters. We all thought video and film was the future. Besides, I've always collected vinyl and this was a really good way of stopping it getting damaged."
JOHN LYDON原名JOHN JOSEPH LYDON，生于一个有爱尔兰血统的贫困的工人阶级家庭。七岁的时候，由于患上了脑脊髓膜炎，JOHN在长达半年的时间里都是呈半昏迷状，伴随的后遗症就是不得不总是睁大着眼睛专注注视着物体。因祸得福，这也成了他后来最显著的现场标志。更糟糕的是，JOHN富有机智的、创造力又极端利己的个性却与英国学校系统完全的格格不入，就是在那时起，他那日后流行起来的反流行式的穿着开始在他身上慢慢体现。因为经常逛一家名为SEX的服饰店，JOHN遇见了说不清是恩人还是仇人的人---MALCOLM MCLAREN---THE SEX PISTOLS的发起者。在1977年发表了那张惊世骇俗的NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS, HERE'S THE SEX PISTOLS的唱片后，乐队俨然就是全世界的朋克之王。但是因为MALCOLM错误的主导思想和JOHN的强硬态度及侮辱性歌词，主张要诋毁大众；反对女王，如此鲜明的政治主张一下使得乐队成为了众矢之的，JOHN也遭到了保皇派的袭击，这也直接导致了二人的决裂。1978年的美国公演后，乐队宣告解散，JOHN独自一人返回英格兰，着手组建PUBLIC IMAGE LTD.(PIL)，玩儿起了包含很多音乐元素的后朋克。虽然PIL的成就远没有THE SEX PISTOLS高，但若论音乐本身，却大大好于THE SEX PISTOLS。尤其是乐队1979年的第二张唱片METAL BOX(美版SECOND EDITION)，后朋克音乐里程碑式的作品，使JOHN二次踏上巅峰。在乐队又陆续发表了几张作品后，JOHN在1994年决定解散PIL，开展个人音乐生涯。但在1996年，JOHN却令人吃惊得重组了人们最不想看到重组的乐队---THE SEX PISTOLS，并展开了名为FILTHY LUCRE LIVE的演出。20年后，人们记忆中的那个JOHN还是一点儿没变，尽管岁月不饶人，但舞台上活蹦乱跳、依旧圆睁着双眼、嘴上毫不留情的他还是让那些口是心非的人们宁愿自食其言。1997年，盼望已久的JOHN的个人唱片PSYCHO'S PATH终于问世了。这是一张从里到外都非常个性化的唱片，电子是其中的主要元素，给人一种耳目一新的感觉。依旧是那标志性的鼻音，充分展示了JOHN能驾驭各种风格的能力。
As the true brains behind the Sex Pistols, John Lydon -- formerly Johnny Rotten -- is easily one of the most influential and revered figures in rock & roll. The godfather of British punk, a leader in the arty post-punk movement with Public Image Ltd., and a participant in the alternative rock scene his earlier work helped inspire, Lydon has forged a stubbornly idiosyncratic body of work that reflects both his love of challenging his audience and his snarling contempt for shallowness and conformity.
John Joseph Lydon was born in Finsbury Park, London, England, on January 31, 1956, into a poor, working-class family of Irish descent. At age seven, Lydon contracted spinal meningitis and spent half a year slipping in and out of comas; when he finally recovered, most of his memory had been erased, and he was left with minor damage that eventually popped up in elements of his stage persona (i.e., a piercing stare necessary for him to focus on objects). He proved quick-witted, creative, and highly individualistic, qualities that were not necessarily welcome in the British school system. A move to a state-run school as a teenager allowed greater freedom of expression and dress, which young Lydon used to cultivate the "anti-fashion" look that punk would later popularize. Lydon frequented a clothes shop called Sex, which was run by would-be rock & roll gurus and provocateurs Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood; McLaren eventually had Lydon audition for a band he was putting together called the Sex Pistols. Lydon's audition consisted of tunelessly bellowing Alice Cooper's "Eighteen," but he did so with panache, and was hired as lead singer.
There are several versions of where the name Johnny Rotten came from; Lydon himself asserts that it was bestowed by Pistols guitarist Steve Jones on account of his teeth, which were green at the time he joined the band. As Johnny Rotten, Lydon's performing persona was sneering, cocksure, and sarcastic, yet with an intelligent underpinning of disillusionment with the political, social, and musical status quo; while McLaren and the Pistols had vague ideas about provoking the public, it was Lydon's attitude and lyrics that provided the direction, as he sang of "Anarchy in the U.K." and mocked the Queen herself in "God Save the Queen" ("she ain't no human being"). Such political heresies got the band attacked in the streets of London; Lydon was stabbed in the hand in June 1977 by a gang of angry pro-royalists.
The Pistols quickly spiraled out of control; Sid Vicious' musical incompetence and heroin addiction, plus McLaren's glaring mismanagement, took their toll on the bandmembers. Lydon became increasingly dissatisfied and frustrated, essentially alone in his criticism of McLaren, and tensions between him and the rest of the group escalated. When the band broke up after the disastrous San Francisco gig of their 1978 American tour, Lydon made his way back to England, where he put together Public Image Ltd. under his real name later that year.
Groups like Wire, the Fall, and Gang of Four had already begun experimenting with the new sonic possibilities that punk had opened up, a movement tagged "post-punk." Lydon's taste in music had always run toward the eclectic and experimental -- Can, Captain Beefheart, reggae and dub, and exotic sounds from Asia and the Middle East -- but Public Image Ltd. gave him the opportunity to put them all together with rock & roll. Early PiL efforts like Metal Box (aka Second Edition) and Flowers of Romance were arty and highly experimental, yet somehow commercially successful in England, even in spite of a backlash from punk purists. As the band's personnel shifted, Lydon directed their sound toward a more accessible guitar-heavy dance-rock on records like Album and Happy?, which helped earn the group a following among American alternative rock fans during the mid- to late '80s -- again in spite of carping from those who preferred the group's more challenging early efforts.
The final PiL album, That What Is Not, was released in 1992 to less than enthusiastic reviews. Lydon took time off to write his memoirs, published in 1994 under the title Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs. He then dissolved Public Image Ltd., ostensibly to pursue a solo career; however, he announced a different direction in 1996, when he again confounded expectations by reuniting with the original Pistols lineup to play a series of summer tour dates and record the album Filthy Lucre Live. 1997 finally saw the release of Lydon's first solo album, Psycho's Path; while the music was both guitar-based and danceable, in the tradition of later PiL, Lydon also attempted to incorporate some of the innovations of the wave of electronica that had taken shape since his last PiL effort. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
"I don't give a fuck about John Lydon ... still, I think he knows what he's doing, and PIL is the proof ... because Metal Box is one of the strongest records I've heard in years." - LESTER BANGS, 1980
"Summons up everything from the unpleasant portentousness of middle-period Jim Morrison to what sounds like the deranged Kaddish of a punk rabbi. This is not, in short, exactly a party record ...the joke, of course, will be on me if fifteen years from now everything on the radio sounds like this. But it wouldn't surprise me too much." - STEREO REVIEW , 1980
The second album by John Lydon's post-Sex Pistols outing Public Image Ltd. was originally released in the UK in 1979 in a limited edition film canister-style metal box containing three 12" 45s. Some copies managed to float across the Atlantic into the hands of a fortunate few, making it a post-punk collectors' holy grail.
Unavailable for almost thirty years, the Metal Box is back as an exact replica of the original, remastered for better sound than the 1979 vinyl!
In Lydon's own words: "Metal Box was hard work. First, Virgin weren't very sure about the metal package, you know, cost, blah blah blah. So we offered to pay for some of it by reducing our advance from them. Obviously the idea of putting a record in a metal box was a bit unusual. The idea came from film canisters. We all thought video and film was the future. Besides, I've always collected vinyl and this was a really good way of stopping it getting damaged."
