John Lydon on FX series ‘Pistol’: “It fulfilled all my negative expectations”

Michael Tullberg/FilmMagic

Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon doesn’t mince words when it comes to his thoughts about Danny Boyle‘s Sex Pistols series Pistol, which was based on guitarist Steve Jones’ autobiography, Lonely Boy.

In an interview with The Sun, Lydon says he watched the FX series “just to see how absurd it was” and notes, “I’m sad to say it fulfilled all my negative expectations.”

“I didn’t recognize the characters. It was so disappointing that the whole thing was done behind my back ’cos I’m the bloke who wrote the songs and created the image. So bizarre,” he says. “It was like an act of rebellion against what made the band popular and famous. Or unpopular and infamous!”

In the same interview, Lydon rails against suggestions that the punk scene came out of New York, suggesting you only have to look at artists like T. Rex, David Bowie and Mott The Hoople to know that isn’t true.

“Their influence was enormous,” he says. “And they try to write that all off and wrap it around Patti Smith. It’s so wrong!”

Finally, Lydon shares his thoughts on the recent supergroup Generation Sex, featuring Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, and Billy Idol and Tony James of Generation X.

“Good luck to them but come on boys, get it together,” he says. “The Pistols side of it is songs they never really understood and Billy’s got to come in as a translator. What has poor Billy taken on?”