On 5th April the controversial former sex pistol John Lydon lost his beloved
wife Nora Foster, after a 5-year battle with Altzheimer. She was 80.
They were married for 44 years. Professionally she was an actress, model
and music promoter. She had a daughter from another marriage , the late
great Ari-Up (1962-2010), who fronted female punk band The Slits in the 70s.
(Photo by Turn Up The Volume)
Lydon and his band PiL announced just now the release of
their 11th LP, titled END OF WORLD. It arrives on 11 August.
Pre-order info here.
The album was recorded before Foster passed away.
The release will be followed by a 38-date tour in
the UK/Europe.
First single PENGE is quite special, for PIL that is.
A synth-infused mid-tempo pop belter with Lydon
on vocal form.
Band: Public Image Ltd.
Album: Album Released: 27 January 1986 – PIL’s fifth LP Sound: Spiky hard rock punk à la Lydon Score: It reached #14 on the UK’s Albums Chart Singles: Rise / Home
40 years ago, on 23 November 1979, PUBLIC IMAGE LTD better known as PiL released their second album titled ‘METAL BOX‘. One of the most inventive, bold & middle-finger-to-the-musicbiz album of the so-called post punk era. A masterpiece in many ways, even
in its way of packaging, as it came out as 3 x 12″ 45rpm records in a tin film canister!
The core’s band consisting of former Sex Pistol John Lydon, ace guitarist Keith Levene and equally ace bassist Jah Wobble didn’t give a flying fuck about what sort of music was hip or not, popular or not at the time. On the contrary, it was like they tried really hard to make a record that was unsalable. Respect! No Sex Pistols Mark II (although later Lydon turned into Rotten again in order to CASH IN with the original Pistols. Well, aren’t they all the same?). Levene‘s metallic and wayward guitar sound was essential to Pil‘s far out and radical sonority, but it was Wobble‘s mighty wall-of-dub-bass resonance and Lydon‘s mostly wailing vocals and his dark stories/lyrics that made this whole unorthodox and outlandish noise enterprise freakishly perfect.
The album’s single: ‘Memories‘…
AllMusic wrote: “PiL managed to avoid boundaries for the first four years of their existence, and Metal Box is undoubtedly the apex. It’s a hallmark of uncompromising, challenging post-punk, hardly sounding like anything of the past, present, or future… ‘Metal Box’ might not be recognized as a groundbreaking record with the same reverence as ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’, and you certainly can’t trace numerous waves of bands who wouldn’t have existed without it
like the Sex Pistols record. But like a virus, its tones have sent miasmic reverberations through
a much broader scope of artists and genres…” Full review here. Score: 5/5
Band: Public Image Ltd / PIL Song: Memories / B-side: ‘Another’ Released: 10 October 1979 – 40 years ago Album: The song appeared in a slightly different version
on the band’s second, astonishing and experimental
masterpiece ‘Metal Box‘ Note: The single peaked at #60 on the UK Singles Chart
Here’s the original 7″ version…
And here a live rendition (with Lydon as the only original PIL member)…
