quotes about or from John

[praisepicnicking]

Post your favorites here.

Here's one from David Bowie I like. You know you're a badass when you can make Bowie feel uncool.

“I was in the dressing room - wearing a suit, as it happened - and Johnny Rotten came in, turned to Iggy and said, 'Oo the fuck's that - your fucking manager or something ? Then he took a second look and said, Oh it's fucking Bowie in a fucking suit. I nearly melted through the floor! My street credibility's Madison Avenue.”

David Bowie (source unknown), 1977

[justina]

On being on tour with the other Sex Pistols again: "They don't seem to relate to the world around them. They're stuck in this 1976 vibe. It's very peculiar. It was a bit like walking around with a museum attached to you. But then, I'm perverse enough to enjoy that."

Ok, this pissed me off a bit, and so did these:

On Princess Diana: "She was a thoroughly useless spare tit."

On Princess Diana's funeral: "Watching that ridiculous funeral, and particularly here in LA watching people crying over their TV sets over someone they didn't understand at all... they just didn't get it. And who paid for the funeral?"

On Kurt Cobain: Don't tell me he was a sensitive soul. If he was sensitive, he would have been aware that he has responsibilities to other human beings. Really, what he did was he took the easy way out, and became, to my mind, a very selfish person. Very self-centered, to do that. He could have received a lot more help from those around him. I feel sorry for him in that respect. But, you know, I actually wanted to work with him. And it pisses me off."

I mean, he should show a bit more respect for these two. SERIOUSLY.

But these, they changed my mind about him (and that he thinks he's ugly, which is total nonsense) :

[T]he manager of the Great Southeast Music Hall at the time had about a two year old son, and after the sound check, they let everybody back in, and here's Johnny Rotten with this little boy in his arms, playing with him, and kidding with him, and making him laugh and stuff.
(John Fagot)

I'm extremely good-natured. Gosh darn it, I just really care about people! And all I ever wanted was to be loved.
(John Lydon)

I merely point out, Sid was the man I... I brought him in. He was my friend.
(John Lydon; Ben is Dead)

Oh my God, that's so fucking cute

[M!$H]

justina said:

Ok, this pissed me off a bit, and so did these:

On Princess Diana: "She was a thoroughly useless spare tit."

On Princess Diana's funeral: "Watching that ridiculous funeral, and particularly here in LA watching people crying over their TV sets over someone they didn't understand at all... they just didn't get it. And who paid for the funeral?"

On Kurt Cobain: Don't tell me he was a sensitive soul. If he was sensitive, he would have been aware that he has responsibilities to other human beings. Really, what he did was he took the easy way out, and became, to my mind, a very selfish person. Very self-centered, to do that. He could have received a lot more help from those around him. I feel sorry for him in that respect. But, you know, I actually wanted to work with him. And it pisses me off."

I mean, he should show a bit more respect for these two. SERIOUSLY.

I agree with him about Kurt Cobain*, not Diana. Diana didn't really want what she got - she was just stupid enough to marry Charles. But Kurt was a very selfish person: he claimed to care about the world and to care about his fans, but any person, muscian messed up or not, who does heroin is a horribly selfish human being and John knows that from experience. And the suicide thing - I won't say that I see it as selfish, but I see it as escaping the easy way out, because you don't want to have to try. Kurt had a little daughter, with an equally horrible heroin addict; he had a responsibility to that little girl and he threw it away because he wanted the easy way out. And I think that's what he was trying to say. That Kurt was extremely selfish, but at the same time, John realizes that that's just the way Kurt was. He was locked inside himself. I think that's what John was trying to say. If that makes sense.

*But then again, I'm not a Kurt Cobain fan anyway.

....ANYWAY....


I don't know if Johnny actually said this or not, but on a website I found, they attributed this quote to him:

"In times of confusion, I think of what Sid would have done. In the vast array of options, I know he would have either: 1.) broke something, or 2.) passed out."

Doesn't sound like something that John would have said, but it entertained me.

[Snoogans4Jay]

Well I know John would never care what my opinion is on what he says, but in this case......I agree with him wholeheartedly about Princess Diana. She seemed mentally ill as far as I could see and way spoiled in her behavior. I don't see how ole Chucky put up with her as long as he did. He and the boys seem kinda okay. Especially Harry. It is a shame the same attention wasn't paid to Mother Theresa's passing as was Diana's. If the media wanted to make a saint of someone she was much the better candidate.

Kurt Cobain. I AM and have been a fan of Kurt. Kurt considered John a hero and I could always see that with his attitude. I can way understand John's anger at him though and the whole cult of heroin that came out of much of the grunge era (I was a big fan of Layne Staley from AIC also). Alot of what these people do (and what Sid did too) was self medicate. They are basically fragile or mentally ill people who are unable to deal with the world around them so they numb it out. That is sad. As to the suicide, I can understand that from his point of view at the time. I think he felt he would mess the child up more from staying IN her life rather than taking himself out of it. Unfortunately, working with many addicted/mentally ill people's WAY messed up children I see the after effects and he probably did too. Of course it is also a fact that children of those that commit suicide are more likely to succeed at same. But Frances seems pretty level headed compared to either of her parents.

I think the best thing I ever read John saying about Cobain was that Kurt's biggest mistake was he DID let the bastards get him down (as John always puts it) and he SHOULDN'T have. I bet Kurt never knew that John wanted to work with him. That alone would have been something to live for.

[elisabeth]

I was read ''Rip it up and start again'' a few weeks ago and I loved this quote about ''Death Disco'':

''...Lydon's grief and horror frozen for eternity, like Munch's the Scream.''

And I loved this little story from ''Passion is a fashion''

Bob Gruen met Johnny in a pub in NY. ''Have you heard the news?'' asked Lydon. Gruen hadn't. The singer opened his overcoat to reveal a cheesy T-shirt that Warner Brothers had given away after the Sex Pistols show in San Francisco. The legend ran: ''I survived the Sex Pistols tour'' Beneath it Rotten had scrawled ''...but the band didn't!''

[M!$H]

thinkexist.com/quotes/Johnny_Rotten/

en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johnny_Rotten

Cause my stomach hurts and I'm too lazy to copy and paste all the great Johnny quotes that I love.

[Snoogans4Jay]

Those are WONDERFUL....... ....and I love that quote about Death Disco too...perfect description

[ladylydon]

He's like a philosopher to me. Good quotes!!

[Snoogans4Jay]

ladylydon said:

He's like a philosopher to me. Good quotes!!

Welcome Ladylydon.... .....glad to have you here!! Yes he IS quite the philosopher isn't he? He is so intelligent and so well read on a variety of subjects........I loved on the Megabugs DVDs how he did his homework and knew so much he was able to easily just converse with the experts...... I would love to just sit and hear him talk on his views on politics, religion, philosphy (EVERYTHING you are not supposed to think is good for conversation).....

[mayorsquad]

I'm back from my short break.

I've had this quote on my myspace for the longest time.

"The Truth is far harder,but it's much more valid and much more worth while"

got it from that interview when he was in finland....means so much to me.

[Snoogans4Jay]

Quote from John on I"m a Celebrity:

"GOD I love doing stuff"