@@ninjanne it is not dude . I HAVE seen more than 1,200 Bands live since 1984 & that sound is just the sound of PIL , nothing else . THe Damned also have great guitar sounds & so many other fantastic bands . GROW up from your little box of preferences & open up to the other amazing guitar sounds that exist world wide for more than 100 years .
@@andrewphippsphillips1455 F**k off pal,Echo and were f**king shit.U2 are in the top league.The Joshua tree and Achtung Baby are two of the best albums of all time
the reason it sounds so modern is because the actual guitaring was a take of Steve Howes guitar work on a song by the geniuses of 'YES' called 'Starship Trooper' by Keiths own admission, have a listen..... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VNCjQ1SulDI.html
He was badass. Literally, back then: a lot of people were scared of him, rightly or wrongly, because he was something of a fighter and at that time also had major alcohol problems - which he very honestly describes in his autobiography.
The guitar tone that Keith Levene gets on this, the very first PIL song, was something else. If you were lucky enough to be around at the time, it was so, so different. I was 14 when I bought this single, and fortunate that my Da spent a lot on his sound system. To hear this blasting through speakers that he used at discos, via a savage pre-amp and amp, ... you'd grit your teeth in the last bit. The neighbours complained, most of my friends thought it was insane. And today, it still sounds better than 80% of the music made now, because it was real. Because they meant it. It's art.
3.08 of relentless propulsion. It's so tense from beginning to end. Not a second is wasted. Bass, drums and guitar are killing it in every second. Lydon's finest moment and the best British single of 1978 by a long fucking way.
Nah this shits on kate bush especially now shes assoicated with stranger things running up that hill was wicked compared to wuthering heights the hooks are all there but sorry its something about stranger things really put me off
Can't believe this song still gives me goosebumps, and hardly ever failed to. How much I love Keith's guitar sound, and Wobble's "impossible bass" lines. Not to mention John's voice, simply sublime.
Bought this single when I was a 15 year old part-time punk living in the suburbs. For me, this song still stands up 40 years on. It's simplicity, power, anger and beauty have not dimmed. If anything the lyrics are even more pertinent today than when they were written in 1978. The bass is a work of the simplest genius.
Keith Levenes guitar work in this song is so under rated. There is one bass line that plays thru the entire song (great one too), but there is no verse, chorus, bridge or middle 8 like most songs. The song moves along thru Levenes amazing use of chords and rhythm on the guitar. He flavors the song with brilliant guitar work. So many players could learn from his style.
kortick50 Great song.....but everything about this is very simple. The guitar parts are a piece of piss. Any half decent guitar player could learn and play this in no time at all. .....I know I did.
A classic single heralding the birth of post punk and a mandatory contender for my top ten. Keith Levene delivers one of the greatest riffs ever with Wobble in the drivers seat and Lydon in peerless form. Fantastic. It blew me away when I first heard it on initial release and still does. Timeless and exemplifies the vacuity of current chart music. Goodbye
Keith Levene's guitar riff is maybe the most original and simplest. I love it for the first time I heard this brilliant song in 1979. My life means nothing without it!
My god, the power of music! The sound of this song made the last 30 years of my life flash back into my mind. Thank you PiL for a trippin flash back! But why do I hold back these tears and my chest has gone tight? Feelings I have repressed from a time long ago. Pain, Love, Angst, Fear, Anger. The shortness of life, we are all here for a reason, find it and do what makes you the person you are. The power of music to take a person back in time to another place and see your journey in full perceptive. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
One of the things I love so much about this song is that the lyrics have meaning. They actually sat down and wrote a song and sang it. I've heard so many songs lately that are just one or two sentences repeated over and over and they don't mean anything.
I still have this on vinyl! It's a stonkingly great song from a great band and artist! Sad to hear that John's wife Nora has Alzheimer's. John has given a very moving interview in the Mail about that. The Sex Pistols were a big part of the soundtrack to my youth. I want to send out POSITIVITY and GOOD VIBES to John and Nora.
Probably one of the best Bass intros of all time. The rest is up there as well ta boot. Was a late teen at the time and clearly remember this for the first time. Rottens voice and the most well structured noise anybody has ever created
Christopher Raffell Can you give me names? I'd love to check out any new great artists I don't know of. Closest to Rotten I can think of right now is maybe Kanye West.
no sorry there is so much talent today thanks to media and globalisation people allways like to thinkin the past was true but if you think pil are anything like kayne west your misstaken try william
Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand. A totally profound moment in time, it was fabulous then, but most probably even better now, superb sounds. I can remember watching Public Image, perform live on Top of the Pops (BBC1) during the late 70's, when these guys first released this trademark song. It's true the whole British Punk Rock scene, will go down in history as being a time of rebellious young individuals (there where so many fabulous groups) If truth be known we all enjoyed being different, mixed together with it's unusual lyrics & explosive fast paced music. I guess it's ingrained in our DNA. Long live British Culture. Freedom & Peace, always.
Just a great song , one of the best . The driving bass , the melodic shards of guitar , coruscating lyrics and delivery . Is there anything better? Not much.
Thank you so much Keith! Without rupture and transgression, there is no evolution in anything in life! Thank you for your music and chords! Cheers from Brazil!
I'm fast approaching 61... But I still listen to the bands that made an imprint in my brain that will not fade. I will listen to 'Real Music' until the grave. Rotten Rocks Big Time....
Wish I could add another like everytime I watch this. I went back through the last 2 days comments. The guitar on this is absolutely unforgettable on its own. Another plug pulled from this mortal amplifier. Rest in Noise Keith Levene.
I doubt I've ever been as happy about anything in my life, as I am about having lived my teenage years through this era. I was thirteen when this came out, and can still remember buying the newspaper-clad single and monopolising my parent''s record player for weeks after.
RIP indeed Keith, one of my heroes, from a time when music meant something!!!! And Jah Wobble also legendary, in fact with John Lydon it doesn't get much better does it!!!!
"the public image belongs to me, its my entrance to my own creation my grand finale my good bye" dunno about anyone else but these lyrics are powerful to me
Can't think of a better place to pop by and pay my respects to Keith. This single was a defining musical moment for this teenager back in '78, and unlike me, never gets old. The melodious B-side "Cowboy Song" was always good if you needed an endless cough track. 😼
*Timeless genius* 💜 Some still bleat about Lydon doing TV ads - to finance studio time, so what; not like he was an arms dealer, or estate agent - But they can't cope with him not being their caged pet punk, actually having a mind of his own. He's still as true as he ever was & they hate that..
Keith Levine and Jah Wobble were a few years ahead of u2 so I know who I'd rather be listening to. I owe my cousin one for introducing me to PIL back in 79'
The lyrics are more so true today, than when the song was written. Image is everything in life, to most people, but the people who break the mould and make their own image,and do not conform, are the real people of this world.
One of the songs that made me want to play bass... I saw it for the first time on "Rock Box", hosted by Ray Cokes on a belgian TV, it just blew me away...
To come out of the starting blocks with a song this great is pretty bloody seldom seen. Lydon cast off the Pistols and his former image with this manifesto of intent, but the music! My God, nothing sounded this powerful since early punk made us sit up and listen. Levine's amazing Eastern guitar, Walker's krautrock drum beat and perhaps the most important element, Wobble's dub loop bass line. Genius.
