The complete session recorded on 10 December 1979 by Public Image Ltd for the John Peel show on BBC Radio 1 and broadcast on the 17th of that month. Tracklist: 1. Poptones (0:07) 2. Careering (4:39) 3. Chant (12:12)
Lydon really has to be admired and praised, he had just finished with a hugely successful band Sex Pistols and instead of cashing in on the Pistols formula he goes in a completely opposite direction and creates infinitely more interesting music than the Pistols could ever hope to create. Great peel session .
Yes totally agree this is a superb John Peel session. It would have been very easy for Lydon to get the Sex Pistols back together and become something like the Rolling Stones, that was not for him.
I think Sex Pistols was just a means to an end for John to start up a band that played the kind of music he really liked. If you have seen a lot of interviews of him through the years he is quite dismissive about the Pistols era. Remember John liked music like: Neu, Can, Alice Cooper, early Pink Floyd, Van Der Graaf, Peter Hammill, Captain Beefheart, Magma etc... In the Filthy Lucre documentary John said that Jones and Cook didn't want to ride in the same bus as John and Sid because they played reggae music all the time during their last tour in the US. lol
@@dee_seejay Wait a minute mate. The Punk 82 was the second massive wave of the reborn Punk-Rock. Which was obviously different but n same time, enuff aggressive as only the massive unique British movement is all abt from the rest of all those Genres from Everyone n Everywhere til to the present days. "Real Attitude with into:......Musical , Cultural Revolution". This's making the UK P.-R. so wicked. Back of the days, to be only different from the whole sheeples was the worse challenge recorded ever done with such F***-Y*** !!!! "i won't do anymore what ya've told me to do from ages!!!!!!!" Time of changing: No Matter Wot!!!!!!! Brutality VS the LEGAL CORRUPTED OLD FASHION AUTHORITY of an ANCIENT REPRESSIVE HIERRARCHY. After so much bad publicity from the fuckin media, which r still got unfortunately an important big role in this rotten Society. [In the Seventies}...The unique Main TV Channels, Main newspapers n Magazines, Radios, Nearly all the Recording Company, Majors of so many Cities were boycotting the new uncontrollable DESEASE.....trying their best to shut the grip from the bravest Pioneers. To even risking our life in so many tragic events occurred from all of us. . Included the banning of the majority of shops in charge to sell only "Censured Good Music to Nutty ppl, which were under pressure with their risk to shut definitely their business down. Only few n ofc,.... like,...The most courageous man of John Peel was sharing the most important message to the bored Masses of a new beginning of Rioting against any forms of unfairly old restricted shitty rules dictated minimum, a Century b4 n never be revised. Transformed into first Louder Freedom Scream ever heard. Tnx to the Sex Pistols while they burn the fuse of a giant Atomic Bomb. Followed from the beginning as the best example of a new era to been made inspiring tons of bands til now with the phenomenal DIY or DIE. Unlikely the first wave wasn't really understandable at that particular time from the most of....ATM from all of this immense work has been done previously. Is being finally appreciated from Millions only later. But, undoubtedly, We all must to thank to Mr Johnny Lydon to change not only where he born but....to the whole world. As i see n realise with age he made the impossible to possible. like the RINASSANCE {In a Global Way} which tnx to the Dark Age everything "collapsed".
@@dee_seejayI remember well when they were slandering the PIL to make em bigger. Kinda of weird behaviour to my opinion. but the Sparrer were n still r one of the oldest legendary band which is smash til nowaday. Yes Fugazi, Lydia Lunch....but....first of all, Nina Hagen. But i see we r in same page. What bout the real loyal second waves of: Chaotic Discord-Uproar-The Bristles-Electric Deads-The Varukers-Chron Gen-GBH-English Dogs-Business-Sham 69-Chaos UK-Post Mortem-Leukemia-Wild Youth-Fast n Furious-The Shitlickers-Public Nuisance- 16 Guns-and etcetera, etcetera. Only an ice cube of a giant iceberg from Britain. Then there'r hundreds from all around the globe with same attitude. Not necessary into politix as the Peter and the Taste Tube Baby n many more.......which now the majority of ppl canno't have a clue or simple as not even understand em n so categorized into a fuckin unsensed box. Lebel of the so called "not political correct". I'm an expert of bands from all around Western Country n not only. Then there'r real "expert" of the British scene. I'm into so many Punk UK pages too. I post everything, not exclusively from UK, with my intro to present any good bands who deserve to be remembered. But also new ones too. Apart sharing post of gigs, contacts n infos from all over n have my own DIY promotion as well. Btw, it's a pleasure to chat with ya. As our duty n mission on life is: "educate n mainly to re-educate the bunch of unrealistic peeps who learned history on wrong books. Dunno if ya got F.B. but my name is the same, just n case ya wish to join our worldwide crew. As i see that ya perhaps knows more than me. Take care. X
Made the mistake of thinking I could pop the headphones on and listen to this while getting a little work done. Sitting here as if transfixed by the gaze of a cobra, accomplishing nothing.
@Barak Nelson Transfixed? ...... to this. It's a tape loop. There's nothing wrong with that. But - it's BAD. exCEPtionally, BAD. It stinks, it's REALly BAD. Like, "REAL"ly B A D. REALLY BAD. It sucks! If it was lucky enough to be reel to reel, you could display it but I would NEVer admit to knowing what it was AND to say THIS IS THE SEX PISTOLS??? Some joker did this - a "loser', (capitol L on forehead - and that joke is ALmost as lame as this loop is). Hey, I see the statue of liberty every day. When the SEX PISTOLS were in New York City, they blew the whole scene. Can you understand that? The SEX PISTOLS BLEW OUT NEW YORK CITY and their legacy remains. The fashion alone is still "THE" SCENE. I hate to be the one to tell you, but if it helps you any, job well done👍. Barak, get your head out of the shit bucket and listen to VAN MORRISON, TOM JONES and JEFF BECK, and their new albumS - plural. THE WHO just released a new record. OR, go back and listen to T REX. TRY, MOTORHEAD - THE ACE OF SPADES, is the tune. For your listening pleasure and education all can be brought up on RU-vid. Please, Lord, help this man with music. I mean, if you dropped acid, I could understand but if I dropped acid and heard this, I would RUN FOR MY LIFE! Get hip, boy. Listen to the flip side, side B?? JOHNNY ROTTEN AND PIL. 17:15 of being transfixed with your head in a bucket of shit. Did you wash behind your ears? OH NO OH NO OH NO OH NO IN your ears - did you wash IN your ears?? 17:51 minutes of pure shit AND aNOTHer wasted bitch slap 🤦♀️ LHM (Lord Have Mercy) No hard feelings, huh? Iz only the truth, boy. Only the truth.
In the past I must have spent hours upon hours analysing Keith Levene's unorthodox approach to guitar playing in order to crack the formula and replicate his polytonal sounds. His abrasively metallic arpeggios hit the ear like aural shrapnel, and although it often sounds completely chaotic and improvised - every single note in every single phrase is predetermined 😎 To quote Jah Wobble - "The most interesting guitarist in Britain, Keith Levene"
I've only just started watching film of keith to see what was going on. A lot of it is with his struming hand which seems to alternate between playing like a bassist and then classical guitar to strum and pick. I dont think Ive ever seen anyone play the way he does
One unique guitar Keith was playing on (some or all?) guitar tracks in Metal 1, was a steel bodied Valenti guitar. I apologize for not knowin the model name.
This must be, amongst an endless array of fantastic and historical Peel Sessions, one of a handful of the very best moments. I remember it from the time, listening under bedclothes! Thank you.
I like PIL at the time of these members. Keith Levene - guitars, key.(1978-1983) Jah Wobble - bass (1978-1980) Martin Atkins - drums (1979-1980, 1982-1985) And John Lydon
Have a quick look at who played on "Album" and then tell me about them losing all the "good players". PiL was a fluid band from the beginning. Jim Walker was only there for the 1st album, Wobble had left before the 3rd. Yes, it would have been nice if the classic line up had recorded more material together but had Wobble played on the Flowers of romance album, would it have been as good? It would surely have sounded VERY different but better? People get very fixed notions about their favourite bands/artists and take it personally when they record material that isn't too their "liking". How many times have fans (myself included) dismissed a record entirely, only for them in time to proclaim it a masterpiece. We often conveniently forget that it wasn't always to our liking but was actually very much an acquired taste. Cast aside all your preconceptions of what PiL should sound like and listen to "Album" as if by an unknown band and there's probably a good chance that you'll admit it's a perfectly legitimate addition to the PiL catalogue. Sorry for the rant btw!
To each their own, but I think of "Album" as more of a Lydon-fronted Bill Laswell project than anything... the playing is all top-notch, of course, because the lineup of musicians is unbelievable, but in that respect it's almost the polar opposite of Metal Box-era PiL, which was more about cramming atonal, challenging musical expression into something like alien pop songs, and the sound is the direct result of Levene/Atkins/Wobble's relative musical inexpertise (more akin to Eno's "non-musician" approach to things early in his career).
'poptones' is brilliantly dark. love all the detail in it. i have also always liked that there's a duality in "praise picnicking in the british countryside" / "prey's picnicking in the british countryside". dunno if he meant it like that.
+antonyjames70 fuck´s sake man , and I´ve dissected PIL to the bone... best teen love song I tell you . Even today I love the strong ominous whiff it exhudes ...macabre in a total psychedelic way even ...whatever, that interpretation kicks ass
antonyjames70 Lydon is a fantastic lyricist and vocalist (artist) who is very adept at and aware of language. I don't know if he meant it like that consciously (is "praise picnicking in the british countryside" a known phrase or allusion? I can't be arsed to google that now. I do know that, watching a newsclip on some historical documentary, I realized that he apes part of a speech by Ian Paisely on EMI by sex pistols, the 'ever ever ever' part) but the duality rgistered on some level I think.
Yes, this is Johnny Rotten's band after he left Sex Pistols. I'm not in the camp that prefers Public Image Ltd. to the Pistols, but the band certainly created some great, original sounding music. On May 21, 1978, Lydon (he couldn't use Rotten then because Malcolm McLaren claimed he had the rights to it) announced in NME the members of the new band he was forming. On October 11, 1978 the band's first single Public Image/ The Cowboy Song was released and on December 8 of that year the Public Image album hit the stores with its iconic cover. Two singles followed in 1979, Death Disco/ No Birds Do Sing and Memories/ Another. Then on November 14, 1979 the famous Metal Box was released. A manufacturer of metal tins who was in financial straits was located and 50,000 12" film tins were purchased and embossed with the PIL logo. But the three 12" 45 singles were a tight fit and some had to be pried out of the tins by exasperated purchasers. The records were separated by thin paper layers and were not in sleeves. No lyric sheet was included due to cost overruns in the production of this unusual album package. All three of the Peel songs here were in the Metal Box. If you are not a big fan of Public Image Ltd, at least hear the first song Poptones. It cuts the album version IMO and stands as one of the band's finest achievements. As usual, the sound quality here is much better balanced than on other posts on youtube. Vibracobra23 always hunts down the best sounding versions he can find and you can tell. That's why he is the gold standard for Peel sessions.
+willieluncheonette Like nothing before or since, incredible and this reiterates that. Such a travesty Lydon now appears to be a total diiferent person and seems desperate to become a TV personality and has an ego he simply cannot contain.Keith Levene believes he cannot be the same person. Peirs Morgan specials, butter commercials etc. You can't ride 2 horses with one arse or wear 2 hats
strumbolli thanks for your comment. Yes, i was very disappointed when he started shilling for Virgin credit cards ("Time to put a little rebellion in your pocket") UGH. A friend put it well when he told me he didn't know punk had an expiration date. But others have said maybe he needs the money so I really don;t know where I stand on this. And far be it from me to tell anyone what to do.
willieluncheonette I think I probably expect too much of people. From the age of 18 he's had people blowing smoke up his arse and has been held up as being the figure head of a musical revolution the like of which will probably not be seen again, who wouldn't have an uncontolable ego?
@@RVBOY2 Can't logically disagree with anything you said there, cuz. Cleverly worded, hats off to you. He may be a horrible singer, true, but I plus millions of others (who've actually heard him sing), love his voice. And part of the reason we love his voice is we love him. And then you add Keith Levene and Wobble to the mix and DANG! This is such a great track! Thanks for your comment, it reminded me to come back and listen! Just from the picture, it's simple to see they know very well how bloody great they sound, and they're right.
Almost every single Peel Session I've ever heard has been incredible. It's like every band on that particular day gave a crap and played their best lol.
Too fuckin true........He had in his brain, some genius vision to see beyond any other geezers at that time. He gave the right recognition to so many which at that time......no-one could accept as just new music to be appreciated even nowadays.
When you hear someone say Throbbing Bass, "Careering" here is what they mean. PIL were the nasty, hard-edged band The Pistols pretended to be. HOOBOY, this is GOOD! And the sound is absolutely top notch!
Saw them for about 5 mins at the Rainbow on Christmas day , was going down with Flu , heard the rest of gig from the car parked out the back .. bass lines where awesome , my girlfriend was very sympathetic. I have 4 versions of Metal box.
i was 12 or 13 when bought Metal box. After Pistols it was abig disapoinment. But then i started listening Joy Division, GoF, etc and came back to it and never left again. Whatever you write Wobble was only tolerable but Levine and Lydon were great.
Saw them at the Beacon and it was fascinating. Never understood why the Pistols never played New York. Johnny was careening about like a stalking panther. His macho strut was half real, half self-parody at the same time. Someone spit up at him from the front row and it hit him just above they eye. Without missing a BEAT, he flicked it away while striking a pose. Which was cool beyond words. But what really blew me away was that his drummer was . . . Wait for it . . . Ginger Baker! Ginger fucking Baker. Now that’s eclectic!
@dan coleman Nooo, I don't think so. I would have remembered that. At the show I saw, a girl hopped upstage and started frugging away. Not too shy about it either. Johnny just stood beside her, gesturing with his hands, as if to say, "Look at this idiot." Too funny.
Sitting here in oz during covid-19 thinking 40 years ago fukers are telling me wtf you listening too it was flowers of romance but i had all their albums pil.what am trying to say 40 years on sitting with me doggo jack . Still makes me go wow.57 noo 😋
yeah i agree everything is manufactured this kind of music is too intellectual they would probably think this is some kind of codeing loving this session the late John Peel thankyou R.i.P
LOL I remember when PIL got together ( I was just a teenager at the time), NME ran an article on them saying they made the Sex Pistols sound like a bunch of Nashville sessions musicians. I think that was quite unfair, this is more complex and freeform. Far more interesting than the brash but rocksteady grind of the Studio 'Pistols'.
+eeeboytvr yeah mate, he´s got the original record which is rare as fuck , I´ve been looking for it for DECADES . This was the 1st time I´ve listened to this with this type of quality since its release ...and yes, I´d kiss Peel for being the visionaire/genius he was ... IS
I did not know PIL done a Peel session, and sadly, the only time I ever saw then was after rushing home to see Poptones and Careering on the OGWT......
Wobble on bass class as always. Live, out of tune who cares not like over produced crap music that exists today. The days of random live, rough live music is gone
wobbles out of tune bass probably still sounds better than the shit what comes out of the music industry these days, I'm lydons words on the 'check it out' interview in '79, it's "farce".
i think the "out of tune" is kind of a way to achieving a lot of disonace in the melody line. it doesnt sound bad, really. it gives this version some "edge"
Saw the Lyndon, Wobble, Levine, Marin Atkins at the Palidium in NYC. One of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen on earth. Lyndon was crying and tripping on something, must have been Swan Lake. Well,I saw history. Give me a PIL merit badge mateys.
