I don't believe in false memories, like I don't believe in false songs. — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Music is a simulation of something, but language is the greatest thing we possess. — John Lydon Copy Share Image
For me, the best rock is not what you play - it's what you're not playing. — John Lydon Copy Share Image
I do use my music to entertain myself, as indeed I use other people's music. — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Here's how I understand music. If you can play the same bunch of noise twice, it's music. To go beyond that is… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Rock n' roll is over, don't you get it? It lasted 25 years and now gets wiped out. The Sex Pistols were… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Music can describe emotions far more accurately than words ever can. As soon as I realised that, I knew music was where… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
There's many, many ways to write a song. But generally, sitting down at a table and writing is not one of them. — John Lydon Copy Share Image
The record companies fell apart - quite deservedly. Their corrupting, all-binding contract nonsense had to stop. — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Analog, electronic, whatever it happens to be, I simply love and adore literally every aspect of making music. — John Lydon Copy Share Image
I love pop music. It's not easy to write a good pop song. It may be easier to put out a fake… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Don't try and tell me Green Day are punk. They're not, they're plonk and they're bandwagoning on something they didn't come up… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
I've been asked over the years to compile a list of desert-island discs. I couldn't do that. If I was trapped on… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
A record company used to be a very good thing, but they ended up soul-destroyingly trapping people in the accounting department. And… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
I will always pay respect and homage to my early years, because that's what gave me the initial push to go on… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
I've created several musical trends, really. That's not because I'm so far out and fabulous. It's because most bands have no ideas… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
You have moments of grief in life, and if you can put pen to paper and capture that, that's something wonderful. I… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
I'm not able to tell you what the best song is yet, because there's more to come. I feel that in me.… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Punks in their silly leather jackets are a cliché. I have never liked the term and have never discussed it. I just… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
For me people are people, without meaning to sound corny, it's a plain natural fact, music is a universal language and I've… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
I got into music by happenchance and luck and wearing a t-shirt with "I hate Pink Floyd" on it. The irony has… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
What do you have to do to get people to take an interest? I'm not going to go out and cause a… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Let's face it, I ain't ever gonna be the best singer in the world, or the best anything. — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Punk became a circus didn't it? Everybody got it wrong. The message was supposed to be: Don't follow us, do what you… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
As a young concert-going person, I was never enamoured with celebrities who would walk out to feature in certain songs and then… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Many of the punk bands are cop-outs and imitators and have made it easy for the likes of Green Peace...Green Day, who… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Words cannot express quite a lot of feelings, whereas a noise or tone or drone or sound, an accordion falling down a… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Punk is like looking at a mirror. I already have a mirror so I don't need the Offspring to remind me how… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
U2 - that's a band that never should have existed. There's no life experience in any of their songs. — John Lydon Copy Share Image
I'm not blowing my own trumpet here, but I made a rap song 20 years ago with Afrika Bambaataa. — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Punk was never about one particular clean-cut imagery... it's about many, many individuals coming very loosely together. — John Lydon Copy Share Image
I'm aware of my songs. I'm aware of them because they're about true emotions, true feelings, things that matter. — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Some song ideas absolutely require a kind of rigid discipline, and others require absolute chaotic abandon. The form is only valid if… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
I've been in very many situations where I've not liked the other members of the band or they have not liked me.… — John Lydon Copy Share Image
Music is escapism from the grim realities of life. But then as soon as you escape into the music, from my point of view,… — John Lydon Copy Share
I'm not one for like soul-searching, sour fizzy moments. I come from the school of hard knocks, "f**king get on with it", that's it. — John Lydon Copy Share
All the things that you would have thought would have made me a professional A1 criminal... wrong. I decided that was too lazy and… — John Lydon Copy Share
Stroll into work at 10. Lunch from 12 till three. Leave work at five. That's living! — John Lydon Copy Share
I never wore a studded leather jacket, y'know. Ne-va! If I had had the money I wouldn't have spent it on shit like that. — John Lydon Copy Share
I've always strived to maintain a very healthy, friendly working situation, and lo and behold, it only took forty years, so the next sixty… — John Lydon Copy Share
A record company used to be a very good thing, but they ended up soul-destroyingly trapping people in the accounting department. And you couldn't… — John Lydon Copy Share
Destroy everything. That's all well and fine, but you got to offer something in it's place. Since I always have a point and purpose… — John Lydon Copy Share
For me people are people, without meaning to sound corny, it's a plain natural fact, music is a universal language and I've always known… — John Lydon Copy Share
I'm not great at dealing with death, I have to say. I find death very hard: my mum, my dad, Sid Vicious. I'm not… — John Lydon Copy Share
I always knew the Sixties wasn't a revolution. It really was just a bunch of university students with wealthy parents having fun. — John Lydon Copy Share
