Song Quotes by John Lydon

Live music is healthy.

— John Lydon

Music is a simulation of something, but language is the greatest thing we possess.

— John Lydon

I don't believe in false memories, like I don't believe in false songs.

— John Lydon

I never thought of Green Day as a punk band. Just bubblegum, really.

— John Lydon

Every single lyric I've ever written I meant.

— John Lydon

I do use my music to entertain myself, as indeed I use other people's music.

— John Lydon

The conductor wielded the orchestra like a blunt instrument.

— John Lydon

I love pop music. It's not easy to write a good pop song.

— John Lydon

There are some Rolling Stones songs that are just stunners.

— John Lydon

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

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

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

The record companies fell apart - quite deservedly. Their corrupting, all-binding contract nonsense had to stop.

— John Lydon

Analog, electronic, whatever it happens to be, I simply love and adore literally every aspect of making music.

— John Lydon

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

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

Music can describe emotions far more accurately than words ever can. As soon as I realised that, I knew music was where…

— John Lydon

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

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

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

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

Records were vitally important to the development of music and of all music cultures. With that being pushed by the wayside, I…

— John Lydon

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

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

Some song ideas absolutely require a kind of rigid discipline, and others require absolute chaotic abandon. The form is only valid if…

— John Lydon

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

For me, the best rock is not what you play - it's what you're not playing.

— John Lydon

I'm aware of my songs. I'm aware of them because they're about true emotions, true feelings, things that matter.

— John Lydon

I'm not blowing my own trumpet here, but I made a rap song 20 years ago with Afrika Bambaataa.

— John Lydon

U2 - that's a band that never should have existed. There's no life experience in any of their songs.

— John Lydon

Punk was never about one particular clean-cut imagery... it's about many, many individuals coming very loosely together.

— John Lydon

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

Words cannot express quite a lot of feelings, whereas a noise or tone or drone or sound, an accordion falling down a…

— John Lydon

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

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

Let's face it, I ain't ever gonna be the best singer in the world, or the best anything.

— John Lydon

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

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

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

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