John Lydon’s support for Trump is idiotic. But why expect your heroes to stay pure? | Suzanne Moore

The former Sex Pistol has said he would vote for the current US president. It’s a reminder that, when musicians get involved in politics, the result is usually nonsense

“Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated? Good night!” Thus John Lydon ended the last Sex Pistols concert a zillion years ago. Actually, it was 1978 and the rotter has now cheated some middle-aged people all over again. How very dare he give an interview in which he said he would vote for Trump? Old punks, in their most headmistressy mode, are not just angry but very disappointed.

He is now the worst Sex Pistol, which is quite some feat considering one of them (Sid Vicious) murdered someone. I found parts of the interview very moving, such as when he was talking about caring for his wife, Nora, who has Alzheimer’s. That is no easy job – even when you have the kind of money he does. She deteriorated when her daughter, Ari, died of breast cancer, and he helped raise her children. John Lydon, family guy, does not sit well with the image of John Lydon, wind-up merchant … obnoxious, rude, funny, kind. “I could be wrong, I could be right,” as he sang on Rise. Well, that sentiment is no longer permissible these days, that’s for sure.

Is his support for Trump idiotic? Yes. Is he a big political influencer in the swing states, this old real-estate punk? Of course not. The anger comes from wanting your heroes to be uncomplicatedly pure for ever, which is a peculiar demand to make of anyone.

Did what Lydon thought ever matter? Once. That 1,000-yard stare, the whine, the declaration we have no future. England’s Dreaming. It mattered decades ago. PiL mattered. His love of Kate Bush mattered. His support for Brexit was predictable, though. The butter adverts, the appearance on I’m a Celeb, the comeback tour, It’s all a bit contradictory, and those who feel let down should ask themselves what they have done for the past 40 or so years, instead of living in some overhyped glory days.

A lot of music has been created since then; a lot of art. A lot of books have been written, and much of what we once revered is now “problematic”. Lydon is no better than he ought to be. When musicians get involved with politics, the result is often ill-thought-out populist rubbish that actually reinforces the prevailing orthodoxy. It’s embarrassing.

It’s not just that your heroes let you down, it’s that this is a singularly impoverished way of understanding culture in the first place. Far from challenging the status quo, the entire artistic establishment speaks with one voice. Brexit is the obvious example. The idea that the left owns culture and the right owns power needs to be questioned. The self-congratulation of that view in the time of Covid no longer holds.

Some of us (women) have long had to separate art from the artists. It is impossible to be a fan, or indeed a critic, of most of what is around us is if we don’t. How could I love Lars von Trier, William S Burroughs or James Brown if I didn’t? I don’t share the Hannah Gadsby view that Picasso is ruined for ever by knowing he was a shit. I refuse to let misogyny narrow my horizons so easily.

That doesn’t mean I don’t want more women to come to the fore. There is more than one way to challenge people. Art takes us to the places that discomfit us as well as putting us together again.

Lydon said of his Catholic school: “I learned hate and resentment there. And I learned to despise tradition and this sham we call culture.” Let’s not forget punks dabbled with fascist imagery as well as all the situationist theorising that came in its wake.

I care not for authenticity. If there was anything to be taken away from that brief spurt of energy it was that a mere safety pin could challenge authority, but within a moment that challenge, too, was commodified as a symbol of rebellion. Everything was bought and sold in the end.

Lydon once had chaos emanating from every pore. It was electric. Now, he is a middle-aged carer. Who is to say this is not the best work of his life?

Contributor

Suzanne Moore

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
76 minutes with … John Lydon

The former Sex Pistols frontman on singing through Cilla Black's tights, modern-day anarchy and maintaining marital bliss

Dave Simpson

31, May, 2012 @8:30 PM

Article image
John Lydon: 'I didn’t want to be a comfortable, Mick Jagger-type naughty pop star'
From the Sex Pistols to the various iterations of PiL, via collaborations with Afrika Bambaataa and Leftfield, the legend, innovator and butter salesman picks the best of his output in the latest instalment of our songbook series

Dave Simpson

15, Feb, 2018 @12:39 PM

Article image
‘I know what it’s like to be frightened’: John Lydon on loneliness, lyrics and life as a Sex Pistol
After 45 years of picking fights, the former Johnny Rotten is squaring up to his ex-bandmates, director Danny Boyle and anyone who disrespects the Queen. But what’s really impressive is his capacity for love

Tim Jonze

13, Jun, 2022 @5:00 AM

Article image
Anarchy in High Wycombe! The real story of the Sex Pistols’ earliest gigs
The punk band are famous for culture-changing gigs in Manchester and London, but what about ones in Keighley and Dunstable? Attendees at their first UK tour remember the protests, raw power – and cider-drinking hippies

Alexis Petridis

09, Jun, 2023 @7:00 AM

Article image
Pistol review – Danny Boyle’s wonky Sex Pistols show is like Punk: the Panto!
Johnny Rotten is the Artful Dodger crossed with an animated rodent in Boyle’s frustrating series that feels so cartoonish it falls totally flat

Rebecca Nicholson

31, May, 2022 @5:00 AM

Article image
Anger Is an Energy review – John Lydon's 'life uncensored'

The 'only truly terrifying singer rock'n'roll has ever known' keeps it honest and defies his own stereotype. By John Harris

John Harris

15, Oct, 2014 @6:30 AM

John Lydon bashes British festivals

The Sex Pistols singer laments playing to crowds of polite schoolteachers

Rosie Swash

03, Jul, 2008 @11:24 AM

Article image
John Lydon: Soundtrack of my Life

The Sex Pistol and PiL star on a run-in with Steeleye Span and why Green Day are rip-offs

Will Hodgkinson

01, Nov, 2009 @12:05 AM

Article image
John Lydon denies 'racist' Bloc Party attack

The Sex Pistols singer blames Kele Okereke for causing the fight, telling him to 'grow up and be a true man'

Rosie Swash

21, Jul, 2008 @7:00 PM

Article image
John Lydon to take PiL on the road
Punk veteran to write and tour with Public Image Limited once more – and hints at Sex Pistols reunion

Sean Michaels

06, Jan, 2011 @10:52 AM