The Johnny Rotten Show

Tommy Vance: So if you could start again, would you do it exactly the same way?

Johnny Rotten: Well, yeah. It's not as laid out as that, I mean we just did it, it was spontaneous. Everything we did was straight away. I think that's the only way you should do anything. It's the way you understand it, because it's honest. When you plan out your future it's not such fun.

Leave it to Dangerous Minds to beat me to the punch, I somehow missed this post from them in my RSS feed yesterday. A friend of mine sent me the same link to these recordings of a young Johnny Rotten guesting on Tommy Vance's show on Capital Radio in London on July 15, 1977. It may have been July 16.

What we get is a little over two hours of interesting talk & incredible musical selections from a young man who, at the time, was under what must have been quite some pressure - the Pistols were arguably at the peak of their notoriety, they had the white hot heat of the media spotlight on them, and as you'll hear, were the victims of random violence. Fascinating stuff. And in light of Malcolm McLaren's death, it seems like a good time to revisit this bit of "audio ephemera."

Part One (1:10:36):


Part two (0:53:34):


TRACK LISTING
01. Tim Buckley - Sweet Surrender
02. The Creation - Life Is Just Beginning
03. David Bowie - Rebel Rebel
04. Unknown Irish Folk Music / Jig
05. Augustus Pablo - King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown
06. Gary Glitter - Doing Alright With The Boys
07. Fred Locks - Walls
08. Vivian Jackson (Yabby You) and the Prophets - Fire in a Kingston
09. Culture - I'm Not Ashamed
10. Dr Alimantado & The Rebels - Born For A Purpose
11. Bobby Byrd - Back From The Dead
12. Neil Young - Revolution Blues
13. Lou Reed - Men Of Good Fortune
14. Kevin Coyne - Eastbourne Ladies
15. Peter Hammill - The Institute Of Mental Health, Burning
16. Peter Hammill - Nobody's Business
17. Makka Bees - Nation Fiddler / Fire!
18. Captain Beefheart - The Blimp
19. Nico - Janitor Of Lunacy
20. Ken Boothe - Is It Because I'm Black
21. John Cale - Legs Larry At Television Centre
22. Third Ear Band - Fleance
23. Can - Halleluhwah
24. Peter Tosh - Legalise It
(For more track info, and a full interview transcription, visit Fodderstompf)




(NME story clips courtesy of Van der Graaf Generator. Click the pix for a closer look.)