Get Out of the Way, Poseurs! Here Comes PiL

(The Return of Public Image Limited)

by aLfie vera mella

One of the true pioneers of Postpunk music—John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) with his post–Sex Pistols band, Public Image Limited (PiL), is back with  a 12-song new album after 20 years!

The lead single off this ninth album is "One Drop." Without much ado, it sounds very PiL, having all the proper ingredients—bouncy basslines, funky and angular guitars, stinging lyrics sung in the typical Rotten's sneery manner, and a hint of synth sounds on the background.

Public Image Limited has nine studio albums and a pioneering Postpunk origin to boast of.

Recommended earlier songs by PiL are "Death Disco," "Open and Revolving," "Seattle," "This Is Not a Love Song," "Disappointed," and "Rise"; from the latest album, “I Must Be Dreaming,” “The Room I Am In,” and “Out of the Woods.”

John Lydon with his Postpunk band Public Image Ltd. still kicks and bops after all these years: "One Drop," the first single off the band's latest album released in 2012.

Public Image Limited’s complete discography is comprised by nine albums: First Issue (1978), Metal Box (1979), The Flowers of Romance (1981), This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get (1984), Album (1986), Happy? (1987), 9 (1989), That What Is Not (1992), and This Is PiL (2012).

Currently with Lydon in PiL are Lu Edmonds (a former guitarist of The Damned), Bruce Smith (onetime drummer for The Slits and The Pop Group), and new bassist Scott Firth.

John Lydon and the rest of Public Image Limited, with the music video of 1984's "This Is Not a Love Song," from the band's fourth album 

Final Note

Public Image Limited was formed by Lydon with guitarist Keith Levene and bassist Jah Wobble in 1978 in London, England, after the breakup of his former Punk band, Sex Pistols. While the music of Sex Pistols was straightforward and minimalist Punk, PiL’s was Postpunk—more structured and well-produced. Sex Pistols’ popular songs include “Anarchy in The U.K.,” “God Save the Queen,” Holidays in the Sun,” and their version of Paul Anka’s “My Way.”