Sex Pistols legend Johnny Rotten – famed for albums like Never Mind the B******* – wants to duet with squeaky clean billionaire singer Taylor Swift.
His surprising revelation comes just months after he triggered a social media backlash from Swifties after calling Taylor “incredibly dull.” Rotten – now known as John Lydon, lead singer of Public Image Ltd (PiL) – added that she was stuck “in a swishy ballroom-gown vibe” adding: “She’s going to be one of those that ends up in Vegas”.
In a ‘swift’ reverse ferret, 69-year-old Lydon now tells The Mirror : “Those that do that (kind of music) like Taylor, they do it very well. There was a period in music about 10 years ago when they were really out to kind of get her. I just thought all the boyfriends she dissed (on her songs), she deserves a go at me. Imagine that duet?
“I tried one duet once with Kate Bush – I love Heathcliff. She wanted to do a song with me, and I wrote a song called Bird in Hand. It was about going to the Amazon in a canoe and saving parrots and releasing them in Florida. She was like, ‘I can’t sing that. F*ck off.’ That was not her exact words, but that is what it really meant. “
John, who as well as insulting Taylor Swift in February had a dig at Lady Gaga, saying about her: “I don’t feel any soul,” rose to fame as one of the main agitators in the Punk Rock movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
Famously banned from the BBC when The Sex Pistols dissed the Queen with their single God Save The Queen, with lyrics like “she ain’t no human being,” he has made more surprising revelations about his musical mentors.
He says: “The band who influenced me the most were Slade. Patti Smith and The New York Dolls? Nah, push off with your moustache and beard. But Slade and The Ballroom Blitz, Elton John with Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting. That is not bad for a Watford fan is it?
“I also love The Rolling Stones. Yes, I have slagged off the Stones in the past. Why not? We are all jealous of bleeding rubber lips (Mick Jagger), aren’t we? But songs like Street Fighting Man and Sympathy for the Devil – you can’t knock them. If somebody gets one good song out, that is more than most of the cattle. That is how I approach music. I copy none of it. I don’t need to.”
Fans will be able to get more of John, his music and, most likely, his controversial views, when Public Image Ltd kick off their 40 date tour – titled This Is Not The Last Tour – in Bristol on May 22. They will be playing gigs across Britain before heading to Europe.
John is bouncing back following the devastating death of his wife, German publishing heiress Nora Forster, who died in April 2023, aged 80, after a five-year battle with Alzheimer’s.
Up until her death, John – who was married to Nora for 44 years – acted as her carer at the couple’s home in Malibu, California. They met at Vivienne Westwood’s punk boutique Sex in London in 1975, before The Sex Pistols hit the big time.
And John says his own battle with meningitis, aged seven, when he spent several months in a coma and did not recognise his parents once he regained consciousness, helped him to care for her.
John says: “My memory loss with meningitis all came into play when she got Alzheimer’s – like forgetting who you are, but knowing you were someone. You could not quite put it all together. At the time, the hospital told my mum and dad not to mollycoddle me, and things would come back. Even though it seemed cruel at the time, I found myself, my way. It was the greatest gift they could have given me.
“That memory loss, when Nora was going through that with Alzheimer’s, I could look back on that and think ‘Wow, that served a purpose.’ Don’t throw away experiences in life, as they may come back in life and be useful. That helped no end in dealing with Nora, like not to force questions on her, and she got it. It would snap in her head and the memory would come back in her head on its own.
“That sense of achievement, I experienced that with meningitis. Yes, with meningitis, your memories did come back, but with poor Nora’s, they would dissipate and get worse and worse and worse.”
Returning to work with PiL has helped John to cope with Nora’s death, which was followed by the sudden death of his manager and best friend, John “Rambo” Stevens, aged just 66, in December 2023.
The double tragedy rocked his world, but John says having a sense of humour helps him when it comes to remembering his late wife.
He says: “The favourite thing I bought for Nora? It was exceptionally challenging towards the end, but I got her one of those Japanese toilets which flushes nice hot water like a bidet.
“She laughed every time, and it thrilled her no end. I was very pleased with that purchase, but then Nora died and I have spent the last year sitting on this toilet and the hot water flush has give me haemorrhoids! The damn thing wont stop.
“I just thought I would share that with you. She also used to wear a Donald Trump hat. She never lost her marbles. That was when she was starting to get ill, and I wrote Trump on a Union Jack hat for her.”
Following her death, John paid tribute to Nora by writing a song called Hawaii in her honour.
The track was submitted as one of Ireland’s contenders for the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, but the bid proved unsuccessful.
John remembers: “Yes, we did the song, and that was Rambo, my manager’s idea. I did not want to do it.
“It was hard enough to write the song, but to go to Dublin and perform it live on The Late Late Show, well, I broke down that night.
“I just cried my way through it as I am human. I don’t know if I will ever perform that live again, you know. It is too painful. You put a full stop on it, and you move forward.”
Instead, he is trying to immortalise Nora in a painting, but admits it is a work in progress, saying: “I have done a painting of us both. I don’t think I will ever finish it, but I am in no rush. I may be Johnny Rotten to some people, but I am really John Lydon, a much more loving guy.”
John’s new PIL tour comes after his former Pistols bandmates recently decided to reform without him.
Despite John helping write the band’s anarchist anthems, God Save The Queen and Pretty Vacant, the Pistols have hired Frank Carter, of Gallows and the Rattesnakes, to replace him on vocals.
And The Pistols have played a string of dates across the UK, as well as the Royal Albert Hall in London, in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Back in 2021, John accused the surviving Pistols of collaborating on Danny Boyle’s Netflix biopic drama series Pistol without him.
The row escalated to the High Court, but John lost his bid to prevent the Pistols’ music from being used in the 2022 TV drama.
In true Rotten style, John has more recently branded the Pistols reunion as “karaoke.”
Talking about life since he stopped being Johnny Rotten, he says: “I have ended up with citizenship in Ireland, England and America.
“It’s great. What it means is that I don’t get searched when I come back to Blighty, which used to happen a lot.
“They used to be like, ‘Oh it’s Johnny Rotten, yeah lets give him a full search’. That used to happen a lot, right?
“How much Brussels sprouts and baked beans can you eat before a flight? It would make the trip less delicious for them.
“But I love being an American. I love America, apart from the students who don’t study. I have just recently acquired my British passport. Shame on me, it ran out of date!
“I have to say getting it was hilarious. I needed a sponsor, Johnny Rotten needed a sponsor to prove he was English! Thank God my Indian accountant sponsored me.
“But should I belong anywhere? Does anybody want me anyway?
“The two people I loved left me, and now I am left with you, the audience. I call it family values.”
* Tickets for John Lydon’s UK tour are available via www.pilofficial.com
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