Public Image Ltd. = Your feelings and their importance in the scope of things
downtownrobbrown
446 Posts
I don't know what to think about Public Image Ltd. Part of me thinks it is bloody crap and the other side thinks they influenced music that I like now like Dirty Beaches.
It is just so abrasive. What's everyone's opinions? What is their greatest contribution?
It is just so abrasive. What's everyone's opinions? What is their greatest contribution?
Comments
Conflicted feelings.
They are annoying and compelling, unlistenable and infectious, overblown and mind-blowing.
I never put their records on, though I am usually happy when someone else does. But I never want to hear Rise ever again. Hated it on first listen.
PiL had an incredible roster of musicians, most of whom moved on, I am guessing, due to Lydon's superdick disposition.
I once got into a PiL vs The Slits yelling match. In my mind, I won.
I highly recommend his autobiography, "Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs."
I ride for PIL. Lydon can be grating at times, but they had some good songs.
however, i can't stand "rise" and most of the later Pil stuff...
tho john lydon's solo record had a good track or two:
These were each HUGE at my school in Huntington Beach when I was in 8th and 9th grade.
When I moved to Houston, I found that plenty there were into Album as well. A couple years later we would throw this on while gone off ecstacy...
In general I ride for Lydon. I know he's become a caricature of himself but he's still a sharp perceptive guy when he feels like it, and his musical taste has always been pretty good.
not only was it awseome, it was on national TV at teatime
in answer to the topic, Metal Box is everything you need
Metal Box. A massively influential record for me personally. Owning a copy of the near-unplayable o.g. was an immensely frustrating experience, but that whole approach of layering unstructured blocks of sound over dance grooves...I don't think anyone else was doing that back then other than Killing Joke and the Gang Of Four, and they were nowhere near as free-form in their approach as PiL. If the band I was in at the time weren't taking our cues from Chic, we were taking them from PiL.
A few tunes here and there notwithstanding, there wasn't a lot I cared too much for after the Flowers Of Romance album, but Metal Box/Second Edition still sounds incredibly adventurous.
Cant speak for the music, I rarely listen to it.