Public Image Ltd. = Your feelings and their importance in the scope of things

downtownrobbrowndowntownrobbrown 446 Posts
edited November 2013 in Strut Central
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?

  Comments


  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    downtownrobbrown said:
    What is their greatest contribution?

    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 love "Rise." It's as close as Lydon ever came to trad Irish folk.

    I highly recommend his autobiography, "Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs."

  • Bon VivantBon Vivant The Eye of the Storm 2,018 Posts


    I ride for PIL. Lydon can be grating at times, but they had some good songs.


  • p_gunnp_gunn 2,284 Posts
    this is not really debatable, they're awesome... great musicians, low work rate, or i guess i just wish the OG line up did more together.... First Issue, Metal Box, and Flowers of Romance are great records... everything after that, not so much... basically anything connected to Lydon, Wobble, and Levene from 78-82 rules...




    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:


  • p_gunnp_gunn 2,284 Posts
    oh and liking Pil b/c they influenced boring snoozemusic like Dirty Beaches is laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame....

  • FrankFrank 2,370 Posts
    I never could stand that band, intolerable vocals and just lame music. Our favorite washed up punks during that period were the Lord of the New Church.

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts






    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...


  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    First Issue and Metal Box are absolute classics, Flowers of Romance slightly less but still good. Those records defintely helped stretch my ears as a younger guy. Album is where I first heard them but it's just not as good (and god the drum sound is dated as fuck). Wobble's "Betrayal" is an excellent record as well.

    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.

  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    This probably could have gone in the "radical music" thread, I can't imagine what seeing this on TV in 1980 must have been like. What a baseline...


  • asstro said:
    This probably could have gone in the "radical music" thread, I can't imagine what seeing this on TV in 1980 must have been like. What a baseline...


    not only was it awseome, it was on national TV at teatime

    in answer to the topic, Metal Box is everything you need

  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
    downtownrobbrown said:
    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?

    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.

  • knewjakknewjak 1,231 Posts
    I caught them live earlier this year. One of the best shows I had been to in awhile. Outstanding musicians, Lydon knows how to pick them.
    Cant speak for the music, I rarely listen to it.

  • Metal Box is the essential, the first one and Flowers of Romance are hit and miss to me. I got really into Metal Box in college, listening to that album on headphones almost every night for a year. I got into that album about the same time I got into Can "Eye Bamyasi" and "Tago Mago", The Slits, Birthday Party, Pop Group, and Gang of Four, and lots of dub music. The basslines on "Metal Box" are top notch.
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