The Onion's AVC Club spoke to John
AVC: You’ve got a great story in Anger Is An Energy about how, while you were making Psycho’s Path, you spent an evening sitting, drinking, and listening to music with Todd Rundgren.
JL: Yes! What a great fella he can be. And in a madhouse way, you would never expect a chap like him or me to get on with each other. Well, we did! I introduced him to things that he hadn’t heard. His music is very soulful, really. White soul, which is not to say invalid at all. It’s a very seriously interesting thing. But I played a Tim Buckley track to him that he hadn’t heard of called “Sweet Surrender,” and we hit it off musically. We’re sort of on the same page, but very different from each other. And he’s a great drinker. [Laughs.] You know, you’ve got to come fully prepared for the man! But more so than that, he’s a great thinker. And I’m always—always!—happy in the company of thinkers.
AVC: Could you imagine working with him?
JL: No, I don’t think that’d be necessary. I think we’d end up canceling each other out, oddly enough. I think we’re better off as friends. But you never know. I’m not closing any doors, and I’m not opening any. It’s, like, what will be, will be. I’m only, what, 60 years young at the moment. I’ve got plenty of time for that. And if you know anything about either of us, you know we won’t run out of energy! We’re Duracell bunnies! [Laughs.]
AVC: I have to wonder how much time in the studio would be spent on being right. You’re both very opinionated about what you want.
JL: Oh, yes, but when a thing is right, it’s right, and then there’s a common consensus and a meeting place on that. So that’s hardly a problem. [Laughs.] A problem begins with a situation like that when people don’t think deep enough, don’t know what they’re saying, and are merely opinionated. We must all have opinions, but they’ve got to be valid in order to work. And healthy debate is the most fabulous way to achieve anything. It truly really is. I mean, you try having a debate with Ginger Baker and be wrong. [Laughs.] You know, you’ve got to be right! But he’s sensible enough to know, when you’re saying something and it’s right, then it’s right. People claim he’s difficult to work with, but I never found that. I found quite the opposite. He’s fantastic. I love him to death.
2 comments:
Interesting how John Lydon's image has evolved over the years.
Have always found him an interesting, if occasionally cartoonish, character.
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