JOHNNY ROTTEN

Another snippet of a weird past that is more than just 43 years old....it's worlds and lifetimes removed from anything that we call or consider punk in 2020. And I don't say this to try to initiate a conversation about what is or what isn't, more like an acknowledgement of relevance. Johnny Rotten, interviewed on Radio KNOTTS in 1977, sounds more honest and personal here than on perhaps any clip/s I've heard or seen. His guard is up to be sure and he's still the consummate showman putting on a show, but when the conversation turns briefly to money and business and his personal finances and when the interviewer compares his songwriting to Captain Beefhart...it's interesting, that's all.

JOHNNY ROTTEN

"There are a lot of bands that are really worth their weight in gold, but they're the bands that, like, the press don't want to know about...they're the ones they run away from."

Q: "Let's mention a few names then, of the punk bands that we know - do you have any respect for any of them?

A: "THE SLITS. I've got respect for THE SLITS. BUZZCOCKS and....PENETRATION."

Q: "What about the other bands that have made it in terms of record sales? THE DAMNED, THE CLASH, THE STRANGLERS..."

A: "They can all go to hell. They're rubbish. They're nonsense. I don't know what they're on about, and they never knew themselves and that was the most disgusting part about it."

"The more people try and put you down...the higher you go. You can't keep a good dog down, 'cause he bites back"