I'm glad that no one has mentioned John Lydon's butter ads yet, as they're often brought up in conversations like this but it's all wrong, he's just a glorified pop singer. Iggy Pop on the other hand...(although I'm not a big fan myself.)
I dunno, I'm more inclined to cut Iggy a bit of slack. He never got the recognition he deserved, at the time, with the Stooges. He truly suffered for his art, what with the drugs, the mental hospitals, the extraordinary ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory every time he got close to some form of vindication. Iggy still has oodles of charm and intelligence and an endearing inability to keep his clothes on. There's something childlike about Mr Osterberg, although he can be a cold, conniving mofo when the situation demands. Lydon, who has produced some incredible music and is an artist of great historical importance, seems to have lost any of the grace, charm and wit that he once oozed. He does seem to be systematically, gleefully pissing on his own legacy from a great height, and has been doing so for some time now. Perhaps there's a bigger picture that I'm not quite seeing yet, I suspect not, however. I think he's just a washed up chancer these days. And that tired old "I make my own rules" shite he's been peddling for decades, is that not the cry of every greedy selfish bastard?
I can put a Stooges record on and the insurance adverts will never cross my mind. As soon as I play the Pistols or PiL, all I can taste is butter and betrayal. I'm hoping that'll wear off with time. John's been dead to me since the early nineties really. I expect he's gutted about that.
