| Cash For Questions - John Lydon Q Magazine, June 2002 The artist formerly known as Rotten belches loudly, hawks up a ball of dark sticky matter from somewhere within his windpipe and expertly flobs it into the bin between his knees. ''I've got a vicious headache,'' he announces, sucking on a Marlboro, then turning to Q and delivering one of those fearsome stares. ''Fuck...'' Turning to the pile of Q readers' letters lying before him, his mood reverts to foul. He's not relishing the prospect of answering a batch of questions from the Q flock. ''Tabloid journalism has really caused some fucking bad destruction in this country,'' he mutters, darkly. ''People think it's perfectly acceptable to be a nosey bastard.'' And so, summon the neck of the first ''nosey bastard'' to the chopping block... Where the Sex Pistols really just a hyped & manufactured pop band from the Malcolm McLaren stable? Jason O'Rourke, Brighton Nothing about that man has ever been stable. Hyped acts? Go figure. If you can't tell whats real & what isn't and you need to believe everything is manufactured, then you're an arsehole. In a world of Britney Spears & Madonna, how on earth can you think I'm fake? And if the Pistols was that kind of thing, we wouldn't have given up after one album. What or who could have saved Sid? Brian Fyfe, Co. Cork (Quietly) Himself. Plain & simple. I've known a few people getting themselves clogged up in in heroin over the years. Really it comes down to the fact you have to help yourself. You know what you've done wrong here. And don't blame the drugs. Blame yourself. You have to mentally make the decision inside your own head not to be dependent on anything or anyone. And thats getting the smarts, baby. Thats how you get out of it. How true to life was the film Sid & Nancy? Lee Hooley, Middlesbrough If you need to ask, you don't desrve an answer. It's a work of fabrication, plain and simple. Please... What was Nancy Spungen really like? James Parker, Sunderland Ah...thats one even the most wildly straying from the truth movies and books never failed to get right. A very bad piece of work. Spitful, spoiled, selfish - a problem many semi-wealthy middle class American families suffer from. When I read the mothers book on Nancy (Deborah Spungens And I Don't Want To Live This Life,) I was appalled. They got her a psychiatrist at age 4! Go figure why this girl grew up the way she did. Do you have a message you'd like to send to the Queen in her Golden Jubilee year? Brett Clark, Corby Yes, spend more money. Contribute to the British population & show you care and, lo & behold, the public might just care about you. Open your wallet & help out, say, just the National Health Service, for starters. She's wealthy enough, right? So get her to put her money where her mouth is. We need something to rally around, and it might be a tattered old flag with a few safety pins in it, but it's a lot better than the grey dullness of Blairs Britain. What this country has become is a piss pot of mediocity. You all roll over & take it up the chuff. Do you ever feel a twinge of remorse for the Glen Matlock/''guy glue'' baguette incident? (where Lydon is rumoured to have masturbated into a sandwich and served it to the Sex Pistols bassist) Geordie Mac, Galashiels I didn't do it, I merely reported! And what does it matter to you? Have you no life of your own or are you looking for a certain sandwich yourself? Well, there's not that many avalible. Look, you've got to bear in mind that at that time we were all starving and any protein was good enough. So I reckon Glen got off well. He got something rare and special. But this sounds like pangs of jealousy from him here, doesn't it? Go see Glen. See if he's got any left. My friends dad was at school with you and said that you always used to sit staring at a tree in the playground, not talking to anyone. Is this true, and if so why? David Nettles, via e-mail Because I had meningitis when I was seven and I was in a coma for six months. And when I came out, I had serious learning problems and it took years to get back to normal. I was known as Dummy Boy cos I didn't know nothing. Literally, I couldn't even speak, I'd forget words. So, yeah, I reckon staring at a tree is about right because, quite frankly, it was a lot more interesting than anything going on around me. Does anybody intimidate you? Susie Hansen, Seattle I'm afraid of myself, as it happens, and letting myself down. I drive myself very, very hard. I have a sense of values - never to lie or cheat people. I'm my own worst enemy and best friend at the same time. I don't give a tuppence fuck about anybody else interfering in my life, because I don't do it to others. What are your drugs of choice? Kermit Jones, Barnsley (sighs) Common sense. next page... |