on Friday, November 28, 2008 I wrote about this book:

Well I am very disappointed with it. The main problem was Johnny Rotten himself. He is constantly bragging about himself and thinks he is God or something. Nobody else does any good except for him. All the band members were bad, all the other bands sucked. (yawn) Plus he is also constantly contradicting himself. lol. Can't take this serious.

Another annoying thing, the story repeats itself also every time because everybody gets a say. Me living the same kind of life as him and his friends, I thought it was boring. ( )

No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs is about as witty and acerbic as you might expect and provides some insights about the formation of British punk scene from the perspective of one of its leaders- although Lydon denies both that there was a punk movement and that the Pistols led it. The sneering does comes off as a bit contrived at times and the narrative is rather disjointed, but it's also very personal and features some astonishingly honest moments; you really needn't be a punk fan to enjoy it- though it certainly helps. ( )

For an auto-biography this is pretty good. Having seen Lydon at least on TV quite a number of times he can be a very engaging and amusing speaker when he wants to be--of course you have to like sarcasm and seeing the odd sacred cow being blown up and about but each to his own. It has been some time since I've read this but I found his anecdotal tales to be quite interesting. Growing up in South London--the very closeness of his family--his love for the Arsenal football team (or being an American should I say soccer)--the vacations back to Ireland where his Irish grandfather winces at his cockney accent. His dad (a crane operator) taking him out to work at his various job sites. And then we have the music--the beginnings of the Punk Rock scene--the Sex Pistols--the stories behind the songs. I don't know if Lydon had someone help him with the prose but it's well told anyway and having a number of his friends and contemporaries commenting on sections of it--sometimes chiding him for getting things wrong (at least they don't always see things the same--sometimes not at all the same) helps give the book a little extra polish and credibility. I liked it quite a lot. ( )

Oh Johnny Rotten. Where would the music industry be without you. ( )