Metal Box: Stories From John Lydon’s Public Image Limited
by Phil Strongman

More-than-decent addition to the Lydon pantheon

Whatever the reason for the two-year delay of publication of this book, it stands up as a very good take on what, ultimately, is Lydon’s quest to unpick his own motivations. Strongman (and, presumably, “additional researcher”, Justin Lewis) takes the original PiL-as-experimental-collective as the yardstick by which to measure the consequent internal wranglings, drug problems and cast of thousands. The tale is, perhaps, reasonably well-known, and certainly previously told, but that doesn’t alter the fact that Metal Box traces the story with a robust intimacy. It’s also done through new interviews with band members and associates. The likes of Jah Wobble, Don Letts, Keith Levene, Martin Atkins, Jim Walker, and Dennis Morris happily offer their take on the inner circle, those initial ideals and the tainted farrago of provocation-for-its-own-sake and media/self-baiting with which the band arguably became associated. The late Tony Wilson’s foreword is typically punk-artsy-triumphant, and Morris contributes some rare photos, including the superb cover shot of a young, determined, sunglasses-wearing Lydon, which was mooted for the cover of Second Edition but never used. It’s such a wonderful image that the title of the book overlaying it seems trite and intrusive. It is only the first of many contradictions contained within the tale.

ISBN 9781900924665

Reviewed by Joe Shooman
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