Alex Turner and the Arctic Monkeys have joined the ranks of Radiohead, Coldplay, and a slew of other popular British rock bands to be snarled at by John Lydon. It’s a fair exchange, I say: the former Sex Pistols frontman has an American PiL tour to promote, after all, and it’s a helluva lot more rock ‘n’ roll than the Monkeys’ recent “rapping with Diddy” headlines.
What do you think of this hip, young band, Mr. Rotten?
Oh, don’t be silly. That’s not a band. That’s a showbiz construct. A mockery. Alex Turner just turns on the computer and types in ‘punk’ and it goes ‘ping’. I see no gut-wrenching soul-searching going on there.
A scathing quote for sure, but cheer up, boys: it could’ve been much worse.