Jonny Rotten - 1975 John Lydon of the Sex Pistols in London. Johnny Rotten joins the Sex Pistols Accounts differ as to how he got there, but in the summer of 1975 John Lydon (soon to be rechristened 'Rotten') found himself auditioning for the job of The Pistols lead singer at Malcom McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's 'Sex' shop on London's Kings Road. Rotten maintains that he was discovered by McLaren's associate Bernie Rhodes who was impressed by Rotten's T-shirt (a Pink Floyd shirt with the words 'I Hate' scrawled on it). For his audition, he sang along with an Alice Cooper record playing on the shop's Jukebox. Guitarist Steve Jones; "Rotten looked the part with his green hair, but he couldn't sing. Then again, we couldn't play, so it was okay". Three months later, the band played their fist gig. Related Pages On the BBC Pistols profile at R1

External Content Unofficial Site The Sex Pistols at YouTube

I was there Related Programme Blank Generation - Punk 1973-1980 A tale of two cities, London and New York and the birth of punk. Have Your Say Disclaimer: The BBC will put up as many of your comments as possible but we cannot guarantee that all e-mails will be published. The BBC reserves the right to edit comments that are published.