Public Image Limited — commonly spelled Public Image Ltd. and known by the acronym PiL — are an English post-punk band led by singer John Lydon, who assembled the first lineup after his departure from the Sex Pistols.

The original PiL with bassist Jah Wobble and guitarist Keith Levene debuted with a charting theme, “Public Image,” included on their 1978 Virgin release First Issue. In 1979, PiL issued Metal Box, a film canister with three discs of discorded jams, issued abroad as the two-record Second Edition.

Lydon and Levene recorded one further album, 1981’s percussive experiment The Flowers of Romance. They split during sessions for the fourth PiL album, which Levene issued as Commercial Zone (a bootleg demo) and Lydon re-recorded as This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get. The lead single, “This Is Not a Love Song,” became their biggest European hit.

In 1986, Lydon charted with “Rise” from Album, a heavy set with seasoned players (Ginger Baker, Tony Williams). He formed a proper band with guitarist John McGeoch (Magazine, Banshees) and drummer Bruce Smith (Pop Group, Slits) for the 1987–89 albums Happy? and 9, a period marked by the college radio hits “Seattle,” “The Body,” and “Disappointed.”

Members: John Lydon (vocals, keyboards, percussion, violin, saxophone), Keith Levene (guitar, keyboards, bass, percussion, keyboards, 1978-83), Jah Wobble (bass, vocals, percussion, 1978-80), Jim Walker (drums, vocals, 1978-79), Jeanette Lee (manager, 1978-83), Dave Crowe (manager, 1978-81), Vivian Jackson (drums, 1979), David Humphrey (drums, 1979), Richard Dudanski (drums, 1979), Karl Burns (drums, 1979), Martin Atkins (drums, percussion, keyboards, guitar, 1979-80, 1982-85), Steve New (guitar, 1980), Ken Lockie (keyboards, 1982), Pete Jones (bass, 1982-83), John McGeoch (guitar, 1986-92), Allan Dias (bass, keyboards, 1986-92), Bruce Smith (drums, 1986-90, 2009-present), Lu Edmonds (guitar, saz, keyboards, banjo, cümbüş, 1986-88)

Formation

Public Image Ltd. formed in the spring of 1978 after singer John Lydon (b. January 31, 1956) left the Sex Pistols after their brief American tour. In March, he visited Jamaica to scout for reggae talent with Virgin Records co-founder Richard Branson. Upon his return to England, Lydon pitched a new band idea to his longtime friend, John Wardle (b. 1958). The two reconnected over a shared affinity for dub, reggae, and experimental Krautrock.

Wardle belonged to Lydon’s pre-fame posse known as “The Johns,” which included photographer John Gray and concertgoer John Ritchie, an early punk fixture (and eventual Pistol) known publicly as Sid Vicious. Wardle’s nickname, Jah Wobble, sprung from a slurred utterance of his real name by a drunken Sid. The bass was a natural instrument for Wobble due to his large hands.

Lydon also summoned guitarist Keith Levene (1957–2022), who played in the earliest (unrecorded) Clash lineup and Sid’s shambolic rehearsal band, Flowers of Romance, which also featured drummer Palmolive and guitarist Viv Albertine (both future Slits). Nineteen months earlier at a Clash/Pistols double-bill, Levene (a onetime Yes roadie) approached Lydon about a possible future team-up.

Through an ad in Melody Maker, the trio found drummer Jim Walker (b. 1955), a recent Vancouver transplant whose prior band, The Furies, pioneered the West Canadian punk scene.

Lydon named his new band after The Public Image, a 1968 novel by Scottish author Muriel Spark about an Italian actress who masks her lack of talent with an artificial persona. After the July 1978 incorporation of the band, they added “Ltd.” to the name.

1978

Lydon’s first piece for Public Image was “Sod In Heaven,” an anti-theist screed that he pitched earlier to Steve Jones on the Pistols’ US tour. PiL developed this into the two-part soliloquy jam “Religion.” They also created a theme song from a two-note bassline supplied by Wobble.

“Public Image”

On October 13, 1978, Public Image Limited debuted with their theme song “Public Image,” a searing up-tempo rocker backed with “The Cowboy Song,” an experiment in overdubs.

A. “Public Image” (2:58) assails Lyndon’s manipulative former manager (Malcolm McLaren) and indifferent ex-bandmates, who favored outrage over meaning.
B. “The Cowboy Song” (2:17) Walker conceived this around the Bonanza theme.

PiL self-produced the single in mid-July 1978 at Advision Studios on Gosfield Street, where engineer John Leckie (Be-Bop Deluxe, Magazine, XTC) ran Lydon’s voice through the Roland Space Echo, a tape-delay unit. Further work occurred at Wessex Sound on Highbury New Park, where Bollocks engineer Bill Price oversaw the mixdowns and overdubs.

The “Public Image” video takes place on a dark soundstage where a flash-lit Lydon (striped baggies, blue drape Teddy jacket) writhes at the mic while Levene (red string tie, pink drape Teddy jacket) and a seated Wobble (stetson hat, round shades) follow Walker’s beat. On the fading echoes of “Goodbye,” the camera eye-zooms on an infrared John. Filmmaker Don Letts (The Punk Rock Movie) shot the video in August 1978 at a Fulham theatre.

UK copies appeared in a four-fold mock newspaper sleeve with the font and layout of British tabloid The Sun. The paper bears the (non-existent) newsstand date of September 31, 1978, with the headlines “JIM’S LAUGH SAVES LIFE,” “The girls who drove me to tea, by Donut’s wife Carol” (Donut, Jim’s nickname), “Refused to play Russian roulette,” and an agony aunt column titled “Don’t panic – get advice.” Under the band’s photo, the header states “No one’s innocent except us.”

The back page (Public Spot) bears the headlines “PIL STARTS STORM” and “CHAMP: Now comes his world title bid” (above an earlier photo of a pimple-popping Lydon), plus the “lyrics” to “Cowboy Song” (below a cow-licked photo of Levene) and further headers on the Donut/Carol saga.

“Public Image” reached No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 15 in Ireland. Virgin respelled the song “Publik Image” for the German and Spanish markets.

Public Image – First Issue

Public Image Limited released their debut album, First Issue, on December 8, 1978, on Virgin.

Side One contains “Theme,” a slow, lengthy, grinding jam followed by “Religion,” a re-titled “Sod In Heaven” with a spoken-word prelude followed by a Kraut-style jam. “Annalisa” wraps Side One with grim lyrics (about a starved, hysterical girl) over a pounding back beat.

Side Two follows the pre-released “Public Image” with two further brash, searing rockers: “Low Life” and the rhythmically jolted “Attack.” First Issue closes with “Fodderstompf,” a lengthy, lurching dub experiment. Select passages feature secondary input by Lydon (piano) and Levene (synthesizer).

1. “Theme” (9:05)
2. “Religion I” (1:40)
3. “Religion II” (5:40)
4. “Annalisa” (6:00) has a bassline intro (low E up to C# dotted 3x, scale back) on a pounding beat; overlaid by the fifth rotation with a trebly riff (reverse: high E down to C#). Lydon howls with anger about the tragedy of Anneliese Michel (1952-1976), a German woman diagnosed as a teenager with epileptic psychosis and depression, which her parents attributed to demonic possession. At 23, she died of anorexia nervosa after undergoing 67 exorcisms.

5. “Public Image” (2:58) opens with a one/five bassline (E…B…x4), joined by Walker (third bar). Lydon enters (fourth bar) with echoing “hello” greetings, followed (seventh bar) with searing guitar (A…D…). Levine emphases high-end rising fifths (C#…B… over E/B bass) after the second and fifth chorus. Lydon bemoans the public’s fixation on his clothes and hair and the engineered outrage of his former manager, Malcolm McLaren. He argues for balance (“Two sides to every story”) and asserts his newfound maturity (“I’m not the same as when I began”) and independence (“The public image belongs to me; It’s my entrance, my own creation”).
6. “Low Life” (3:35) opens with an octave 16th note bassline in F (low…high…); shifts to B♭ for the verses with searing high-end guitar (on the dominant F). Chorus repeats the octave F with a full step (G) on the fourth bar as Lydon bellows the elongated “Loooooooow Liiiiiife” title. He assails his former manager, described here as an “ego-maniac traitor” and a “bourgeois anarchist.” In the second verse (“Your alter-ego is a moron, 30 years too late”), he chides McLaren’s recent step to the microphone (the orchestral Swindle tracks).
7. “Attack” (2:55) has remote, echoing phoned-in vocals over searing, trebly chords (B…A… 3x, D…F…) with pounding drums and syncopated bass. Lydon takes aim at McLaren (“I was a victim of your pride”), Malcolm’s lawyer (“You who tax and persecute, you who guarded all the loot”), and the Pistols’ production company, Glitterbest, which manipulated the band’s message (“You who made me stupid, hatred”). He acknowledges the unfair legal terms he once (unknowingly) accepted and hints at his pending lawsuit (“You who made me ignorant, you will face the consequence”).
8. “Fodderstompf” (7:40) is co-vocalized by Wobble, who ends the track with a triggered fire extinguisher.

PiL recorded Side One in August/September 1978 at Branson’s Mansion Manor (Shipton-on-Cherwell) and Town House (London) with engineer Mick Glossop, a soundman on contemporary titles by Camel, The Lurkers, Penetration, Skids, Van Morrison, and Yellow Dog.

Sessions for Side Two (barring the single) occurred at Gooseberry Sound Studios, a 16-track reggae facility in Soho’s Chinatown district, where PiL self-produced with engineer Mark Lusardi, who also worked on 1978 titles by Creation Rebel, Jona Lewie, and Matumbi.

As post-production wrapped in November, Levene and Wobble cut Gooseberry tracks with Don Letts and singer Vince Bracken for the dub/reggae EP Steel Leg V. the Electric Dread, released in December on Virgin.

Photographer Dennis Morris (Zebulon Designs) co-conceived the First Issue packaging with designer Terry Jones, the future founder of i-D magazine. The images (front/back, outer/inner) picture each member in layouts that parody magazine covers.

Lydon (front) and Wobble (back) sport pre-Sixties formal looks (ala Deaf School, Fabulous Poodles) in defiance of prevailing trends. The logos that accompany Wobble (PIME, enlarged from PublicIMagEltd) and Walker mimic the cover designs of Time and LIFE, respectively.

The LP labels debut the standard PiL logo: a two-tone sphere with slanted letters designed by Morris, who also created visuals for numerous late-Seventies reggae acts, including Aswad, Big Youth, Burning Spear, Culture, Delroy Washington, Third World, Twinkle Brothers, and Bob Marley & The Wailers.

First Issue reached No. 18 in New Zealand and No. 22 on the UK Albums Chart.

Lydon’s US label, Warner Bros., blocked the album’s US release due to content and sound-quality issues. In the spring of 1979, PiL re-recorded several tracks (to no avail) before work began on a new album. By then, Walker departed PiL for The Pack, the pre-fame punk band of Theatre of Hate frontman Kirk Brandon.

1979

“Death Disco”

On June 29, 1979, Public Image Limited released “Death Disco,” a blend of wailing vocals and searing, psychedelic guitar lines over a sliding hi-hat beat.

Virgin issued “Death Disco” on standard 7″ and extended 12″ formats. PiL recorded both versions at Manor Mansion with Jim Walker’s initial replacement, Highway Motion drummer David Humphrey.

In April, they hired drummer Richard Dudanski, once of the 101ers with a pre-Clash Joe Strummer. Dudanski plays on the “Death Disco” b-side, “No Birds Do Sing.”

A. “Death Disco” (4:11 / “½ Mix” 6:42) Lydon wrote the lyrics in honor of his terminally ill mother, Eileen Mary Barry Lydon (January 24, 1932–November 27, 1978)^>, who requested a disco song for her funeral.
B. “No Birds Do Sing” (4:41) features piano by Lydon, who lifted the title from the fourth line (“And no birds sing!”) in “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” an 1819 ballad by English poet John Keats (who lifted the title from La Belle Dame sans Mercy, a 1424 love poem by Medieval French poet Alain Chartier).

The 12″ version (limited to 15,000 copies) has a different b-side: an instrumental version of “Fodderstompf” titled “Megga Mix” (6:51), an outtake from Walker’s tenure.

PiL mimed “Death Disco” on Top of the Pops for the BBC music program’s July 12 broadcast, which also featured in-studio numbers by Judie Tzuke (“Stay With Me Till Dawn”), The Police (“Can’t Stand Losing You”), Siouxsie & The Banshees (“Playground Twist”), Stonebridge McGuinness (“Oo-Eeh Baby”), and Tubeway Army (“Are ‘Friends’ Electric?”). TotP used light saturation on PiL’s segment, in which Lydon (plaid suit, headphones) faced the band while Wobble (seated, grinning) flashed his black tooth at the camera.

“Death Disco” reached No. 20 on the UK Singles Chart. PiL re-recorded the song in shorter form as “Swan Lake,” an acknowledgment of thematic similarities to Swan Lake, the 1876 ballet by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Metal Box

Public Image Limited released their second album, Metal Box, on November 23, 1979, on Virgin. It features twelve tracks spread across three 12″ EPs (60:29 total duration).

Side A consists of one lengthy track (“Albatross”) while Side F links three tracks (“Socialist,” “Chant,” “Radio 4”) into a twelve-minute medley. Side B contains the album’s two a-sides: “Memories” and “Death Disco” (re-titled “Swan Lake”).

PiL’s Metal Box lineup revolved around John Lydon, Keith Levene, and Jah Wobble with a sequence of drummers. “Swan Lake” drummer David Humphrey (March ’79) also plays on “Albatross.” Richard Dudanski (their April–September drummer) plays on “Memories,” “No Birds,” “Graveyard,” “Socialist,” and “Chant.” Subsequent drummer Martin Atkins plays on “Bad Baby.”

Wobble drums on “Careering” and “The Suit” and plays all bass apart from “Radio 4,” the closing instrumental performed entirely by Levene, who also drums on “Poptones.” Select tracks feature piano by Lydon (“No Birds,” “Bad Baby”) and Wobble (“The Suit”). Levene used the Prophet 5 analog synth on multiple tracks.

Metal 1.A
1. “Albatross” (10:34) recorded live in-studio at Manor Mansion.

Metal 1.B
2. “Memories” (5:05) has simple Spanish guitar motif that Levene played through an Electric Mistress flanger pedal.
3. “Swan Lake” (4:11)

Metal 1.C
4. “Poptones” (7:46) features subtle licks from “Starship Trooper” by Yes. Lydon based the song on a Daily Mirror story about two male kidnappers who police identified by a song on their car cassette player (played repeatedly during the abduction).
5. “Careering” (4:32) concerns a Belfast hitman turned London businessman.

Metal 1.D
6. “No Birds” (4:41) first released as “No Birds Do Sing,” the “Death Disco” b-side.
7. “Graveyard” (3:07)

Metal 1.E
8. “The Suit” (3:29) concerns fashion designer Kenny MacDonald, PiL’s early wardrobe stylist.
9. “Bad Baby” (4:30) Wobble drew inspiration from jazz bassist Cecil McBee.

Metal 1.F (medley: 12:34)
10. “Socialist” (3:09)
11. “Chant” (5:01)
12. “Radio 4” (4:24)

Sessions began in March 1979 at Branson’s Manor Mansion, where PiL cut two songs with Humphrey (“Swan Lake,” “Albatross”) and Levene drummed on “Poptones.” At Gooseberry, Wobble conceived “The Suit” backing track (inspired by Fats Dominoes’ “Blueberry Hill”) and brought it to Manor, where Lydon added lyrics. Levene self-recorded “Radio 4” at London’s Advision Studio, where he rehearsed the track with Cowboys International singer Ken Lockie on drums.

PiL recorded the balance of Metal Box at Town House, where Dudanski drummed on five tracks and Atkins (who arrived as sessions wrapped) drummed on “Bad Baby,” which features his audition take. Manor/Town House soundmen Hugh Padgham and George Chambers engineered Metal Box in sequence with 1979/80 albums by The Jam (Setting Sons), XTC (Drums and Wires), Peter Gabriel (“melt”), and Yes (Drama).

The three discs appeared inside a 12″ logo-embossed film-style canister. Each record bore the PiL logo with no track information; revealed instead on an insert sheet that identified the band as a five-piece: Lydon, Levene, Wobble, and non-performers Dave Crowe (Ltd’s accountant) and Jeannette Lee (acting manager and future performer).

PiL co-conceived the package with First Issue designer Dennis Morris. They first discussed the possibility of a sandpaper cover that would scratch adjacent covers on a record shelf. The sandpaper concept (inspired by Guy Debord’s 1959 Situationist book Mémoires) was soon utilized by Factory Records boss Tony Wilson for the 1980 Durutti Column debut, The Return of the Durutti Column.

On October 12, “Memories” appeared as the second single, backed with “Another,” a lyricized version of “Graveyard.”

B. “Another“

Metal Box reached No. 18 on the UK Albums Chart.

On December 10, 1979, PiL performed a session for BBC Radio One DJ John Peel, whose 12/17 broadcast aired Maida Vale renditions of “Poptones,” “Careering,” and Chant.” Peel aired multiple PiL cuts throughout 1980/81.

1980

In February 1980, Island Records released PiL’s second album in North America as a two-record set titled Second Edition. The first record collects the five tracks from side’s A, B, and C of Metal Box in their original running order. The second record re-sequences side’s D, E, and F with “Socialist,” “Chant,” and “Radio 4” presented as three separate tracks.

Second Edition appeared in a gatefold with monochrome funhouse-mirror distortions of Levene (front), Lydon and Wobble (inner-gates) by photographer Tony McGee, whose imagery also appears on late Seventies albums by Pacific Eardrum and Godley & Creme.

Virgin issued the double-album in Europe and Oceania, where Second Edition reached No. 21 in New Zealand.

PiL also landed an exclusive cut, the percussive “Pied Piper” (1:50), on Machines, a 1980 Virgin comp with cuts by Dalek I, Fad Gadget, Gary Numan, Henry Badowski, The Human League, John Foxx, Karel Fialka, Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark, Silicone Teens, Thomas Leer, and XTC.

In January, PiL did a two-night engagement in Paris. On February 5, they performed “Poptones” and “Careering” on the BBC music program The Old Grey Whistle Test.

PiL launched a spring tour of the US, where they mimed on the May 17 broadcast of American Bandstand. In an unprecedented act for the ABC music series (then in its 28th season), Lydon pulled front-row spectators onto the stage during the first number (“Poptones”) and invited the whole audience to swarm the band for the second (“Careering”).

Meanwhile, Wobble debuted as a solo artist with the May 8 Virgin release The Legend Lives On – Jah Wobble in Betrayal, recorded during off-hours amid the Metal Box sessions. Eddie Jobson produced the album, which features Atkins on “Pineapple” and “Betrayal.” Two tracks (“Not Another” and “Blueberry Hill”) made uncredited use of PiL backing tracks, a matter of controversy with Lydon.

Dismayed with the band’s concert behavior, Wobble distanced himself from PiL and formally resigned that autumn. In 1981, he reunited briefly with Jim Walker in The Human Condition.

Meanwhile, Atkins left PiL to focus on his own band, Brian Brain, which already debuted with the March 1980 single “They’ve Got Me in a Bottle” on Secret Records. In the span of eight months, they released an album (Unexpected Noises) and an EP titled Culture, which contains a cover of “Careering.”

On June 27, 1980, Lydon and Levene sat for an interview on The Tomorrow Show, a late-night NBC talk show hosted by Tom Snyder. Lydon (dressed in a tartan suit) was an unnerving subject for the laid-back, candid host. In response to a question about his former band, Lydon death-stared Snyder with the following: “The Sex Pistols was going to be the absolute end of rock n roll, which I thought it was. Unfortunately, the majority of the public, being the senile animals that they are, got that wrong.”

Paris au Printemps

On November 14, 1980, Public Image Limited released the live album Paris au Printemps, a document of their January 17–18 shows at Le Palace. It features renditions of three songs from First Issue (“Theme,” “Low Life,” “Attack”) and four from Metal Box (“Chant,” “Careering,” “Bad Baby,” “Poptones”). The title is French for Paris in Spring. All seven tracks appear with French-translated titles along with the band name (Image Publique S.A.).

1. “Thème” (“Theme”)
2. “Psalmodie” (“Chant”)
3. “Précipitamment” (“Careering”)

4. “Sale Bébé” (“Bad Baby”)
5. “La Vie Ignoble” (“Low Life”)
6. “Attaque” (“Attack”)
7. “Timbres De Pop” (“Poptones”)

Lydon painted the cover art, which depicts three animals that represent himself, Keith Levene, and Jeannette Lee, by now a proper band member.

1981

The Flowers of Romance

Public Image Limited released their third studio album, The Flowers of Romance, on April 10, 1981, on Virgin. The title comes from Keith Levene’s earlier band with Sid Vicious. Jeanette Lee appears on the cover.

The Flowers of Romance contains nine Lydon/Levene originals, including the titular single, one of four tracks with drummer Martin Atkins, who co-wrote “Four Enclosed Walls,” “Under the House,” and “Banging the Door.”

Musically, The Flowers of Romance stresses percussion overlaid with sundry effects. Only two songs (“Track 8,” “Banging the Door”) contain bass tracks.

Lydon plays saxophone, Stroh violin, and makeshift percussion across Flowers, where Levene de-emphasizes guitar for piano, cello, synthesizer, and percussive instruments.

1. “Four Enclosed Walls” (4:44) has Atkins’ track loop-locked through an AMS digital sampler.
2. “Track 8” (3:15)
3. “Phenagen” (2:40) Levene plays backward guitar and a one-string banjo.
4. “Flowers of Romance” (2:51) features bowed bass by Lydon, who chides nostalgia.
5. “Under the House” (4:33) has a double-drummed polyrhythm performed by Levene and Atkins with lyrics about an apparition that Lydon claimed to have seen at the “haunted” Manor mansion.

6. “Hymie’s Him” (3:18) was conceived as an instrumental for American director Michael Wadleigh’s 1981 crime/horror film Wolfen starring Albert Finney. Lydon plays a suli, an Indonesian bamboo flute that Richard Branson brought back from Bali.
7. “Banging the Door” (4:49) Lydon draws boundaries with overzealous fans who crowd him offstage and hound his residence.
8. “Go Back” (3:46) features Levene on drums.
9. “Francis Massacre” (3:31) addresses Lydon’s October 1980 incarceration at Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison after an altercation at the Horse and Tram pub.

Sessions began in October 1980 at Manor Mansion, where PiL first completed “Hymie’s Him.” They initially worked with producer Steve Lillywhite, an early Ultravox soundman who recently produced debut albums by the Psychedelic Furs and U2. After the first round of Townhouse mixdowns, PiL dropped Lillywhite for M soundman Nick Launay, who co-produced and engineered the remaining sessions, which ran through November.

On March 27, PIL released “Flowers of Romance” as an advance single, backed with the non-album “Home Is Where The Heart Is,” a late-period recording from the Wobble era.

B. “Home Is Where the Heart Is” (7:34)

PiL mimed “Flowers of Romance” for the April 9 TotP broadcast, which also featured in-studios by Eddy Grant (“Can’t Get Enough of You”), Gillan (“New Orleans”), Hazel O’Connor (“D-Days”), Linx (“Intuition”), and Saxon (“And the Bands Played On”). In PiL’s fog-laden segment, Lydon dons a clerical dickie and striped baggies, accompanied by Levene (toms) and Jeanette Lee (cello).

The Flowers of Romance reached No. 11 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 33 in New Zealand. Impressed with the album’s drum sound, Phil Collins hired Launay for Hello, I Must Be Going, the Genesis drummer’s 1982 second solo album.

The Ritz Event

Between the third album’s completion and release, PiL took residence in New York at West 18th St. and befriended a local fan, Bronx native Ed Caraballo, a 19-year-old aspiring videographer who Levene made part of the group (which now identified as a corporation, not a band).

Caraballo facilitated their May 15, 1981, show at the Ritz, a new wave club at 119 East 11th St., where PiL replaced that night’s cancelled act, Bow Wow Wow. PiL hired jazz drummer Sam Ulano (then 60) for an improvised set behind the club’s 40′ projection screen. The band remained visible only as silhouettes, which Ed illuminated from the lighting booth as The Flowers of Romance played on the sound system.

Though intended as performance art, the stunt enraged attendees who expected a regular rock concert. As Lydon (obscured) taunted the audience and Caraballo defied requests to raise the screen, audience members bottle-pelted the stage and pulled the tarp from under the band’s equipment. The ensuing mayhem made national news and brought notoriety to the one-year-old Ritz, which hosted subsequent concert events for the fledgling MTV network.^>

After the Ritz debacle, Jeanette Lee returned to London and married former Pop Group guitarist/saxist Gareth Sager, who now played keyboards in Rip Rig + Panic.

1982–1983

In May 1982, Lydon and Levene commenced work on a fourth PiL album at Manhattan’s Park South Studios, a West 58th St. facility used for recent albums by Melba Moore and Mike Mainieri. They called back Martin Atkins, who invited his Brian Brain bassist bandmate Pete Jones, also a member of Department S. The sessions briefly involved Ken Lockie, Jones’ onetime bandmate in Cowboys International.

Meanwhile, Lydon accepted his first film role in The Order of Death, director Roberto Faenza’s crime thriller co-starring American actor Harvey Keitel (Mean Streets, Taxi Driver). Lydon played Leo, a disturbed young man who taunts Lieutenant Fred O’Connor (Keitel), a corrupt NYC narcotics detective who investigates a string of cop killings. Filming occurred in June–July 1982 in New York and Rome. PiL were initially commissioned for the soundtrack. In March 1983, the film premiered in Italy as Copkiller (L’assassino dei poliziotti) with music by Ennio Morricone.

On September 28, 1982, the new PiL lineup (Lydon, Levene, Atkins, Jones) made their live premier at New York’s Rosalind Ballroom. They embarked on a Northeast tour that hit the Boston Channel and Toronto Concert Hall. Meanwhile, Secret Records issued “Funky Zoo,” the final Brian Brain release for three years.

In November, PiL announced an upcoming single (“Blue Water,” conceived for The Order of Death) and mini-album (You Are Now Entering a Commercial Zone). Both remained unreleased as PiL opted instead to make a full album.

In March 1983, PiL slated Lydon’s latest anti-pop screed, “This Is Not a Love Song,” as an advance single from their upcoming fourth studio album. However, plans changed after the spring departures of Jones and Levene, whose relationship with Lydon soured after the Ritz event.

With the project in limbo, Lydon and Atkins assembled a makeshift PiL quintet for a mid-year tour of Japan, where “This Is Not a Love Song” first appeared in June on Columbia Nippon (b/w “Blue Water”).

Live in Tokyo

In August 1983, Public Image Limited released Live in Tokyo, a document of their July 1–2 show at the Nakano Sun Plaza. The album appeared on Virgin (UK, Europe) and Nippon (Japan) as a double-album with ten tracks (45:50 duration) spread across two 45rpm 12″ records.

On Live in Tokyo, PIL performs material from First Issue (“Annalisa,” “Religion II,” “Low-Life”), Metal Box (“Swan Lake”), The Flowers of Romance (“Flowers of Romance,” “Under the House,” “Banging the Door”), and their yet-unreleased fourth studio album (“Solitaire,” “Bad Life”), including the upcoming single “This Is Not a Love Song.”

The Nakano shows featured a five-piece PiL comprised of Lydin, Atkins, guitarist Joseph Guida, bassist Louis Bernardi, and New Jersey keyboardist Tommy Zvoncheck, a future Blue Öyster Cult member and Dream Syndicate sessionist.

Side One
1. “Annalisa” (5:17)
2. “Religion II” (5:49)

Side Two
3. “Low-Life” (2:47)
4. “Solitaire” (3:59)
5. “Flowers of Romance” (4:46)

Side Three
6. “This Is Not a Love Song” (6:27)
7. “Swan Lake” (5:06)

Side Four
8. “Bad Life” (4:44)
9. “Banging the Door” (4:55)
10. “Under the House” (1:56)

On the Live In Tokyo cover, Lydon stands in Hachiko Square, photographed by Kenji Miura in a gray sharkskin suit and PiL shirt. Miura’s photography appears on concurrent sleeves for Yellow Magic Orchestra and the David Sylvian/Ryuichi Sakamoto collaboration single “Forbidden Colours.”

“This Is Not a Love Song”

On September 5, 1983, Virgin issued “This Is Not a Love Song” as a UK 7″ backed with PiL’s 1978 debut “Public Image,” since recognized as their signature song.

A. “This Is Not a Love Song” (3:30 / 12″ 4:27)

“This Is Not a Love Song” reached No. 3 in Ireland and No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. Abroad, the song went Top 20 in West Germany (No. 10), the Netherlands (No. 12), Australia (No. 17), and Belgium (No. 20).

1984

Commercial Zone

On January 30, 1984, Keith Levene released Commercial Zone on PIL Records Inc., registered especially for this title.

Commercial Zone presents nine songs, including five recorded in mid-1982 by the PiL core of Lydon, Levene, and Atkins. Besides guitar and keyboards, Levene plays bass on two cuts (“Bad Night,” “Lou Reed Part 2”). Four tracks (“Love Song”, “Mad Max”, “Solitaire” and “Miller Hi-Life”) date from late ’82 during Jones’ tenure.

Lydon re-recorded “Solitaire” and four additional songs (all retitled) for an ‘official’ PiL studio album on Virgin. Levene released Commercial Zone to represent their fourth album as originally intended.

1. “Love Song” original version of “This Is Not a Love Song”
2. “Mad Max” original version of “Bad Life”
3. “Bad Night”
4. “Solitaire”
5. “The Slab” acoustic original version of “The Order of Death”
6. “Lou Reed Part 1”
7. “Lou Reed Part 2” original version of “Where Are You?”
8. “Blue Water”
9. “Miller Hi-Life”

Levene self-financed a limited edition of 10,000 Commercial Zone units for distribution on the New York market, which imported numerous copies to Europe. In August, Levene financed a second run of copies to compete with Lydon’s half-rerecording of the album. Virgin Records sought a legal injunction against any further distribution of Commercial Zone, which remained a rarity until its 30th anniversary reissue as Commercial Zone 2014, amended with ‘finishing touches.’

This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get

Public Image Limited released their fourth studio album, This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get, on July 6, 1984, on Virgin.

The album contains five remakes of songs from the aborted 1983 album with Levene and Jones, including “This Is Not a Love Song” and its followup single “Bad Life,” plus the Copkiller theme under its original title, “The Order of Death.” Those last two songs both feature the title phrase, “This is what you want… This is what you get.”

Three songs (“1981,” “The Pardon,” “Tie Me to the Length of That”) are Lydon/Atkins numbers that post-date Levene’s involvement.

This Is What You Want… features Lydon on violin and brass with Atkins on guitar as well as drums. The two divide roles on keyboards, percussion, and synth bass.

1. “Bad Life” (5:15) is a re-recorded version of “Mad Max” with different lyrics.
2. “This Is Not a Love Song” (4:12)
3. “Solitaire” (3:59)
4. “Tie Me to the Length of That” (5:17)

5. “The Pardon” (5:19)
6. “Where Are You?” (4:18) is a re-recorded version of “Lou Reed Pt 2.”
7. “1981” (3:17) is an idea Lydon conceived during sessions for the prior album, hence the title.
8. “The Order of Death” (4:59)

Sessions occurred in January/February 1984 at Maison Rouge Studios, a Fulham Broadway, London, facility used extensively by Jethro Tull since the mid-Seventies. Maison’s Leigh Mantle co-engineered This Is What You Want… with Gavin MacKillop, a Padgham/Lillywhite apprentice with credits on recent titles by Annabel Lamb, Endgames, General Public, Heaven 17, Models, Scott Walker, and Simple Minds.

Lydon and Atkins produced the sessions, which utilized PiL tour bassist Louis Bernardi and Europeans guitarist Colin Woore. Welsh sessionist Richard Cottle split keyboard duties with Leisure Process saxophonist Gary Barnacle, a ubiquitous Eighties presence (Classix Nouveaux, Kim Wilde, Level 42, Midnight Oil, Soft Cell, Visage).

This Is What You Want… features front and back cover imagery by designer Norman Seeff and photographer John Van Hamersveld, the team behind classic Seventies sleeves for the Rolling Stones (Exile On Main Street) and Blondie (Eat to the Beat). Most recently, they handled visuals for Signs of Life, the fourth solo album by rocker Billy Squier.

On May 8, 1984, “Bad Life” appeared as a second single, backed with the non-album “Question Mark.”

B. “Question Mark” (4:14) is an experiment in layered percussion with a faint chant that Lydon ends on each eighth note with “Remember that!”

In the “Bad Life” video, Lydon emerges in a fog-engulfed studio and lipsyncs with maddened facial expressions while Atkins fidget-dances in the background. As the song succumbs to counteracting tracks of the album’s title phrase (“This is what you want… This is what you get”), jump-cuts of Lydon’s mouth and eyes flash before the screen.

1985–1986

John Lydon sings with Bronx hip hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa on the “World Destruction,” a socio-ecological rap song released in January 1985 on Celluloid. Bambaataa co-wrote the song with New York producer/musician Bill Laswell, who provided musical backing with Material, his jazz-funk collective with Curlew guitarist Nicky Skopelitis and ex-Parliament organist Bernie Worrell, a recent Talking Heads and Zapp auxiliary.

In the “World Destruction” video, a bloodied Lydon writhes about in horror and outrage amid stock footage of politicians, missiles, nuclear explosions, and war-torn villages. He also made a cameo in the climactic shootout scene in the video to “Medicine Show” by Big Audio Dynamite, the post-Clash band of guitarist Mick Jones with filmmaker Don Letts, who played FX effects.

Elsewhere, Martin Atkins reactivated Brian Brain with the 1985 EP Fun With Music!

Album

Public Image Limited released their fifth studio album, Album, on January 27, 1986, on Virgin and Elektra. The title and packaging spoofed the generic products manufactured by the Ralphs supermarket chain during the 1980s. As such, the title varied according to format (Cassette, Compact Disc).

Album is essentially a John Lydon solo effort co-produced by Bill Laswell with a host of name studio players. The songs feature heavy riffs and booming (at times tribal) drums.

Lydon and Laswell co-wrote three songs: the opener “F.F.F.” and the two singles, “Rise” and “Home.” For the album’s balance, Lydon co-wrote with two young New Yorkers: Mark Schulz (“Round”) and Jebin Bruni (“Ease”), both of whom contributed to “Fishing” and “Bags.”

Laswell plays bass on all but “Ease,” which features Art Ensemble of Chicago double-bassist Malachi Favors (b. 1927), who also plays on “Fishing” and “Bags” along with erstwhile YMO keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto, who performs on the Fairlight CMI.

Album features guitar work by Nicky Skopelitis and recent Zappa axeman Steve Vai. Cream icon Ginger Baker drums on five tracks; jazz legend Tony Williams drums on the first two tracks and “Home.” Three tracks feature organ by Bernie Worrell, who plays the Yamaha DX7 on “Fishing.”

Additional guests included veteran jazz trumpeter Steve Turre (didgeridoo on “Ease”) and Time Zone percussionist Aïyb Dieng (chatan pot drums on “Round”). “Rise” and “Round” include East Indian violinist Shankar (ex-Shakti), recently heard on “The Cutter” by Echo & the Bunnymen. Select passages feature backing vocals by Bernard Fowler, a recent Gil-Scott Heron sideman.

1. “F.F.F.” (5:32)
2. “Rise” (6:05) Lydon translated the chorus line (“May the road rise with you”) from an Irish blessing, go n-éirí an bóthar leat.
3. “Fishing” (5:20)
4. “Round” (4:24) features Swedish bassist Jonas Hellborg, recently of John McLaughlin‘s reformed Mahavishnu.

5. “Bags” (5:28)
6. “Home” (5:49)
7. “Ease” (8:09)

Sessions took place in the autumn of 1985 in New York City at RPM Studios and Quad Recording Studios. Vai recorded his solos at Electric Lady Studios, where he flew in twice amid road commitments with Alcatrazz. Material soundman Robert Musso engineered these sessions amid projects with B-Side, Golden Palominos, Manu Dibango, and Tom Waits.

Baker and Williams recorded their parts at the Power Station on West 53rd Street with engineer Jason Corsaro, a recent soundman for Belouis Some, Howard Jones, Jeff Beck, Nona Hendryx, Robert Palmer, and studio namesakes The Power Station.

Album marked the reemergence of Ginger Baker, little heard since his 1980 Hawkwind stint. Sakamoto appeared amid projects by Taeko Ohnuki, Virginia Astley, and his 1985 Esperanto LP. Fowler subsequently sang on Songs from Liquid Days, the 1986 crossover album by minimalist composer Philip Glass.

Half the Album lineup (Dieng, Fowler, Shankar, Skopelitis, Williams, Worrell) appear on Starpeace, the 1985 Laswell-produced comeback album by Yoko Ono. The same group (minus Skopelitis and Williams) play on Ginger Baker’s 1986 Celluloid album Horses & Trees, the drummer’s first headlining studio release since his time in Baker Gurvitz Army.

On January 21, PIL lifted “Rise” as the lead single, backed with an instrumental version of the song and housed in a generic-themed sleeve. In the video, a wind-blown Lydon bellows in a baggy gray suit; first near an under-bridge hobo camp swarmed with leaves, then under hanging sheets in a pauper’s neighborhood where street players gaze at the sky.

Lydon mimed “Rise” for the February 20, 1986, TotP broadcast, which also featured in-studios by Depeche Mode (“Stripped”), Paul Hardcastle (“Don’t Waste My Time”), and Billy Ocean (“When the Going Gets Tough..”). In the teal/pink-lighted PiL segment, Lydon (baggy plaid suit and tie) writhes and gesticulates amid meshed tubular fixtures with a six-piece backing band (including two drummers).

“Rise” reached No. 10 in Ireland and No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart. On April 21, PIL lifted “Home” as the second Album single (b/w “Round”).

In his 1986 promo appearances, Lydon sported bright orange hair reminiscent of his Pistols days. For an interview with veteran American journalist Lisa Robinson for the October 1986 issue of Hard Rock, he posed with generic food products in a complementary blue shirt and blazer.

Album reached No. 14 on the UK Albums Chart. Lydon and Laswell talked of forming a band with Vai and Baker but pre-existing commitments nixed the idea. For the ensuing tour, Lydon formed a new PiL with guitarist John McGeoch (Magazine, Visage, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Armoury Show), drummer Bruce Smith (The Pop Group, The Slits), multi-instrumentalist Lu Edmonds (The Damned, The Edge), and American bassist Allan Dias (Urpopa Lula).

1987–1988

Happy?

Public Image Limited released their sixth studio album, Happy?, on September 14, 1987, on Virgin.

Happy? contains eight originals group-credited to the new PiL lineup: Lydon, McGeoch, Edmonds, Dias, and Smith. The songs feature a big rock sound marked by Lydon’s trademark bellowing and McGeoch’s chiming guitar tones.

PiL lifted “Seattle” and “The Body” as a singles with corresponding videos.

1. “Seattle” (3:40)
2. “Rules and Regulations” (4:32)
3. “The Body” (3:11)
4. “Save Me” (4:49)
5. “Hard Times” (3:42)
6. “Open and Revolving” (4:01)
7. “Angry” (4:13)
8. “Fat Chance Hotel” (7:03)

Sessions occurred at Virgin’s Manor Mansion (Shipton-on-Cherwell) and its namesake, the unrelated Great Linford Manor, a 17th century mansion in Milton Keynes. Since its 1984 studio installation, the Great Linford hosted recent sessions by The Alarm, Kazumi Watanabe, and Pallas.

PiL co-produced Happy? with Art of Noise co-founder Gary Langan, a recent Billy Idol soundman with credits on Seventies classics by Easy Street, Fox, and Nutz.

Happy? features cover art by Richard Evans, a onetime Hipgnosis illustrator (Pink Floyd, Nazareth, UFO) whose recent clients included Indians of Moscow and Nik Kershaw. Evans’ Happy? illustration depicts a teardrop tenement cluster in the style of Austrian painter/architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928–2000.)

“Seattle” appeared first on August 10 with “Selfish Rubbish,” an exclusive b-side.

B. “Selfish Rubbish”

Lydon sports an oversized pajama suit in the “Seattle” video, which inter-cuts scenes of each member with footage of mass transit, industrial machinery, and plunging produce.

On Halloween 1987, PiL lifted “The Body” as a second single (b/w “Angry”). The video takes place in a mental institution where Lydon (sporting a red spiked dread piece) plays a mad doctor whose nurses (band-mates) wheel him into a hospital room with spastic patients that turn into sex-crazed zombies and chase John and his Goldilocks assistant through the corridors. Both videos received ample play on MTV’s Sunday night alternative music program 120 Minutes.

1989–1990

9

Public Image Limited released their seventh studio album, 9, on May 10, 1989, on Virgin. The title references PIL’s overall album count (including two live releases).

1. “Happy” (3:57)
2. “Disappointed” (5:34)
3. “Warrior” (4:17)
4. “U.S.L.S. 1” (5:37)
5. “Sand Castles in the Snow” (3:44)
6. “Worry” (3:54)
7. “Brave New World” (4:19)
8. “Like That” (3:40)
9. “Same Old Story” (4:19)
10. “Armada” (4:43)