John Lydon cover story for Pollstar (plus video!)

Lyndsey Parker — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 06:56:43 +0000

For my latest Pollstar cover story, I chatted with notorious punk/post-punk icon John Lydon for over 90 minutes. The artist formerly known as Johnny Rotten is always unfiltered, of course, but in this surprisingly good-spirited Pollstar interview, he really opened up, not just about touring and making new music at age 70, but about his half-century love story with Nora Forster; his childhood illness and other near-brush with death; his friendships with Keith Levene and the misunderstood Sid Vicious; what he really thinks about the Sex Pistols’ Lydon-less reunion; the one PiL song that makes him cry onstage and the one he fears he won’t be able to power through at all; the legacy of his 1984 rap/rock cult hit “Time Zone”; the Pistols’ famous 1976 Manchester gig that changed rock history; and much, much, more.

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John Lydon cover story for Pollstar (plus video!)

Click here to read the Q&A, and watch video of the full conversation below!