In the history of rock ‘n’ roll, there is truly no figure more controversial and contentious than Johnny Rotten of Sex Pistols. Okay, well, Sid Vicious is a contender as well. Regardless, every word spoken and action performed by Rotten seemed to be geared toward turning heads and inciting tempers. Seemingly, he is a man who just loves chaos, and the alleged love of chaos transpired in a small scuffle between him and Tom Petty.
In the 1970s, the Sex Pistols and Tom Petty both resided under the rock ‘n’ roll umbrella. However, as you likely know, the parties differed in quite a few ways. Consequently, it seems the two artists had an ideological beef with one another, and that is seemingly why Rotten took a verbal shot at Tom Petty in England.
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In a 1978 interview with the infamous Cameron Crowe for Rolling Stone, Petty recalled the story and Rotten’s rotten comments.
“We were walking into our hotel lobby in England,” he told Crowe. “I hear this snotty voice saying, ‘Oh, it’s the American pop star Tom Petty.’ I ignore it, check into the hotel, and Stan [Lynch] and I start walking toward the elevator. We hear the same voice, kind of whining, ‘There the hippies go. Bye-bye, Tom.’ At this point, Stan wheels around and starts heading for whoever it is. He wants to kill.”
“Well, it’s Johnny Rotten, surrounded by French journalists,” Petty continued. “Stan has to be restrained. I went over there and said, ‘Who the f— are you talking to?’ Rotten immediately went into his wounded-punk act, says nothing. There ain’t no Robin Hoods in rock, man. All that punk s— was just a little too trendy.”
Other than his rambunctious personality, it seems the other element that fueled their verbal battle was that Johnny Rotten allegedly viewed Petty and the Heartbreakers as anti-punk. Well, that is merely an opinion, and during his life, Petty never was verbally against the punk movement officially. He just didn’t want to be labeled as such, which he often was early on in his career.
Nevertheless, the story further shows just how much of a character Johnny Rotten was at the height of Sex Pistols’ fame. In retrospect, this interaction and story aren’t all that surprising. And that is because Johnny Rotten is the most polarizing figure to ever grace mainstream rock ‘n’ roll.
Photo by Andre Csillag/Shutterstock
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