Is John Lydon, with his
green teeth, orange hair and cliched snarl, as relevant now as he ever
was when he emerged in the mid-'70s as the scourge of western society?
'Happy?' confirms that he
his.
'Happy?' is a modern day
scream at the blinkered ignorance and self interest Lydon has been observing
from his arm chair in LA. It doesn't matter that John is as much a part
of the establishment as the Queen, or that you wouldn't mention 'Happy?'
in the same breath as 'Second Edition' or 'The Flowers Of Romance'.
He's still on the attack, and his barbs are thoughtful enough to suggest
that he hasn't been corrupted by the business.
He also knows that to contend
with or even provoke '87's total lack of concious is to be part of it.
Therefore 'Happy?' is a surprisingly ordinary mishmash of heavy metal
riffs - taken one step back from Album - girlie backing vocals and Lydons
screaming cat antics.
'Seattle', PiL's latest single,
could have been titled after Liverpool or any other Northern city, as
it deals with the enforced industrial wasteland in which people have
to struggle to survive. Lydon, with his sardonic rhyming couplets, is
a social commentator who use's his vicious cynicism to cover up the
fact that he cares.
But Lydons most inspiring
emotions has always been hate and he use's it to good effect in 'Angry'.
With the ridiculously simple chorus 'You make me angry' Lydon launches
a furious attack on those who base their lives on trends. 'No excuse,
you are no use', he snaps. 'The Body', meanwhile, starts with 'When
you run about/Without precaution, you'll get diseases/Need abortions,
and up till now/No vaccination can give you back your reputation', and
it could be an AIDS and unwanted pregnancy warning rolled into one.
During the harsh 'Save Me', he draws parallels between the stupidity
of religious fanaticism and the greed of Thatcherite ideals.
The main trouble with 'Happy?'
is that the songs sentiments are far better than the songs themselves,
and it's left to 'Fat Chance Hotel' to remind us of the PiL of old,
the PiL that used to shake the neighbours walls.
To it's credit though, 'Happy?'
is the only album to be released this year that actually talks down
to it's audience - it seems as if Lydon wants to slap some sense into
the wobbling piece of blank gristle called society whilst taking the
piss out of the mess that we're all in.
'Now your understanding,
don't be vegetating'. John Lydon was born to provoke and Happy?' is
as cynical as the question mark that supports it and hangs ominously
over us all. The sad truth is, we need Lydon as much today as we have
ever done! |