John Lydon Biography and Timeline

Audition

Auditions after being spotted around the SEX boutique, soon taking the stage name Johnny Rotten.

Role range: 1975-1978

Grundy Television Controversy

Appears with the Sex Pistols on Thames Television's Today programme, where the band's language creates a national media controversy.

Role range: 1975-

Anarchy in the UK Chart Entry

Anarchy in the UK gives the Sex Pistols their first Official Singles Chart entry and introduces Lydon's confrontational vocal style nationally.

Role range: 1975-

Sex Pistols National Breakthrough

Fronts the Sex Pistols as the band becomes one of the most visible forces in the emerging British punk movement.

Role range: 1975-

Sex Pistols

Lydon, now dubbed "Johnny Rotten", is brought in to audition as a new frontman, Rotten joins, and The Strand is renamed The Sex Pistols (McLaren stating he wanted them to sound like "sexy young assassins")

Sex Pistols

McLaren's assistant, Bernie Rhodes (soon to be manager of The Clash), spots John Lydon who was then sporting green hair, and torn clothes with the words "I hate" scribbled on his Pink Floyd shirt.

Never Mind the Bollocks Number One

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols enters the UK albums chart and reaches number one.

Role range: 1975-

God Save the Queen

Sings God Save the Queen, which reaches number two on the Official Singles Chart during the Silver Jubilee period.

Role range: 1975-

Holidays in the Sun

Sex Pistols release Holidays in the Sun as their fourth major single of 1977.

Role range: 1975-

Pretty Vacant

Sex Pistols release Pretty Vacant, another major UK hit during the band's explosive 1977 breakthrough.

Role range: 1975-

Sex Pistols

McLaren is accused by band members (most notably by John Lydon) of mismanaging them and refusing to pay them when they asked him for money & they split during the American tour

Sex Pistols Breakup

Leaves the Sex Pistols after the band's first phase collapses, ending the original group's brief but highly influential punk career.

Role range: 1975-

Public Image Ltd

Forms Public Image Ltd after leaving the Sex Pistols, moving toward post-punk and experimental rock.

Role range: 1978-

Sex Pistols

McLaren kept the Sex Pistols contract rights until Lydon took him to court in the 1980s to win the rights and unpaid revenues from McLaren. Lydon won and gained complete control from McLaren in 1987