JOHNNY ROTTEN IS PISSED

British punk band Sex Pistols are touring in 2025 without Johnny Rotten, and he is pissed off.

Rotten (John Lydon), is the original lead vocalist and co-founder of the Sex Pistols. The band formed in London, England, in 1975, with Lydon, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and Glen Matlock. The late Sid Vicious replaced Matlock in 1977.

Sex Pistols are hailed as the creators of the punk movement in late 1970s UK.

The band is known for its single studio album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (1977), the songs "God Save the Queen", "Anarchy in the U.K.", and "My Way", plus the heavily publicized tragic relationship between Vicious and girlfriend Nancy Spungen.

In response to announcements that Sex Pistols original members Jones, Cook and Matlock are touring with new lead singer Frank Carter, Lydon called the tour "karaoke".

“When I first heard that the Sex Pistols were touring this year without me it pissed me off,” Lydon told The i Paper. “It annoyed me. I just thought, ‘They’re absolutely going to kill all that was good with the Pistols by eliminating the point and the purpose of it all.'”

“They’re trying to trivialize the whole show to get away with karaoke but in the long term I think you’ll see who has the value and who doesn’t. I’ve never sold my soul to make a dollar. It’s the Catholic in me – that guilt I don’t want to trip.”

Lydon is the lead vocalist of post-punk band Public Image Ltd (PiL), which he founded in 1978.

Lydon last performed with the Sex Pistols in 2008. He lost a lawsuit against them over the use of Sex Pistols music being used in the TV series Pistol in 2021. BMG bought the Sex Pistols catalogue in 2023 (which excluded Lydon and Matlock).

Sex Pistols will be playing 2025 dates in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Switzerland, and France.

Johnny Rotten 1976 (Photo credit: Ray Stevenson)