Somewhere in his adopted Los Angeles, where he’s sitting poolside reviewing scripts for his next possible film venture, John Lydon is laughing himself silly over this one.
Graffiti and cartoons drawn on the wall of the London flat where groundbreaking British punk rockers the Sex Pistols were based in the 1970s should be treated with the same archaeological respect given to prehistoric cave art, scientists have claimed.
This according to a report in England’s The Independent. The drawings, which have recently come to light after the band house on Denmark Street became offices, are so important for this period of Britain's cultural history that they should be preserved for future generations, even marked with a blue plaque on the outside of the building, said archaeologists Paul Graves-Brown and John Schofield of the University of York.
"This is an important site, historically and archaeologically, for the material and evidence it contains. But should we retain it for the benefit of this and future generations?" they ask in a study of the drawings for Antiquity magazine and quoted by The Independent.
Answer: hell yes.
Most of the drawings appear to be the work of the band's lead singer, Johnny Rotten, a.k.a. the above-mentioned Lydon. One apparently shows the band's late manager, legendary pop-culture peddler Malcolm McLaren, clutching a wad of banknotes, another shows a spiky-haired Lydon sporting his notoriously rotten teeth.
We wanted to see images of the graffiti but we weren’t able to find any. That said, the very fact that I am curious suggests there is some merit to preserving the drawings (who wouldn’t want to see them?). Perhaps the wall could be torn out and displayed in some kind of rock museum somewhere. Or a Hard Rock Café in Dubai or Guam (they do so exist). Just a thought.
Being that John Lydon and company refused their induction into the Rock & roll Hall of Fame I doubt they'd endorse it going into a museum. Maybe it would be more punk to nail it to Buckingham Palace ;)
Being that John Lydon and company refused their induction into the Rock & roll Hall of Fame I doubt they'd endorse it going into a museum. Maybe it would be more punk to nail it to Buckingham Palace ;)
Posted by: Lynore | 11/24/2011 at 08:46 AM