ITV, Orange Playlist
18th January, 2006

Sex Pistols, Jungles And Mosquitoes

Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, was the sneering, spitting, enfant terrible of punk. The group's shocking antics, electrifying songs and stage performances blew the cobwebs from a complacent music scene.
The Sex Pistols may have only released four singles, but with tracks like the iconic 'God Save the Queen' they succeeded in capturing the mood of a generation and brought Punk to the masses. In 2004 John signed up to appear in 'I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here', proving he still had the ability to shock viewers with his expletive live outbursts.

It's a surprising choice for John's track from the past as he picks the Bee Gees 'New York Mining Disaster' - "The lyrics are bizarre and I just adore their vocal techniques. I love Abba too but not as much. The lyrics make it sound like someone's offering their wife to someone else, which I think is really funny. The Bee Gee's song titles often seem to have no relevance to the actual song and I only recently found out this song depicts a man who is stuck in a mine, missing his wife."

John's present track reflects his positive state of mind as he picks his own song 'In The Sun' - "This track is just about being happy and being outdoors. I wrote it before I was in 'I'm A Celeb..' but it fits nicely with my time in the jungle. It's a very cheery little record. It's a contradiction, moaning about missing industry, missing grey concrete London, when in reality nothing could have been further from the truth."

Not famed for keeping his opinions to himself, John chooses his own 'Rabbit Song' as his track for the future - "This song is part of a whole new album I'm putting together, its fun and it's just the way I talk sometimes - it's a conversation. Rabbit is me talking; it's me rabbiting on. I wrote it in LA in my own studio and it's just a bit of fun."

It's clear to see John's love of animals as he chooses The Scorpions 'Still Loving You' as his dedication track - "I'd like to dedicate this song choice to Toby the Cat. When I was a newborn, just under a year old, I went missing from on top of the bed and my parents couldn't find me. They got the police involved and everything but I'd actually just rolled off the bed and ended up trapped in between the wall and the bed. It was a very dilapidated old house and I'd fallen in a gap in the wall, there were loads of rats and basically this cat, Toby kept me safe until my mum & dad found me - that cat saved me. I like this song because it explains that everything works out in the end, I like the sadness of the song."

John goes for a classic from welsh diva Shirley Bassey 'Hey Big Spender' as his all time favourite track - "I love Shirley Bassey, she's got such a great voice. There's real soul in the way she sings. I find her songs really stir up emotions, it gets to you."

A taster of what John had to say in the programme:

How do you solve a problem like.. John Lydon
"I was a very quiet and shy little boy. But I soon grew out of that. I think it was the Nun's and their torturous attitude that changed me from that timid boy into who I am now. I started to fight back and I haven't stopped since. The cruelty of Catholic Schools was horrendous and probably still is. When I was five or six they used to wrap my knuckles with a ruler for being left handed, they thought it was a mark of the devil! You'd think that kind of thinking would have gone out in the 17th century. But education is so important, it's the best weapon - anyone can be stupid."

Promises, promises
"Every day I wake up and think oh god I hope I don't make a mug of myself again!"

I'm a celebrity get me out of here
"I did I'm a celeb to raise money for charity. I thought it would be a sneaky way to quietly raise some money for Charity. I didn't think so many people would watch it, I honestly didn't. So it was an amazing experience to suddenly come back to the UK and be so popular, popular in just about in the same way that I was amazing unpopular during the Sex Pistols."

No such things as Punk
"I think the word Punk is a stupid name, ugly name. I never liked the title 'King of Punk' - especially when I looked up Punk in the dictionary and it read 'Mr Big's play thing'! It's a category that I resent. Music shouldn't have a category. Punk went wrong when it suddenly became an army of people all wanting to look the same and that's wrong. Punk was about being different and being true to yourself at the same time - not conforming to look like everyone else."

Bill Grundy Interview
"Bill Grundy was a drunken. During that whole thing he was just egging us on and that's what eventually created that foul-mouthed outburst. He tried to reduce us to just two or three foul words but it backfired on him totally. I think he lost his job after that. I think he's dead now - I hope so anyway. He was an agitating kind of a sod."

John Peel
"I don't know anything about John Peel really, except to say that in the early days he played nothing of ours he caught on way late. Now in hindsight him and his lot claim credit for something they had nothing to do with. But the Sex Pistols didn't get airplay but that's what helped us, we were so ignored that we couldn't be ignored. We came along at just the right time, the world had become really stale and we just smacked of something original, we were exactly what everyone needed."

Reuniting the Sex Pistols
"We got back together for the fun of it and just for the chance to annoy people again, plus I suppose the money wasn't bad. It was great being back on stage, back on stage with some fat people I knew from the past. We are all the same as before, just with beer bellies. We still don't like each other and yet we do, it's that internal warfare within the band that makes us vibrant and makes the music good."

When will I be famous
"There's a weakness in young people at the moment. People just want to be famous that's it and there's nothing great about being famous! It's nothing but pain, isolation and victimisation. You're opening to jabs and insults. The magazine culture has made fame look so wonderful but it's all lies. Yes, posh hotel rooms are nice and they look pretty but would you really want to live in one? It's a temporary indulgence and those magazines don't paint the whole picture."

Pete Doherty
"Pete's alright I suppose, he played a gig with us for the Jubilee. I do think he's allowed himself to get caught up in the whole magazine culture. I'd just say to him don't let them write that stuff about you and don't be so openly stupid!"

The rebels without a clue
"Drugs kill. It's that simple. They're not used properly because there's no proper form of education on them. Information on drugs should be readily available to everyone. The rules and regulations make drugs seem more glamorous then they truly are and that attracts people, tossers think it's cool to be a rebel."

The simple life
"My life right now is very simple, it's very quiet and mostly consists of a sofa and TV. I love Telly. I'll watch anything any old cack, I'm just thrilled someone made the effort to entertain me."

I did it my way
"If I had to do it all again, I'd be exactly the same and wouldn't change a thing. And if there was only one way I wanted people to remember me it would be as a sexy beast!

Facing your fears & 4,500 mosquitoes!
I hate mosquitoes I don't like being bitten and feeling the blood draining out of me. During filming for my TV show Megabugs we went to Florida State University. They had 4,500 of the damn things in one research room, let loose - so I went in and pulled my pants down! Worst moment of my life. Even three days later I still couldn't speak, bumps on bumps, on bumps. The only cure for the itchiness and irritation was oatmeal, so I sat in a bath of porridge. It worked and I smelt quite nice afterwards, just don't go near the milk!"