THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

967-Public Image Ltd-Rise.

1986-Number 11 single.

Best Bit-At 2.22. ‘May the road rise with you,’ is a traditional Irish blessing, both of John Lydon’s parents were Irish.

John Joseph Lydon (see also best songs 576-323-92 and 27) was born on January 31st, 1956, in Holloway, London. He was the lead singer of the Sex Pistols from 1975, until January 1978, when he then left to pursue other musical ventures, and forming the ‘Experimental Rock’ group ‘Public Image Ltd,’ often abbreviated as ‘PiL.’ John Lydon has explained the origin of his stage name ‘Johnny Rotten,’ for which he was best known during his time with the Sex Pistols, saying that he was given the name in the mid 1970’s,when his lack of oral hygiene led to his teeth turning green. One version says the name came from the ‘Sex Pistols’ guitarist Steve Jones, who saw Lydon’s teeth and exclaimed, ‘You’re rotten, you are!’ In 2008 Lydon spent $22,000 on extensive dental work saying,’It was not done out of vanity, it was necessity. All those rotten teeth were seriously beginning to corrupt my system.’

As a member of the Sex Pistols John Lydon appeared on the bands one studio Album ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols,’ from 1977, he also sang lead vocals on eight of their singles issued or re-issued between 1976-2002. As the one constant with ‘Public Image Ltd,’ he has released 10 studio Albums between 1978-2015, and 24 singles between 1978-2023, of which seven have made the UK top 40, with ‘This Is Not a Love Song’ charting the highest at Number 5 in 1983. Although ‘PiL’ have never charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in America, they have had great success on the ‘Alternative Airplay,’ and ‘Dance Club Songs’ charts. John Lydon has also released one solo studio Album ‘Psycho’s Path,’ in 1997, and one solo single ‘Sun,’ also in 1997 (UK Number 42.) He also reached the UK top 40 in 1993, when teaming up with the British Electronic duo ‘Leftfield’ on ‘Open Up’ (UK Number 23) (see also best songs 323.)

John Lydon (vocals) formed ‘Public Image Ltd in London, England in 1978 with Keith Levene, (1957-2022) (guitar) Jah Wobble, (bass) and Jim Walker, (drums) Lydon named the band after the 1968 novel ‘The Public Image,’ by Muriel Spark (1918-2006.) In total there have been 17 different members come and go, with Lydon being the bands one constant.

‘Rise’ was the first of two singles released from the fifth studio Album from Public Image Ltd, which was called ‘Album,’ in recent years the album, depending on the format, has also become known as ‘Compact Disc,’ ‘Cassette,’ and ‘mp3.’ By the time of the recording of ‘Rise’ only John Lydon remained from the original line up of Public Image Ltd, and so for the making of the ‘Album’ he teamed up with some of the worlds top musicians, including Ginger Baker, (1939-2019) (drums) (see also best songs 726) Steve Vai, (guitar) and Bill Laswell, (bass) who also co-wrote and produced ‘Rise’ with John Lydon.

Prior to it’s release ‘Rise’ had the working title of ‘South African Song,’ as it was written about the oppression of blacks in South Africa during the apartheid era. Lydon has said,’I read this manual on South African interrogation techniques, and ‘Rise’ is quotes from some of the victims. I put them together because I thought it fitted in aptly with my own feelings about daily existence.’ Lydon has also said,’I think it’s one of my best Pop songs. The content of what it was about got me into hot water. It was that time when everyone was talking about how great Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) was, but my history lessons went back further… people died. My message is there’s no political cause worthy enough that people should die for it. Once you start murdering your fellow human beings it’s over. ‘Rise’ is about the stop of that. I related it to my own background. I’ve got Protestant and Catholic relatives in the north of Ireland, why were they killing each other.’

‘They put a hot wire to my head, ’cause of the things I did and said,. They made these feelings go away, model citizen in every way. May the road rise with you.’