John Lydon has lost a UK court battle to block the Sex Pistols’ music from being used in an upcoming TV miniseries about the iconic punk group. Former Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook and guitarist Steve Jones had both given permission for the band’s songs to be in the show, which is being directed by Danny Boyle and set to appear on FX.
Jones and Cook argued that the band had made an agreement in 1988 that Sex Pistols songs could be used on a “majority rule basis.” They noted that they also had support of bassist Glen Matlock and the estate of the late Sid Vicious. However, a lawyer for Lydon said that Jones’ 2016 memoir, Lonely Boy: Tales From A Sex Pistol (on which the series is based), had portrayed him “in a hostile and unflattering light.”
In a joint statement, Cook and Jones said the ruling “brings clarity to our decision-making” and “it has not been a pleasant experience.” They added, “We believe it was necessary to allow us to move forward and hopefully work together in the future with better relations.”
Lydon, who likened the agreement to “becoming a prisoner of a hostile majority” and “some kind of slave labor,” has yet to respond.
As for the miniseries, announced earlier this year, it began filming in March but has no official release date yet. “Imagine breaking into the world of The Crown and Downton Abbey with your mates and screaming your songs and your fury at all they represent,” Boyle said in a statement back in January. “This is the moment that British society and culture changed forever. It is the detonation point for British street culture…where ordinary young people had the stage and vented their fury and their fashion…and everyone had to watch and listen…and everyone feared them or followed them. The Sex Pistols. At its center was a young charming illiterate kleptomaniac — a hero for the times — Steve Jones, who became in his own words, the 94th greatest guitarist of all time. This is how he got there.”
