Fine Line Features | The Filth and the Fury

Interview with Johnny Rotten > > the director

Check video and audio clips from the film

Q: What does The Filth And The Fury mean to you?

A: The only reason I agreed to do the documentary was because FilmFour gave us the freedom to tell The Sex Pistols' story as it really was. It's the band's chance to set the record straight. We don't praise ourselves or wax lyrical about our influence. We just tell the truth. For the last 20 years people have exaggerated and blown up The Sex Pistols into something they never were. I think the truth is far more shocking and far more interesting.

Over the years, Steve [Jones, the band's guitarist] and I've both been asked a lot by journalists about The Sex Pistols, but answers that are in any way contradictory to public opinion are not printed. It's bizarre to constantly be told that "It couldn't be like that because I've read the John Savage book". [LAUGHS]. Well - who the fuck's he? He wasn't there. His book is an assumption based on the fact that he was a friend of the manager [Malcolm McLaren].

This film is laying down a gauntlet of sorts: that no matter how you try and cheat and lie and corrupt a thing, ultimately the truth will come through.

Q: What lies were told about the Pistols?

A: People claimed they wrote the songs; that they orchestrated the whole thing; that the band were really not much to do with it. And that's not the truth at all. We weren't a middle-class conspiracy. Everything we did was instinctively working class. And to this day still is. It was not an intellectual movement orchestrated by Malcolm McLaren. It's also not the truth that we deliberately planned to be some kind of social revolution. If we had an aim it was to force our own, working-class opinions into the mainstream, which was unheard of in pop music at the time. The fact is we were being ourselves. And any revolution which followed that should have played closer attention to what we were saying instead of running off and waving flags.

Q: One of the things that comes through from the film is the light-hearted side of the band...

A: One of the major things that was stolen from The Sex Pistols was our sense of humor. People didn't want to focus on the fact that we were young people basically out to have fun. They didn't understand that's what young people do; the world was - and is - a horrible place, but you'll never change it by being miserable.

Q: Why is it important to tell the real story now?

A: I don't know if it's important now, this day, this minute but for the last 20 years it has been gnawing at me that I have had to constantly read lies regurgitated in the media and they've ignored outright anything that the band had to say.

Q: In a lot of ways it's a sad story. Do you regret anything?

A: There are no 'Oh I wish I could have done differently's. You work with the tools you've got and we did very well by completely not giving a toss. In an odd way our ignorance of the musical establishment was our major bonus point. I think I've got smarter over the years, but if I was as smart then as I think I am now it wouldn't have worked. I'd have been too aware of all the negatives.

Q: The different personalities in the band come through in the film. Especially your love-hate relationship with Steve Jones . . .

A: We are all very different people, the band, and that made it an awkward road in a way. But you can't expect everyone to have the same opinions. And the diversity of what was The Sex Pistols is what makes The Sex Pistols. There are no easy answers. A person like me, if there's a problem, I'll go out and attack and yell and scream and try and do something about it. I never run away from it. But I do need someone holding me back sometimes, otherwise it's too unrestrained. [LAUGHS]. There is an energy between Steve and me. It's used well by us because we're not fearful of it; and in a sly way it's good fun to have jabs at each other. We've always enjoyed that.

Q: It feels like a very anti-drugs film . . .

A: It is a very anti-drugs film. It's a shame that the Pistols became associated with drugs because of Sid's indulgence. Sid got it wrong and he got it wrong big time. And unfortunately that image became pervasive. The Pistols wasn't about destroying ourselves, it was about destroying a situation that was destroying us. It was done with a sense of hope. [LAUGHS].

Q: What is the Pistols' legacy?

A: There should not be hero-worship or anything like that. You can respect what we've done and that's fine but the trouble is has been the nonsense about iconography. We've been turned into gods. And it's rubbish. It's all made up, we're human beings. Look at the documentary: warts and all. We just come over as people. There is no posturing or posing. And back then we were confused. We had a manager who was "All print is good print". I disagree, I don't think that all print is good. I think reality is good. It was absurd some of the insults that were thrown at us that were so wrong. And what the fuck? This film puts it in its place. Very neatly and nicely.