Public Image Ltd.

The Sex Pistols split up in 1978, following a ruinous tour of the United States. Out of their rubble, emerged Public Image Ltd., the new project of frontman John Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten.) Whereas The Sex Pistols channelled adolescent angst into bursts of high-octane punk, PiL favoured an equally raw but rather more expansive sound. Their debut release, First Issue, is a tense and brooding album, underpinned by rumbling dub-influenced bass lines.
It was on their sophomore effort Metal Box, however, that PiL crafted a definitive post-punk album: an archetype of the genre’s dynamics. Songs like ‘Swan Lake’ and ‘Albatross’ are built around infectious, low-frequency grooves, given detail by sudden bursts of guitar and vocals. However, the album never feels staid and retains a sense of unpredictability throughout; the synth-drenched ‘Radio 4’, for instance, provides an unexpected and beguiling coda.
The band followed Metal Box with the experimental menace of Flowers of Romance. From then onwards, they developed a more accessible sound, favouring cleaner production and bolder melodies. The band went on hiatus in 1992, and reformed seventeen years later in 2009, releasing the belligerently titled This Is PiL three years later.
The band’s tenth studio album is scheduled for recording later this year, and for release in 2015. They are to play a one-off gig at indigo at the O2 on December 13; book quickly as tickets are sure to sell fast.