May 9, 2002 11:23

ROTTEN OLD UK!

The Sex Pistol lays into the likes of Tony Blair and Liam Gallagher...

SEX PISTOLS singer JOHNNY ROTTEN has launched a stinging attack on the UK establishment, on the 25th anniversary of the original release of their seminal 'GOD SAVE THE QUEEN'.

Rotten, aka John Lydon, was speaking prior to the re-release of the single on May 27 by Virgin. The new version coincides with the Queen's Golden Jubilee, and features a dance remix by Amen.

Lydon said that despite the single's re-release, he's not interested in whether or not it gets to the top of the charts.

He commented: "Get it right. Virgin Records are (releasing the single). I'm only responsible for collecting the royalties. I made the thing. I don't mind it being heard again but I have no interest in chart positions. There is a nonsense, all this betting on whether it will be Number One or not. Fuck that, get real, you're missing the point, boys and girls."

He also took the opportunity to dismiss the current music scene as lacking "bollocks", branding comparisons between him and Liam Gallagher "nonsense".

He continued: "They're just another bunch of blokes who do what they do. You know they are saying this is Liam Gallagher carrying the torch. It's nonsense. The boy brags and professes to be a professional drunk and basically does The Beatles songs - how the fuck is that relative to me?"

On the subject of politics, Prime Minister Tony Blair is a "pompous, upper class twit". However, he saved his most vitriolic outbursts for The Sun newspaper, who published the interview.

Branding the journalist Dominic Mohan a "fucking moron" and "appalling", Rotten said: "I don't like you, you stink, everything about you is appalling. Go away. Stuff your paper, stuff you. I've got more interesting things to do...

"I wanted to see what you chaps are all about, you ain't gonna change shit. You came in here with a bad attitude, you're not prepared to listen."

The band are widely rumoured to be playing a reunion show at the Crystal Palace Garden Party on July 27, supported by [a][/a].