Public Image: First Issue

Fenomenal Que post-punk tan magistral, esa intro me flechó, suena crudo, suena libre, suena como si nada les importará más dar su mensaje Luego continúan con esa crudeza cuando pasan a Religion I y II Posterior se pone un poquito distinto, más enérgico pero no desentona, la verdad que se confeccionó de una manera muy interesante y les salió un discazo Excelente debut de Public Image Ltd, es también curioso que esto provenga de un ex Sex Pistols Recomendado y reescuchable

Just such a great sound, I could live in it all day. The sharp guitar sound, the smooth driving bass, and John’s great vocal style. I can smell the beer and cigarettes and feel the thick air in the sweaty basement where this band is just going off. The influence is just insane too - you can clearly hear New Order, LCD Soundsystem, and so much in here. Even stuff like Religion I and II shouldn’t work with the spoken word lyrics before the actual song with the same lyrics. 99% of bands would make this cheesy and eye rolling - PiL makes it awesome.

There's thoughtful critique of religion and then there's cringey shouting. John Lydon wouldn't know nuance if he stepped in it.

Maluquisimo

Sex pistols lead singer. Very wierd music didn't like it much

(1/5) John Lydon is the kid who knows he's not supposed to touch you so he holds his fingers a centimeter from your face yelling, 'I'm not touching you!!' and then pouts when he gets in trouble for it. John Lydon is the kid who demands 'chicken nuggies' and won't eat until he gets them, so his parents cave. John Lydon is a grown up brat who screamed into a microphone to get everyone's attention, because his mum didn't give him enough. John Lydon is undirected rage and anger put into human form. John Lydon rails against all the other wankers who made fun of him or picked on him, not realizing that made him a wanker too. John Lydon is best friends with Robert DIMERY (or so I've heard..) and that's why he's a shit person who made a shit album, and this is shit. Prove me wrong.

Wasn't familiar with this group, but as soon as I saw the Sex Pistols affiliation (specifically the inclusion of the Rotten one himself) my heart sank and I knew I was in for a tough ride. Even that didn't prepare me for the nine minutes of absolute gear-grinding trainwreck that was Theme. Religion I and Religion II made me wish this guy WAS dead before settling into something that almost passes for music in the next couple of tracks, then descending back into aggressively bad noise in the final eight minute "song.". To say that I hated this album would be an understatement, and the fact that there is another offering from them on this god forsaken list is a testament to just how ridiculous some of its offerings have been. Do I seriously have to give this piece of shit a star??

179. Public Image: First Issue - Public Image Ltd. (1978) 8.20.26 Variety: 3 Adequacy: 4 Listenability: 3 Uniqueness: 5 Emotionality: 3 = 3.6 rounded up to a 4 "Think I’m proud to be your enemy/ Take your hands off of me/ You’re worse than the thing that possessed me" PiL is one of those bands that I respect way more than I enjoy listening to. Their stuff is not nearly as unlistenable as some would have you believe though, especially if you approach them from an art history sort of mindset. I came to them well after having fallen in love with a lot of the post punk bands that lifted from them and were playing around in the garden they had planted, so when I did finally come around to jumping in in the early 2000s, I was surprised ( despite having read about that influence beforehand) just how much of their sound I did in fact recognize in these other acts. So eve if you don't get the same pleasure you might from a crowd pleasing work like Rubber Soul, for example, ( our last album), you could look at PiL like you would a groundbreaking painter who established a school that others then reformed, and improved upon. In this case, the painter might be Francis Bacon. The fundamentals are there, with all the foundational structures existing in a not unpleasant presentation. However, they exist underneath what, for all purposes, seems to be an attempt by the artist himself to deface and mutilate his own work. Scratches, stray streaks of paint, and even rough under drawing seeping through the layers of paint. And on top of that a purposeful, abrasive ugliness that is meant to invoke both revulsion and intrigue, and perhaps add some visual meta commentary on the very subject of the idea of painting itself. PiL is the audio equivalent of such a figure for me. Bacon is not a favorite either, but when I look at his stuff I am fascinated by the degraded beauty. Lydon himself is a hard pill to swallow though, with his borderline Oppositional Defiant Disorder antics, and his inability to not shoot himself in the foot most every time he opens his mouth. I used to have the same sort of fascination with him as a public figure, finding him annoying to the extreme, but similarly to how you might find a certain pleasure from wiggling a loose tooth, I still could not help but want to find out what crazy thing he might have said this time. In my older age, he's much more of a figure that I've been able to empathize with, especially given his recent unfortunate personal issues, and I look back and see a dude who maybe wasn't so much an asshole, as just a guy who felt so incredibly unsure of himself at all times that he seems to have just defaulted to pre-emptive attack mode. He'll hurt you before it even occurs to you to consider thinking about possibly maybe hurting him. That kind of self-defense mode does exist in people I've known, and makes him a much more human figure. Still magnetic with his steely gaze, and his quick wit though. I won't discount his abilities as a legit iconic frontman ( for two bands!) or the fact that he hustled and was the driving force behind his own success. Anyway, I think with a not particularly user friendly album like this, more stage setting than normal is required. THE TRACKS Side one "Theme" - What an opening statement. A sarcastic screech, and a shimmery, but crunchy guitar dancing atop the rusty, pointy, landfill of the plodding industrial beat. I can't remember what band it was, but I made a comparison in an earlier review to the type of danger signaling that certain plants and animals have to warn predators they are toxic or venomous. This serves much the same purpose I think. This is a big sign that tells you to "fuck off and maybe go listen to some ABBA" if you're not down for abrasive textures, antagonistic vocals, or any of the sort of anti-rock theatrics and instrumentation you'll find here. I really dig the crackly, overwhelming atmosphere and it all sort of rolls together for me into an almost sort of ambient, mechanical haze. Keith Levene's scratchy, discordant guitar is as imitative of a feedback heavy radio being constantly tuned as it is of some sort of squeaky metallic grinding, and yet it floats up to become almost pretty in comparison. This is music as decoupage, disparate, unrelated and even ugly pieces all assembled together into a recognizable form that retains both the familiar shape, and the rough and garbagey textures of the individual components. You can't dance to it, and some would barely call it a song, it I like it. "Religion I" - It wasn't maybe as old hat then to have an embarrassingly "artsy" little spoken word polemic as an interlude back then, but man am I tired of interludes, skits, and non music after 177 albums where quite a few of them have featured such nonsense. But ultimately it's really just an intro for the next song, and I can't argue with any of the messaging. "Religion II" - And this proves it was entirely unnecessary , since it's just the same thing but set to music. Speaking of, the instrumentation on here, is almost of you took the Can, repetitive, mechanical motoric beat and applied it to ALL the instruments, resulting an a sort of hypnotic groove that provides the blueprint to the post-rock playbook that Slint would hone to a sharp point on Spiderland. Lydon's at his most prickly and "come at me bro!" here with his vocals, and in a different mood might strike me as more irritating, but it works quite well for the mood of the song, and especially so when he shouts the refrain. I'm also pretty fully on board with the messaging. The clanging unmusical manhandling of the piano ( credited to Lydon) even works well, adding some disorienting accents. "Annalisa" - This one starts almost like a mutated Motown soul track as filtered heard echoing down the hall of a decrepit tenement building, then the guitar comes in like a razor blade slashing through the air to cut deep grooves into your brain with some help from Jaw Wobble's chthonic ( 18 points in Scrabble for me) bass line. Lydon has never pretended to be a professional or even moderately talented singer when it comes to sheer ability. But his charisma and instincts serve him well here, adding just the right bit of flavor to the track. This is dance music for the end times, favorably comparable to some of the stuff we heard on Killing Joke's self titled. Side two "Public Image" - This is the one track I had retained in my 5-star list on my old iPod. Levene's guitar is as light and glimmering here as it is crunchy and discordant i other places, and is up there with some of the best lines from any of the best of their eventual peers in the post punk scene. I'm specifically reminded of John McGeoch's guitar work with the Banshees, especially on Juju, which is high praise from me. This is as catchy as radio-friendly as the band ever got I think, and provides a much more melodic pathway not taken by them, but instead picked up by any number of others. Lydon and Wobble conspire here to give us the "what if" scenario of what the Sex Pistols could have sounded like had they been able to evolve and experiment, and feed their more poppy tendencies. "Low Life" - Even more awesome guitar/ bass synergy here driving through the length of the song with a SUPER hooky repetiveness that I can hear the echoes of in such acts as Joy Division ( and later New Order) or Gang of Four. I think it has been said Lydon was targeting Sid Vicious in the lyrics, which is pretty sad as they were close friends, and I think Lydon was pretty messed up by how things ended up going. As such, I think he shows some real emotion and pain on this track where elsewhere he feels much more sarcastic and caustic. "Attack" - In case you mistakenly thought you might get to see the tender side or Mr. Lydon, he opens this one up by rearing back and seeing to snort up a and hawk a gigantic loogie before embarking on an acidic bit of class warfare. Instrumentally things are fine enough, but lack some of the character of previous tracks. Things are looser, and have a bit of an unfinished, first take vibe about them. "Fodderstompf" - I an easily seeing this as the last straw for a LOT of listeners. "Fuck this shit" might be a very reasonable response to such a blatant finger in the eye. But I think it's done with a lot of humor, and no small bit of art. The dub beat on this is MASSIVE and funky and a complete headnodder in my humble opinion. Also, I can see a TON of this all over the Gorillaz sound, from the reverby danceable bass, the very piss-takey industry mocking wit, and even more specifically Damon Albarn’s 2-D vocal filter. I think if Gorillaz covered this one, no one would blink an eye. Well, maybe it would have to be a hidden track or a more radio-friendly reinterpretation at this point in their lifespan. EDIT: The only connection I could find online was that Albarn asked Lydon to guest on the Gorillaz album Plastic Beaches, but he turned it down, later referring to Gorillaz ( and most other modern music) as a "mélange of shit." That bit of self sabotage is slightly less hilarious. ( cut to Shaun Ryder relaxing on the yacht that "Dare" paid for". HIGHLIGHTS - "Theme" - "Religion II" - "Annalisa" - "Public Image" - "Low Life" - "Fodderstompf" MIDLIGHTS - "Attack" LOWLIGHTS - FINAL THOUGHTS I found even more to appreciate this time around, and I'm glad I got another go at it. Will it ever be among my favorites? Very unlikely. As much as I like to dip my toe into the noisey, clanky, anti-rock stuff, I'm too much of a simple hooks and melodies guy to ever truly LOVE this sort of thing, or to casually throw in on. There were many highlights though, and at least one track that will remain on my 5-star list. I fully went in expecting a solid 3-star showing, and found that my extra years on this planet have perhaps seasoned me more to find this sort of thing more pleasing to the ear, and I came away feeling like it was far less confrontational and more theatre of the absurd than I would have maybe said previously. As someone who has grown to love acts like the Cardiacs, I can hardly take any sort of umbrage with this. PiL's influence cannot be overstated though, as bands diverse as U2 to Skinny Puppy to Red Hot Chili Peppers to NiN to Massive Attack Radiohead have all claimed to be indebted to their sound. Even if it didn't make it into the pantheon of 5-star listens for me, it'll remain an exhaustively interesting one if and when it comes up again. And look at all the cool shit below that I'll probably be diving into over the next few days as a result of having revisited it. PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - "Religion I" is completely redundant non-song and can be axed FURTHER LISTENING - Metal Box by Public Image Ltd - The Modern Dance by Pere Ubu - Pink Flag by Wire - Real Life by Magazine - The Image Has Cracked by Alternative TV - Buy by Contortions - No New York compilation by Various Artists - Hex Enduction Hour by The Fall - Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division - Spiderland by Slit - Songs for Ships and Irons by Cardiacs

This album is not good. I still enjoyed myself. I laughed at the tortured spoken word, the pestering repeated vocals, and the wannabe provocateur performance. They want you to call it post-punk but thats punk. It may not bring the frenetic punk energy, but man does it wallow in punk’s affinity for poor taste. Poor taste abounds on this album and the album is the better for it. Did we really expect a guy that styles himself as Johnny Rotten would be anything but. What we have is a cocktail of doing drugs, messing around, and airing grievances. Occasionally music seemed to happen, but low effort and repetitive music. And yet, it called to my little punk heart. 3/5

Eclectic! Very industrial and punk sound. Politic critical lyrics. Is perfect!

Nope, nope, nope

Good bass

Have this

Very little to say about this - it sounds a bit like the Clash if they were toffs, but nothing much to get excited about sadly

Fuck. I love punk. I love post-punk. I love the Pistols. John Lydon sucks, but we knew that. But this just wasn't good and it breaks my heart.

For the most part, I liked this a lot. The quality is variable, but the good bits outweighed the rather tedious religion part 2.

As my German friend would call it: “abysmal dogshit”. The first 3 songs, if you can call them that, are dumb rants that Lydon seems to think are conscious statements on reality and Christianity. Outside of his self absorbed bubble, this is middle school tier edgy atheism you’d see on Reddit. Unfortunately it does not get much better after that. Starting with “public image” it does at least become music, albeit really terrible takeoffs of Sex Pistols song structures. Th guitars have no recognizable riffs, just reduced to a drone while lydon wails over top of them with a massive reverb effect that sounds like crying in an empty stairwell. Then it gets right back to being abysmal dogshit with the last song, the 8 minute fodderstompf. A very low 1 star. Nigh on unlistenable and a waste of time. Yet another inclusion that only British music critics would add. ⭐️

Absolutely awful but it gets 2 stars for spitting absolute bars in Religion I

Not my fave punk moment

3/10

I have no idea what i make of this, so 3 I guess...?

Irgendwie kommt bei mir nur nasaler Singsang kurz vorm Schreien an. Danke nein... 2/5

So this was an eye-opener and exceeded my expectations. Sad to admit I did not appreciate the through-line from the Sex Pistols/Johnny Rotten to PiL, mainly because the raw punk sounds of the Sex Pistols never really appealed to me in the first place. So for some reason I did not appreciate what PiL was all about (thought they were just an emo group) and to be honest this is nowhere near as bad as the mostly low reviews on this site would suggest. If you blindfolded me and played the four interior tracks of Annalisa, Public Image, Low Life and Attack I would swear these were early Pixies tracks, as it sounds like Frank Black and the Pixies 10-15 years before their time. Really good stuff. Glad I found this album. I'm speculating that the two religion tracks turned people off? My only frame of reference to PiL was when the Dead Milkmen sang: "You'll dance to anything.... By Public Image Limited." Along with the Communards, the Smiths, and Depeche Commode (!). So yeah, learned something new here today and glad about it.

This was great! After seeing some mixed reviews, I was skeptical about this, people especially hated the last track. I ended up really liking the albums as a whole, the first track is brilliant and despite being unconventional, the last track was actually really interesting and even funny! I can see where the appeal is lost, it’s quite experimental, but this a great, more artistic take on punk, it’s really interesting!

Overall, good energy and I like the pace—but this is an album I'll never return to. ★★★

Long and a little too sloppy sounding for my liking. Songs went on too long, and even if they acknowledge it (last song) it was just a bad choice. Some songs had a tight and punchy sound but overall not a great album. Post-punk has sounded alot alot better.

I actually enjoyed this, if I was able I would have given it 3.5; I still hated ‘Religion’ though but that might just be my dislike of John Lydon sneaking in there.

music is love

Noisy nonsense.

Did they employ a different mixer for each track? lol

Metal Box this ain't

What a pretentious fucking wanker. He's made a career out of calling everything and everyone "boring" but all of his music sounds the same

piola piola, piola, auto

My rating style is Cheerleader and out of 573 albums, I’ve only given 12 one-star reviews. So Public Image Limited should probably be proud to have two of them - it feels like John Lydon at least set out to be deliberately annoying.

Religion I and II were interesting, but otherwise I didn’t like the album

This is pretty terrible. They got much better in the late 80s.

How did Johnny Rotten go from the sex pistols to Public Image? The mind boggles. Oh, that's right. They didn't have Malcolm McLaren anymore.

"Religion I" & "Religion II" are pretty insufferable. Why did no one tell these guys that they don't need to read their bad lyrics like slam poetry before putting it to music? It's punk, which I don't hate, but I can definitely hear the Sex Pistol influence here... Their anti-establishment stance feels performative in the same way the Pistols do to me. And also the music itself is just... Not good.

mega basura

the man is not musical

Not really my thing. I liked Annalisa best

I fucking hate Jonny Rotten.

Had to look this up and saw the lead singer was Johnny Rotten, so I was hoping it would have a decent track here or there but wow... This is pure ass. Man I really hated that intro track. Just really lame way to open an album with a terrible (spoken word?) delivery that quite honestly sounds like shit over a generic instrumental. Then its another spoken word bit over a silent background that is again just not interesting as I don't feel strongly about anything being said with how boring the music is at this point. Religion II is a little better, but there's no situation I'd ever want to hear this in. Lydon has never been that great of a vocalist even during the pistols, but at least the band knew had to make instrumentals here and there that were good fun and fit his vocals much better. Not to mention, why are some of these songs so long if there's not going to be any evolution throughout the track. Every single song picks an idea to start with and wears it out with the refusal to try anything new. One of the worst things I've listened to in a while despite the leniency I can give some of the records that have previously come up. I truthfully could not pick a single thing I liked about. Despite being a political album, I could not tell a single thing he said on here because unlike the many political acts who knew that their message would be much more powerful and relevant long beyond the time of release, this music is actually fucking garbage and muddles anything being said completely. Complete waste of time.

Antichrist themes and terrible sound. Only 2 songs in and this is a guaranteed 1… not listening to the rest of this shi

Well of all things I could've expected this album to be, this wasn't it. Also Pinky from Animaniacs on the mic in "Fodderstompf"

This man needs two books: a good theology book, and a good music theory book. What's funny - but also a little sad - about a certain type of British punks, is their strong belief to be the anti-extablishment par exellence, while in reality they are just the dumbest, most idiotic part of the so called "establishment" itself, selling their angry crap as the purest rebellion. Guess what? It remains angry childish crap. 1/5

Ich verstehe, dass das Album sehr wichtig für die Musik, v.a. Punk & PostPunk war (Allein deswegen gibt es einen halben Stern extra, was zum zweiten führt). Auch erkenne ich an, dass Provokation als Kunstform inhärent epochengebunden ist & seine Wertigkeit sowie Relevanz über Zeit verliert, damit auch, könnte man argumentieren, der künstlerische Gehalt, wenn man Kunst der Kunst wegen ablehnt (damit meine ich, dass man Dinge nicht als Kunst bezeichnen möchte, nur deswegen, weil andere es tun oder getan haben; Ein Produkt, dass seinen Mehrwert aus der Provokation schöpft, ist dann nicht mehr seiner Intention treu, wenn die Zeiten dafür sorgten, dass die gegebene Provokation nicht mehr provozierend ist, vielleicht sogar die Norm.) Dennoch ist dieses Album für mich einfach unangenehm zu hören. Ich finde darin keine Freude, es ist etwas, das sich anfühlt, als müsse man es machen, einfach um es gemacht zu haben (oder behaupten zu können, Kunst bzw. Musik zu lieben & bewandert zu sein). Erschwerend hinzu kommt der Umstand der Albumsproduktion, der von Wikipedia wie folgt beschrieben ist: "In preparing their debut studio album, Public Image: First Issue, the band spent their recording budget well before the record was completed. As a result, the final album comprised eight tracks of varying sound quality, half of which were written and recorded in a rush after the money had run out." Für mich ist das auf jeden Fall ein Album, welches ich hoffe nicht noch ein mal zu hören. 1.5 Sterne (siehe oben)

If you had told me this album was recorded by Ade Edmondson and Rik Mayall as some weird companion to the show 'Bottom' I would have believed you. It sounds like they are desperately wanting to be taken seriously.

Your act is really poor.

Much better than the first offering but still quite annoying. High 2.

Why is this in here?

Yuck

Not sure if I enjoyed it but found it interesting

One of my fraternity brothers was huge into PIL. Hearing them again, I remember why they never appealed to be back then...or now.

Solid punk album

This is another one of those rare albums that make me remember the power of this project, and the reason I started it in the first place. This is a band that I had not heard before (though I'm fairly certain I've heard of them), in a genre I don't much care for, and I am blown away. This album must be the forefather of so many bands that came after. I don't think it's quite a 5 star for me, but man, it is an excellent album, and an excellent inclusion into this project.

Did more for me than I had expected after reading the reviews. Energetic. RYM: N Saved a song: N

Surely this wasn’t even in the top 1001 albums of 1978

Naw

3.25

I don't think I liked this album as much as I expected to. Coming from John Lydon after the Sex Pistols, I was hoping for something that would immediately click, but First Issue felt uneven to me. That said, it's definitely an interesting record. Rather than trying to recreate punk, Public Image Ltd. pushes into stranger territory with dub-inspired basslines, experimental production, and a darker, more unsettling atmosphere. It's ambitious and clearly influential, but I found the songs inconsistent. A few tracks stand out and hint at the band's potential, while others felt repetitive or difficult to connect with. The musicianship is solid, especially the rhythm section, and Lydon's vocal delivery remains distinctive—more anxious and confrontational than melodic. I can appreciate what the album is trying to do and why it's considered important, even if I didn't enjoy the listening experience all that much. Overall, First Issue is a bold debut that deserves respect for its originality, but it wasn't an album I'd be eager to revisit. It feels more significant than enjoyable to me.

Cringed hard at a lot of this. It gave me the ick. The bass was great though, kudos to the bassist.

Didn't find much that connected with me to the point where I may just not like post punk I general. Vocals are off putting and discordant with the music which is meandering and expiramental. I can't think of a theoretical time I would listen to this unprompted.

I knew this band sounded familiar. Never listened to any of their stuff. Interesting stuff. Very Punk

well, was with every PiL Ltd. album, i find it annoying and johnny rotten being as usual, boorish, and over-rated.

This is about as bad as music gets, however with one exception. The bass is FANTASTIC. I love the sound, the production, and the style. The rest of the music is pure trash, one of the worst albums I have listened to ever.

Felt like I was being scolded. Did not understand. The only reason I did not give a 1 is I was not offended because it did not make sense to me.

insufferable

It's just fine

4/10 - The first track is un-listenable. Fodderstompf is annoying af. The rest of it? I can see it appealing to me. But that first song put this album in such a wrong light for me that I found the whole thing annoying. Fav Tracks: Annalisa Heard before? --------–- ❌ Saved a new Song? ----- ❌ Saved Album? -------–-- ❌ Will Listen Again? ---––– ❌

I like this better than I thought I would. Sonic Youth/Dinosaur Jr./The Pixies/Every other college radio band from the 80s loved this album. Ok, the spoken word poem about religion has lost me. We get it, you hate religion. One with music, one without, this is redundant. Annalisa is the song that launched the Pretenders. Jah Wobble is the shit. I have to admit, I'm kind of liking this. Ends with a long song with the same repetitive refrain and some found sound...which is awful because the music for it is pretty cool, Jah Wobble strikes again.

Too screamy and with talky/chanty lyrics. The background beats are fine but everything verbal ruins it.

The music was surprisingly not annoying, even for a punk album. But it was the last track of the album, an hour long interview on the BBC with the lead singer Johnny Rotten, that really stuck out to me. It was a strange conversation, with moments of levity interspersed with serious conversation. I couldn't really tell you much about the songs but I immensely enjoyed the conversation about them.

Okayy

;(

Totally fine, a bit annoying like anything associated with the Sex Pistols.

Who listens to this and enjoys it?

did not enjoy as much as Metal Box but still not a bad listen

This was fun until Fodderstompf

What fucking utter garbage!

Is this even music? Or just random talking with a backing track. Maybe it's supposed to be a podcast?

How torqued did American listeners get in their introduction to Public Image Ltd? Maybe if this record had been released in the U.S. with the same tracks 1–8 as the UK version right around 1978/1979 or even 1980 then I would've had a different experience and understanding of the group before I picked up Second Edition/Metal Box. Not that I was listening to this stuff then but just that it took so long for First Issue to be part of the conversation around PiL in the states that we couldn't see the throughlines as clearly. This sure is a lot of preamble to say I like this record and I wish I had heard it before Second Edition so that I could appreciate that record more on first listen (spoiler alert, I was originally put off by it but have since come to like it a great deal). Anyway, this is more of that dub bass and spidery guitar goodness with Lydon's complaints spread across the music. Not for everyone, probably no longer even for that many listeners but it tickles a particular part of the ear that not even other PiL (aside from Second Edition) quite can.

groundbreaking

This was an interesting listen after the other PIL album we had, as it was more transitional between the punk of their previous bands and the more dub influenced experimental stuff to come. First track was the latter, bass louder than everything else, probably the best one. In two minds how much I enjoyed it, definitely interesting and I think when it lands I enjoy it but if not it does drag. The religion track(s) was a bit GCSE poetry and I'm not sure the more punky tracks were that good. Overall okay.

So, not Public Enemy then? Punky, rapid, noisy. Didn't care much for the first half, but the back half improved a whole bunch.

Was not sold on this after the opening few tracks, but got better from Annalisa onwards (excluding the final track). The religion tracks felt like they were trying too hard to be edgy and didn't do it for me. I'm familiar with public image which is good. Sounds suspiciously like the pistols. Great kinda dub sounding bass throughout. "Annalisa", "public image"and "attack" were all great post punk/ punk tracks though I think 3.5

You can hear that transition from punk to new wave happening here. More artistic than the pistols. Not as good as Second issue.

c'est la même chose pendant une heure, un mec qui parle en boucle

Good album. Side one is probably hard to swallow for most, it’s kind of a long noisy drone with written verse over the top at times. Side two is more traditional in its structure. Good songs, post punk. Sounds like a natural progression from the Sex Pistols. 3.5 for me.

Was OK

This is absolutely unlistenable

Sex Pistols but....look i admit i was harsh on Metal Box so this score is to fix that. 4/5

Var sikkert banebrytende, men... nei.

The Sex Pistols are fantastic; I know this because I love their only album and I hate punk. But now I am wondering who wrote all that stuff cos I hated this. This absolutely encapsulates what I hate about punk, jarring sounds with words just being shouted on top in a monotone.

Interesting, but not a great album to enjoy listening to again - a bit cliched angry young man….

Pretty trashy and noisy punk for me, the title track is the best of them but not enough to bring this away from a 1 for me.

From a noise-rock perspective, there's some interesting things going on in the rhythm section, particularly for 1978, but i can't stand listening to Lydon's voice. I start to give this album the benefit of the doubt to get it up to 2 stars and Lydon manages to keep dragging it back down to 1 star.

It's certainly punk music, can't say I really enjoy it but it's got energy and uniqueness

A rippingly mean-spirited time. Enjoyed this a lot.

Not even going to give this a cursory listen, I hate everything he's ever made and done so I already know what my rating is

Not bad, but not quite the punk I like.

mort feature goes crazy on the last song

Que carajo es esto??.... No entiendo como estos discos extraños y sin ritmo estan dentro de una lista de los mejores álbumes.

The songwriting here is staggeringly bad. Unimaginative, annoying, and repetitive. Speaking of repetitive, there was a track where he spoke words and then the next track he’s saying those same words. Also, dashing religion, has been done to death. If you’re going to do that, you’ll have to be creative.

Given that Sex Pistols were a boy band, and that John Lydon is now almost completely unlikable and disconnected from any principles he may have had, I kind of forgot that Publid Image Ltd. Had several albums of fascinating and genuinely subversive music. A far cry from the relative sugary sweetness of the Sex Pistols, First Issue begins with a grinding 9 minute noise rock song (Theme) without any kind of identifiable riff, just expressive wailing feedback and John Lydon screaming a mantra about wanting to die. It's insane and exhilarating, and honestly it serves as a striking mission statement from a band who were genuinely looking to push punk somewhere stranger and darker than *most* bands were willing to look. Annalise is similarly punishing. But there is a little respite here, Public Image, Low Life and Attack have a little more structurally in common with a more conventional punk album, but with the distinct, signature bitterness and wonderfully bad vibes that are on display here. And we gear shift back up with Fodderstompf, which is a fascinating piece of funeral dub, in which Lydon's vocals are pushed so far past the point of parody that they *must* be taken seriously. I think the only low point may be Religion (1 in particular). I can look past it a little on 2, because there's a whole song there. And I do think that critique of religion is pretty much essential in society, but it shoots for shock over substance, and ends up sounding clunky and ridiculous. And this is at it's worst on Religion 1, which is basically a slam poetry recitation of what, in 2026, I can only read as Reddit atheist zingers like "Pray to the God of a bitch, spelled backwards is dog" and "Do you pray to the Holy Ghost, when you suck your host?". I dunno, in the song, delivered by Lydon, it kind of feels like he's trying to be cute and cheeky with it, and I just don't think it really works. But regardless of this little rough patch, this is a fantastic album, and a real curve ball that stopped Lydon from being doomed to die as "The Sex Pistols Guy", all while genuinely pushing punk into new and challenging places.

i think they were onto something…by not releasing this stateside for 30 years

Never listened to this before, which is surprising. By all accounts this is my genre, this is IMPORTANT in the history of MY music. But now that I have begun to listen I understand. It’s actually… bad isn’t it? Very bad. Jonny Rotten indeed. John Lydon is worse than a little brother you have to look after given access to recording equipment and… a budget? How the hell did he get a budget? A studio? My god what drugs WERE these people doing? THIS is a SEMINAL work in post-punk? You’ve got to be kidding me. It actually gets worse as it goes on… which is impressive. It starts so badly. I want to give it 2 for punk rock, but I just can’t. It’s utter crap. 1 Boolean: True - ha! Now here’s a case where one SHOULD listen to a very, very bad album because they need to know how bad and how the genre actually began

This was a pretty cool album, until the end where it got a little crazy, but it sounded like they were having fun so I guess its ok.

It’s punk for sure, but it’s starting that bend towards post punk. Which, I guess think helps Johnny rotten get his in your face message out a little better. I like this a lot more than the Sex Pistols.

I have and like their next album, this one I don't know apart from that 1 song. Sighed at the track lenghts but first track is interesting enough, and it carries on like that. Surprised. Last song is pretty terrible though, 3.5 rounded up Heard before? Song Owned: No, 90/341 (26%) Will I get: No

I like the Sex Pistols, because they feel refreshing, and have a sense of melody despite themselves. This just feels like tired MAGA Johnny Rotten.

I enjoyed one song so it gets a two.

The Good: It’s a first! The Bad: It’s not the last… The Ugly: If this is what a public image should look like… Fuck me that was hard to get through. Then again, maybe it is genius… Then again, maybe not. 2*

I'm only 45 albums in and this is my second Pil record, please be the last. Like their second album, this one is better in the second half but only marginally. Johnny Lydon has no musical instincts whatsoever, he's anti-music. Maybe that's the point? I don't know but I feel bad for the other guys I'm the group doing some cool shit like Fodderstompf and then have it totally ruined by juvenile wailing.

Unsettling songs and dark i see the concept but still 3.2/10

whiney and ranting

A very interesting album and even more interesting interview with John.

I enjoyed this album. I loved its simple, raw sound, which captured the essence of London punk. My favorite tracks were Public Image and Low Life. Its directness was exactly what appealed to me.

punk!

Performative anger done badly.

Pas compris ce qu'il fait dans cette liste.

some bright spots on here, but kind of obnoxious overall. didn’t see the need to have the spoken word track followed by the same lyrics with music. kind of lessened the impact of the words imo. “Fodderstompf” was kind of fun

7 / 10

No era una banda que conociera en profundidad y siento que es más historica que otra cosa este album, particularmente no me copó PERO me ayudó a dormir asique banco eso.

This seems like it was a legacy pick just because of how important the Sex Pistols were. This album is mediocre at best.

Maybe I'm not the target audience for this but it's kind of just noise and yelling.

This guy is to church what Pink Floyd was to school. That being said, the overall punk vibes made for a unique listen

So generic and so forgettable

Awful

Pues entre este y Mtal Box, me quedo con el segundo, por todo. Y entre este y el Real Life de Magazine (mismo año y misma página en mi libro) me quedo con el segundo por todo.

Lol

I wanted to like this album more than i did. I quite like Lydon’s delivery and enjoy the music, but it just didn’t connect. The spoken word Religion I felt like something that should have existed as s live ranty poem and not committed to record, although i did enjoy some of yhe laboured rhyming (done……..relig(i)on). ‘Fodderstompf’ is just annoying and goes on forever

This was horrid, and I’m pretty sure gave me a headache.

My biggest issue with the Sex Pistols has always been Johnny Rotten's voice, and my only PiL knowledge is based on the single Rise (which I like.... but which isn't on this album), so this was a record I approached with caution. There seemed to be an awfully large amount of him repeating the same words again and again and again in most songs. He did put a twist on the theme during Fodderstompf, by repeating "We only wanted to be loved" again and again and again, but this time in a silly voice that recalled the Monty Python pepperpot characters of middle aged ladies with screechy voices. This was not enjoyable for me. 1/5

This album dares to ask: what if punk was boring? All the political grandstanding with none of the driving dynamism. "Religion" is tiresome and feels juvenile, though maybe I just roll my eyes inherently at these RaDiCaL aNtI-ReLiGiOn screeds—they seem passé and low-hanging fruit. Maybe I'm not being fair. Fodderstompf is possibly one of the worst songs I've ever heard.

*Whoopie cushion noises while a fire alarm goes off during a hail storm* 1/10

Man there are so many terrible British post-punk albums in this list. This album doesn't seem to want to sound good. Very punk of it. I hated it.

ugh jah’s bass on the first two pil albums are christ-like.

Gets two stars because the boy from The Clash is a class guitarist. Wish Johnny Rotten would stfu so I could hear it.

so bad it's good but it's actually just bad. rough listen

Frustrating listen. The A side is completely skippable with a combination of noise rock and spoken word that is neither engaging nor entertaining. The B side opens with a pair of solid songs, then falls right back into the same pitfalls from the A side. Diverse, sure, but it feels like the best parts are almost accidental. Top tracks: Public Image, Low Life

Genius or shite? Elements of both I think.

very mixed album. Two excellent tracks, a few ok and some absolute drivel

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." - Mark Twain. Tossing aside conventions is the simple part. Finding something to replace them with is the heavy lifting of the artistic process. Lydon has always struck me as a guy who was overly proud of himself for doing the easy part, and had no capacity and/or motivation for, or interest in the important work. For example, the band hits on something interesting on Public Image / Low Life. But Lydon seems to have been too busy shouting utter nonsense to have noticed. It took their contemporaries (Echo & the Bunnymen, Cure, Joy Division) to craft a sound from it.

Well, I gave it a try and I feel like I can't find any artist value in this record. I agree with the reviewer who said that they can fast forward during any song and the new section sounds exactly the same. The only song I didn't mind was "Public Image". It was the only single from this album, and I think that it's the only song that could possibly had been a single because everything else sucks.

Repetitive mediocrity.

there is certainly music in this album. i kinda like it though.

Another unlistenable punk rock record

I really can't see the appeal here man

Vivan los sex pistols

Okay, pero quien escogio la canción del final?

Listened

Holds onto its punk roots a little too tightly but it's still pretty good

This album made me envious of the deaf. 38 minutes of my life I can never get back. I wish I could give this zero stars.

Pretty annoying...punk?

It’s absolutely crazy how many albums there are on this list that were only made to piss people off. I will die on this hill. Just because you’re a pretentious piece of shit that thinks that the epitome of art is to make other people hate it and to only ever appeal to people who think it’s got this wildly obscure “hidden meaning”, doesn’t make it anything worth while. It’s bad. You’re bad at this. No amount of pretentious bull shit primer will ever redeem this one.

I'm not the biggest fan of John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten when he was with the Sex Pistols). This is a post-punk album and I get that it means there will be a lot of screaming rather than singing and what sounds to a lot of ears like just a lot of noise rather than actual music. I do think there are a few really good songs on this album, but not enough for me to want to listen again. I think the album has a place on this list because of the place Public Image Ltd and John Lydon have in the history of post-punk music, but not because of the quality of the album.

Really? What new ground did PIL ever break? Johnny could never sing, he's just plain annoying to listen to. Who opens an album with a 9 min song that sounds like a lunatic raving from his padded room? This is pure crap. Who did this band ever appeal to? Luckily, I guess, I was never angry enough or displeased with everything in my life to get into this opus of negativity. No reason this should have been included other than shock factor. Not a decent song on the album, retched vocals, horrible instrumentation (see "Religion II" with the 2 yr old on piano) Who TF would sit around and listen to this? Only a criminal mind or someone hell bent on self destruction. I hated every minute of it. There must be a slew of twisted British kids now in prison who's parents let them listen to this during their informative years. 1 star because there is no 0.

Yelling, yelling and yelling …

Mostly annoying.

A bit too chaotic for my taste. Honestly the best part of the album was the hour long interview at the end.

This album should be against the Geneva convention. Why is he yelling

The Wikipedia article said this was one of the most influential albums of the post punk genre. The only way I can see this being influential is if it was an example of what not to do. The first song starts with rambling garbage and I figure it can’t get worse. Then it goes it slam poetry and I realize it can. At no point does it getter better. This album is bad and should have been nowhere near a list like this. One final point. Stop 👏 making 👏 8 👏 minute 👏 songs 👏 Favorite song: absolutely not

It's amazing how the Brits manage to make both the some of the best and some of the worst music. This was bad. There was a song or two that was somewhat listenable, but overall hard to get through.

I wish this was a way shorter record. "I wish I could die" Harsh man, but I get it. Have you considered... changing job position? I'm not sure singing is really for you. I get the experimental, I get the art work, but cut it after a while. If you have nothing to say, you don't need nine-minute songs with a couple of lines on repeat.

I thought I’d like this a lot more since I love Metal Box

One of my first ever DNFs...I got through 3 songs and couldn't take it That's a lie it was 2.75

My ears started crying

This is another terrible album in what is becoming a long string of terrible albums from this list. Here's hoping the next one is better.

Not terrible but mostly just noise

I suppose I was guilty of judging the album by its cover (Johnny Rotten) and thought it would sound like the Sex Pistols. Well, what if John Lydon replaced the members of the Pistols with real musicians? Nah, it still doesn’t sound like good music. What in the name of God was he thinking? A nine minute droning opening number, then a wretched poetry reading? And then the same poem set to repetitive droning? Who the hell is this? At least the Pistols were interesting, if not talented. Expected at least 3.5 stars, am very disappointed. Only bright spot was the bassist’s excellent work. The music improved greatly after the terrible 3 tracks that lead off the record, so not all is lost. 1 star for the rhythm section and 1 for subverting expectations (but not enough to make up for the awful performance of Lydon) and no, I didn’t stick around for the HOUR LONG INTERVIEW. (?) 2 stars

Intro almost feels like Sabbath with the trudging bass. Religion I and II are a pure take down of structured religion. The mood transitions from angry guitars ending with an electronic sound. While the evolution on the album is interesting to hear, I'm not sure I'd go back.

#369/1001. First reaction is to give this album a middle finger(1). Second thought: they are giving everyone the finger - perhaps I should as well in my rating (5). Third thought: perhaps I should also listen to it and think what I think(1-5). There is no fourth thought, instead a repeat loop of these thoughts. Final verdict is somewhere between respect towards it opening a way (call it new musick, postpunk, afterpunk or post-punk) and being sometimes a manifestation of boring, reaction to being cheated, loads of drugs, some quirky ideas, Wobble's amazing bass, and Levene's screeching guitar, luckily Lydon/Rotten dubbed to the background. All this bouncing between the extremes is boring to average to a three. metal box is even more hard to get to, so perhaps an average grade is well deserved here.

Interesting to hear this record for the first time in decades. The song The Public Image remains great - but it’s also sonically an outlier on the album. The bass and guitar heavy music stands up pretty well but it’s clear in retrospect why the album wasn’t particularly well received on release, at a time when the musically more conventional punk and the nascent New Wave still had some life. Lyrically there’s a lot of score settling. Some of it clearly refers back to John Lydon’s recent experiences in the Sex Pistols. Other songs are vitriolically anti-religion, and specifically anti-Catholic church. You can sort of see a connection between the themes, in Lydon’s distaste for convention, control and the imposition of notions of what is and isn’t acceptable. Interestingly, the best song on the album, Annalisa, has a specific subject-matter - the infamous mistreatment and death of a young Catholic woman who suffered from epilepsy but was subjected to exorcisms aimed at freeing her from possession by demons. Being focused, the song is more effective than the more general rants in songs such as Religion II.

Fun and a very different album, liked the songs and the message of them. It's not for everybody but it has its place in rock legacy.

Post-punk 80s rock/new wave with the punk rocker formerly known as Johnny Rotten. It's fine, but I've heard better new wave that resonates better with me.

Heel vaag maar wel vet

Johnny Rotten, post-Sex Pistols, has decided that music is the problem and sets about fixing it. The solution: remove the music, add beats, and talk complainingly over the top in a voice like a kettle that's given up on boiling. Bonus points for being anti-religion in 1978, which was very brave. I respect the artistic intent. I do not respect my ears enough to sit through this again. 1/5 — avant-garde, which is French for "I don't get it, but I'm also not sure I'm wrong."

I guess it takes balls to start the debut album of your new punk band with a 9min noise jam, followed by a spoken word piece. I actually liked the jammy opener (really has a Heavy Psych vibe going, and also, give the bass technician a cookie, the bass sound is delicious) and the riff in "Annalisa". Problem is, the voice ruins these good moments for me. And the other problem is, the other pieces are worse, or in the case of "Fodderstompf" much much worse (what the hell?). 2/5 - below average

Хм, странный альбом. Структурно путанный, какой-то некомфортный по звучанию.

Okay, I could hear influences for the Pixies.

I can see the influence this had on post-punk, so I guess in that regard it's cool to listen to. But other than that each song is a loop of drums, bass and guitar with the singer screaming random stuff that he's been thinking about lately. It gets repetitive and tiring very quickly

Very tough to get past the first three tracks. Followed by a track that's marginally less work for the listener. "Public Image" could maybe have been a Sex Pistols song, "Low Life" is probably a Joy Division outtake Lydon stole and decided to scream over. Pete Silverton was on the money right after this album's release, calling it "morbid directionless sounds with Rotten's poetry running just behind it." I.e.it's a testament to the level of self-indulgence some people are capable off. Definitely belongs on the list "1001 self-indulgent musical wank-offs you should stay clear off".

this is strange not in a good way

I get the idea, now fuck off. 1 star or F+.

Edge lord dog shit, man shut the fuck UP

Overwhelmingly wanted to give this a 1 throughout my listen. But I have to give it a 2. 2/5

Wow...first 1 star from me. I feel bad handing out 1 stars as I like to believe that any album can have its merits. But this deserves it. I'm baffled by this tbh, really couldn't wait for it to be over. Only highlight moment was as the next track played I actually went 'omg finally, something good' before checking the name of the track and realizing that the album had ended and a different band had autoplayed. Fav Track: ???????

Wieviel mid rock albe muss ich no lose?

„erstes post-punk“-album ever - so what?!

Man hört den Lead Sänger der Sex Pistols und das ist gut so! Es gab gute Musik in den 70er, wenn auch spärlich

No es mucho de mi agrado, la música está bien pero el canto no tanto.

Good album

This is just extremely obnoxious isn't it.

Us people have no taste

What in a child's nightmare was this???

I hate to give this a 1 cuz it's bringing my average down, but: -it's pretty damn long and a bit pretentious, for starters a 9 minute screamfest with mega loud and loose playing isn't really for me. Then follow up with some poetry that's kinda iffy? -I read a review like, 4 down in the top rated on this album. Long ass review from some former 1980s algebra teacher that is just as, if not more pretentious than anything on this record. I agree that the guy singing and whoever is writing have their heads up their ass in regards to taking issue with someone else's beliefs as opposed to focusing on their own. The solution, though, can't be to stick your own head up your ass. But that's what happened. That pmo and now I'm just in a worse mood. -I don't like the way it sounds

The opening track on a debut album-potentially the first song anyone would ever hear from an artist-should at least be enticing, but instead, it's arguably the worst opening track for any album in this generator. Then, the controversial "Religion" track shows up, and I realize this is an edgy concept album. I ended up finding some joy within this mess, especially with the insanity in the closing track, but this is what happens when "edgy YouTube comments" are an album. Favorite Track: "Fodderstompf".

bleh

The sound of the music is right up my alley, but I don't think much of the actual songs. My biggest problem with PIL is right at the center. John Lydon's vocals and lyrics just don't do anything for me, as much as I agree with the sentiment of what he's saying (especially on tracks like Religion). Some of the guitar/bass work is really exciting... especially on Annalisa. That track has my favorite music on the album, but it just kinda goes on and on for a couple minutes after it's done its thing. I even had to skip one track -- the vocal histrionics on Fodderstomp were something I could no longer stand after a couple of minutes. I feel like I've complained a lot relative to my enjoyment of the record. It still sounds like something I'd enjoy watching live, and its post-punk sounds are right up there with some of my favorite records of all time. I just wish there was more form to the songs -- a few more tracks in the vein of Public Image and Low Life and this would have been a strong 4. As it is, I can only muster a 3.

Uh... is this what punk rock is supposed to sound like?

Wenz: Hmm, didn’t really get the album and songs….

This is an odd album. In the widest sense it's punk and very raw. The opening stuff is quite annoying and so art the two tracks about religion. "Annalisa" is cooler and the rest is more experimental krautrock stuff that is surely listenable. You really have to sit through the first part.

Ugh

Hate the vocals. He's a MAGAt. Just no.

Still hate the vocals. Gave up on track 4.

Ist mir zu experimentell

This is garbage. 1/10

Annalisa and Low Life rock as hard as anything's ever rocked. as cool as rhythm guitar (the coolest kind of guitar) can get. the bass is fucked & awesome. sets a tone for a post-punk confrontational attitude as much as the Sex Pistols did for punk. music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)

When you make an album that critics don’t like, but then decades later they all gotta pretend they liked it all along, you know you’re on to some good shit. Maybe a hot take but shouldn’t be: John Lydon doesn’t get nearly enough credit for being an Actual Artist

1 out of 5. Influential? Maybe but goodness this was a tough listen, and that's from someone who enjoys most post-punk I've come across.

Did not like it very much.

Парковый ньювейв

It must not have been easy, after making the quintessential pulk album and to follow up with something new. Religion was an ok song, as was Public Image, but the true iconoclastic track was saved til the end. Fodderstompf was both awful and punk, precisely by not being a typical punk song. Loved the track. Saved the album from being two stars

punk vaag engels

i enjoyed it!

Fuck, this is hard work.

Actually ghastly. The opening 9 minute track of screaming and discordant guitars sets the tone well.

Just didn't care for it.

A bit weird but actually enjoyed this a fair amount, it’s quite industrial post-punk but also quite rhythmic. Some of the tracks are quite long but it works.

incredible, so diverse! from punky to gorillaz-ish

What is this fucking nonsense? A bunch of nobodies release a piece of shit that even the critics can recognize is a piece of shit, but decades later we retrospectively declare its greatness because - wait for it - it’s a UK band. Fucking hell, this list is a giant attempt to make the UK music scene appear to be the 1960s forever when in fact it hasn’t been that good since the 1970s at best.

Boring topic but interesting for like 3 or 3 songs

Oof, I was dreading this one. I heard bits of this album in passing, but wasn’t sure what to expect. I’m very glad I was proven wrong. This album came out just a year after the one and only Sex Pistols album, just as the 70s punk/new wave merge was starting. Sex Pistols’ influence on the industry is contested nowadays, but they definitely at least set a standard. Johnny Rotten has always been a controversial figure (and still is) but is at least consistent in his role as a contrarian. He does have a great delivery on the album whether he’s pleading for death on the first track to making fun of disco music on the last one. These off-the-cuff riffings have always been part of the punk genre, but the dedication to making them work as a whole performance, regardless of how “stripped down” it is is very fun. The instrumental work on this is ELITE. I can see how Levene, Walker, and Wobble rubbed off on future post punk musicians for decades to come. Favorite track: Public Image

What happened to you? I can't stand the ugly guy on the cover—move it away. Anyway, I kind of like the album.

Utter garbage.

This was garbage

ngl me costó demasiado escuchar este disco. 1 estrella :/ no creo que escuche la entrevista completa pero la verdad es que me llamó más la atención que la música.

More interesting and enduring than the Sex Pistols.

It starts with 9 minutes of screaming. It doesn't get much better from there. I think this album wants to make you hate it, and it succeeds.

Brilliant.

06/05/2026 It was a bit boring I have to say, but I've heard a lot worse on here. Spotify listeners: 477.1k

Wow that was stupid

similar to the sex pistols but with some of the roughest edges sanded off. still bashy, crashy, yelly, but slightly more melodic at times?

The vocals were so grating that I had to tune myself out of listening to them. The instrumentals were fine, I think, but they were so weirdly mixed together. Needless to say, Americans did not miss much waiting these 35 years for the album to release for them.

Pretty interesting, better than Sex Pistols. If The Fall was more produced, just not really scratching the same itch. The title track is the strongest with the most movement, also the opening track is a great dubby experimental ride that i really dig.

Album importante per il punk anche se alcuni pezzi sono troppo ripetitivi per me

very annoying to listen to

This isn't nearly as bad as you guys are making it out to be

Included a very long monologue which was pretty disruptive to the overall vibe and was overall something we wanted to skip through.

Im Dezember 1978, kaum zwei Jahre nach „Anarchy in the UK", veröffentlichte John Lydon mit seiner neu gegründeten britischen Band Public Image Ltd. auf Virgin Records ein Debütalbum, das den Bruch mit dem Punk nicht nur proklamierte, sondern vollzog. Aufgenommen an gleich fünf verschiedenen Londoner Orten – darunter die Advision Studios, die Wessex Studios, die Townhouse Studios, The Manor Studio sowie die billigen Gooseberry Sound Studios, in denen das Geld der Band schließlich ausging –, ist First Issue weniger ein Werk aus einem Guss als eine hörbare Entstehungsgeschichte. Das Label ließ der Band dabei bemerkenswerten Spielraum, den sie konsequent für Experiment statt Kommerzialität nutzte. Das Album lebt vom Spannungsfeld seiner Protagonisten: Jah Wobbles wuchtiger, im Dub verwurzelter Bass trägt das Gros der Songs fast allein, während Keith Levenes Gitarre in dissonanten Bögen gegen jede Erwartung arbeitet. Lydon selbst singt, besser: deklamiert – mal hysterisch, mal fast beiläufig – über Medienmanipulation und Identitätsauflösung. Die Eröffnungsnummer „Theme" dauert über neun Minuten und verzichtet vollständig auf Vers-Refrain-Strukturen; „Public Image", die vorangegangene Single, schlägt in seiner kühlen Wut eine Brücke zwischen dem sterbenden Punk und dem, was danach kam. „Annalisa" und „Religion I & II" zeigen die Band auf der Suche nach einer eigenen Liturgie des Lärms. Die Kehrseite dieser radikalen Offenheit ist die Ungleichmäßigkeit des Materials. Die letzte Seite, unter Zeitdruck und Geldmangel in den Gooseberry Sound Studios eingespielt, klingt entsprechend provisorisch; „Fodderstompf" besteht zur Hälfte aus Gelächter und Improvisation – was man als Witz lesen kann oder als Eingeständnis. Dass das Album dennoch als Wegmarke gilt, liegt weniger an seiner Perfektion als an seiner Haltung: Es klang 1978 nach nichts anderdem. First Issue ist das Dokument einer Befreiung – roh, unfertig und gerade deshalb historisch unentbehrlich.

I punk album I assume was influential in the UK punk / early alt rock scene. A little too hard on the dissonance for me- not bad, but didnt really enjoy it

Call it post-punk if you want, but mostly it’s John Lydon discovering that freedom from the Sex Pistols means nobody telling him “no.” Result: indulgence masquerading as experimentation, with grooves that flirt with coherence before wandering off into the weeds. “Public Image” earns its keep—taut, wiry, almost like a real song—but “Theme” is a blown speaker with Lydon howling into the void, “Religion I/II” doubles down on the same half-idea twice, and “Fodderstompf” rides a decent groove straight into novelty-voice hell. Anti-rock posture is fine; anti-listenability less so.

I can only hope this was the first and last issue

Dub reggae with distortion. Like post punk dub. No thanks to John Lydon. He's as annoying as always. Jah Wobble is the genius behind this thing. Great debut.

🎧Why? (I mostly ask this in response to Fodderstomf, but much of the rest of this album too)

yeah last issue bojo, goodbye

Certainly ahead of its time, not consistently listenable, but some great tracks on here (lowlife especially)

sucks right from the start.

I never do this, but this thing was an immediate 1 star once the second track was a spoken word poem and track three was the same poem as song lyrics. It demonstrates either a profound lack of faith in the music or a WILD overestimation of the quality of the poem. Anyway, that put this thing into a hole that the remainder of it wasn't nearly good enough to crawl out of.

Weird

I thought it was a really interesting listen! I quite enjoy experimental rock, but I suppose this one didn’t hit me as much as other songs of similar genres do. I found it a bit too repetitive and boring to an extent, but it wasn’t a bad album at all.

This starts off as just straight screeching noise. Then there's Johnny Rotten doing... poetry?? Annalisa is a decent track, a little more classic punk. The title track is OK too, but this one's far too on the experimental side and not enough on the good side.

I'm a pretty cynical dude, admittedly. John Lydon has a set of stones on him to create this album and this band in general. The band's name is making fun of his own previous band's name, but there is zero irony or self awareness there. I think a lot of this album's lyrics were probably pretty transgressive at the time, but the conversation has moved on. There were more important punk bands doing more important work at this time. Lydon's lyrics are infantile, even by 70s standards. The music is pretty one note and boring, save for what little noise-adjacent sounds they play with throughout the album. Genuinely a tough album to rate. I wasn't there, nearly 5 decades ago. I can't speak to whether or not this was received well by people who actually knew what the fuck they were talking about. A lot of the punk ethos of the 70s and 80s have been rightly dismissed as ineffectual young men lashing out at whatever institutions they could. In the case of Public Image Ltd., this is a broken clock situation. The christian theocracy is a huge problem worldwide, but John Lydon is a nonce, so you're probably better off listening to any of the music that he accidentally inspired over the years.

absolutely dreadful. Predictably so. Deserves a zero

I listened to about 20 minutes of the John Lydon interview added to the 2013 reissue and I gotta say, this guy fucking sucks. I've known about this band for a while but I've never listened to them until now. I had no idea this was Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols. This isn't much better than the Sex Pistols in my opinion, but it's at least kinda interesting. John Lydon is a massive loser though. Favorite track: Theme

Not for me 1/5

What an amazing album. I was heavily into this around age 23 or so, right before I started getting more into dance music and hip hop. So this feels a bit like the "last punk album" I fell in love with. (I don't care what anyone says, this is punk -- "post-punk" is totally overused.) Yes, Lydon can be a total idiot asshole sometimes, but he's mostly harmless and happens to be one of the best rock singers ever. The band sounds incredible -- that locking groove on Annalisa is as good as any funk/disco band at the time. I just listened to Malcolm McLaren's record yesterday, and hearing these albums back-to-back is a nice confirmation that the historical shockwave the Pistols sent out was more artistically fruitful than anything that band had ever achieved on their own. Based on the reviews on this site, it seems like they're still pissing people off in the 2020s, so mission accomplished.

Punnnnnnk daddddyyy

Ahead of its time does not always equal good or foundational.

Actual shite this one. Repetitive, irritating noise. There's truly some great albums out there that were ignored by this book and trash like this slipped in, really wish I never heard this before I died

This actually sounds like I'm listening to a magazine on a coffee table at some tax/accounting business in the late 70's. Boring mindless mumbling over ciclical, endless post punk grooves. No thank you. 1.3/5 -> 1/5

I know it came first, but this is a worse version of Metal Box. That might not even be fair to Metal Box. But, while this is kind of standard bearer for the future sound, it's also kind of directionless and bloated, even at 40 minutes. In retrospect, an obvious departure from sex pistols and really hammered home what the post-punk sound WOULD sound like, but it's not there yet. Put it back in the oven. Also, Religion (both tracks) sucks.

Not my favorite, I didnt really like the vocals. Nothing special in my opinion.

I was just a bit too young to be a proper punk (and to be honest, I was a weedy, speccy nerd so Elvis Costello was more my thing) but I enjoyed that glorious jubilee summer of punk vicariously. After all the filth and fury had faded, nobody was quite expecting this album from John Lydon (formerly Johnny Rotten). It opens with an existential howl of distorted guitar feedback before a two part screed against religion that is so fierce it makes Richard Dawkins look like a church mouse in comparison. After the ranting track Annalisa, the eponymous lead single brings a bit of focus to the album and establishes exactly what post punk was going to sound like with Keith Levene’s slashing guitar, Jah Wobble’s god like bass and Jim Walkers Motorik drums suiting Lydon’s sneering vocals. Critics hated this at the time and it also went down like a cup of cold sick with former punks wanting more cartoon antics. It’s more interesting now to look back on this as an avant Garde experimental piece with some standout moments (Jah Wobble’s bass on the final track Fodderstompf is hypnotic) rather than a coherent album. Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?

I mean I get it, not an enjoyable listen though

Опять в психушке музыкальные инструменты раздавали

Nothing good to say about this one then

An okay album, I liked Public Image the most.

fav song: fodderstompf minimal, uneven, raw 40/100

no se por qué pero logré conectar con este album después de la canción public image (temazo btw) ahora que termine este album me puse a escuchar otros temas de ellos, che muy buenos

Not a fan of the first few songs, gets better in the second half

Way too experimental for a debut, but Johnny is 100% charismatic frontman

Punk production values, prog self-indulgence levels

oh THAT guy again

It's fairly decent. Some interesting stuff from pretty simply riffs. Mid - 3

Have to give some credit to John Lydon for balls to release this kind of album after Sex Pistols. He could have selected an easier path to continue his rise to rock stardom, but decided to piss off everyone. Not a very good album tho...

#372 / 1089 Heard before? ✅ Revisit? ❌ I'm here for music, the message this album is delivering means nothing to me. The historical value of this release has no meaning, I'm here for music. I've never liked PIL, nor Mr. Lydon/Rotten's vocal endeavours. I find him very irritating to listen to, even with the message he is delivering. You know, I'd rather watch a 12 hours set of harsh noise artist smearing feces on themselves that listen to this is shite. 1/5 stars

Repetitive and boring

Me encantó, realmente me sorprendió, sabe mezclar muy bien el punk con música más experimental y cosas poco comunes para la época, se nota la influencia de la new wave y cómo fue importante para desarrollar el sonido del post-punk.

There are some good ideas here and I find this to be much more interesting than The Sex Pistols, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Much like how Nevermind the Bollocks was one of the first punk albums which pioneered the genre but I find kinda boring, Public Image pioneered (maybe I am too lazy to check) the post punk genre, but I find to be as interesting as what would come after. This just sounds like a worse version of Pere Ubu (which I will defend). High 3.

Pretty raw recording. I do dislike that on its face and I do like outsider music but this droned on on spots. Pretty similar to pere ubu in some ways. I didn't hate it but I likely won't engage with it again.

El grupo de Johnny Rotten post Sex Pistols pretendía ir más allá y ciertamente la propuesta era otro rollo. Tan otro rollo que no le gusto a casi nadie. Aun así se las arreglaron para seguir con en la dirección deseada y sacar mucho más álbumes. Personalmente, este trabajo me resulta incómodo, frío, pesado. No los había escuchado antes, pero más allá de la sorpresa inicial, el poso que me queda és algo agrio. De lo más positivo es el posicionamiento radical en las letras como en la polémica “Religion”.

A couple of good songs and a good bass groove in the last song, but a decent amount of nonsense as well.

I mean, I guess that is punk. Punk doesn't mean enjoyable, man. Sex Pistols-ey but boring init.

Cool

This album is annoying as fuck, and I am totally here for it.

That Johnny Rotten became a racist, Trump-humping, Queen-respecting, racist, Brexity shitbag is far from the most appalling thing to happen in music, but it still sucks. Fuck Lydon. But let's judge the music on the merits. I was not looking forward to this, and thus while I wasn't *pleased* to find that it was noisy and yell-y with some decent enough guitar work, I was at least relieved. The spoken word stuff was, as Lydon might say, shite. Yet this was still verging on the possibility of a 3 until I hit "Fodderstompf." "Fodderstompf" is among the very worst songs I have ever heard. It's the soundtrack of a made-for-TV movie about a dystopian future that was made for $400. The dumb dance beat? Awful. The screechy, repeated refrain? Not edgy, not punk, just dumb. It's almost 8 minutes long!?! Agony. John Lydon owes me money for that shit. Trash.

So I never knew that Johnny Rotten made a new band after sex pistols. Who knew, apparently everyone. The first couple of tracks I was unsure, it did go a bit to the avante garde with a nod to punk, which I guess was the plan, the second half of the album was alot more of what I wanted from 70s punk.

Inutile.

Just like Public Image Ltd.'s later record, i wasn't really a fan of Public Image: First Issue. To give this album credit, it is better than Metal Box but only slightly. The songs here have a bit more variety and don't go on for nearly as long as the other one but it still suffers from a lot of the same issues. A lot of these songs just feel incredibly self-indulgent especially that last one where there was a fire extinguisher solo and Elmo was also hired to do some of the vocals. This self-indulgent nature made this album quite annoying to listen to. It is a shame i have to rate this pretty low too since there are glimpses of good musicianship in here, It's just buried underneath this self-indulgent crap. Best Song: Public Image Worst Song: Theme

not really my cup of tea

This is a frustrating album to listen to, the melodies are actually really good for the most part but the vocals (and often the lyrics) are just, really not my cup of tea.

This was the first time that I listened to a PIL album and I thought it was pretty good. I like it a bit more than the Sex Pistols actually. I think the song Low Life sounded a lot like a Pixies tune.

love the religion song

Post punk Religion ii Public image

This isn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. The song Public Image is good enough. It's still pretty bad.

Poor lyrics, music & attitude

Kind of uninteresting. Another post-punk album that mostly lands flat. 2/5 Won't listen again

It’s been quite a while since I last listened to this album and it’s generally better than I remember. Perhaps not up to the high watermark of Metal Box but you can hear the direction they are moving in creatively. Notable tracks Public Image which is Lydon’s snarling transition away from the Pistols and Religion pts 1 &2