I made the last part of the title up but Noel might as well have called his list that. It’s a brilliant top list of bands, but there are some glaring omissions, which makes me wonder how Noel can describe it as “THE DEFINITIVE Top 10″. In your opinion Noel, in your opinion.

Noel and his brother Liam Gallagher have been very vocal of late about their dismissal of current bands. Liam criticised the fans of Coldplay and Radiohead as boring and ugly, and went on to claim not to like modern bands at all. Noel went on a drunken rant about a whole host of artists, with Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson, and the Kaiser Chiefs getting it with both barrels.

But it’s good to know that Noel DOES like some good bands, as his top ten list, detailed on the Oasis Diary blog, includes some top bands, but omits just as many essential artists.

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I love and hate John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten in equal measures. Yes, he’s over the hill and should have stopped ranting on stage as lead singer of the Sex Pistols a long time ago. And yes, he only says things to cause controversy and buy himself and his band some cheap publicity. But he gives me some great stuff to write about.

His latest little rant comes in an interview with the Daily Record newspaper ahead of his headline act at the Live At Loch Lomond festival this weekend. Acts playing at the festival include Groove Armada, Stereo MCs, Roisin Murphy, The Happy Mondays, Ocean Colour Scene, and Idlewild, but Lydon decided to talk about just two people instead - Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse.

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These days, the use of the F word (no, not Gordon Ramsay’s show, although he’s a good example) on television is as common as anything, with movies and programmes regularly being littered with them. But in the 1970s, things were slightly different, and swear words weren’t something you ever heard on the goggle box.

Which is why the Sex Pistols appearance on Bill Grundy’s Today programme in 1976 caused such controversy. Between them, the band used the words sod, bastard, fucker, and shit in the space of a couple of minutes. And this was even before the legendary punk rockers had released début album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols.

Now, the clip of the sweary encounter between the rebellious band and the conservative host has been named as the most requested TV clip ever, in a poll conducted by Freemantle Media which counted requests from TV companies to use clips.

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John Lydon of the Sex Pistols has allegedly been involved in a racial attack on Bloc Party front man Kele Okereke at the Summercase festival in Spain. Reports first emerged of a scuffle between Foals front man Yannis Philippakis, but the details have since been filled in by the lead singer of British indie rockers Bloc Party.

The incident apparently happened as Lydon socialised with a bunch of British acts backstage at the festival. Kele then claims to have approached Lydon to ask him if there was any chance of him reforming Public Image Ltd., one of his favourite bands.

Bloc Party then claim, in an official statement, that Lydon “became intimidating and aggressive while his entourage responded with a racist tirade including the statement ‘Your problem is your black attitude’.” Okereke then had a scuffle with Lydon’s associates, until Philippakis, and Kaiser Chiefs front man Ricky Wilson, stepped in to calm everything down.

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The Sex Pistols have used the publicity they have garnered very well over the years.

Whether the publicity comes from controversial statements by lead singer John Lydon in the last few years, or events such as swearing on live television and releasing God Save The Queen around the time of the Silver Jubilee in the late 1970s, it is still engineered publicity to a degree.

So the news that Lydon has now claimed the Sex Pistols have never used a publicity campaign during their career fills me with absolute bewilderment.

Lydon may have been talking more about paid publicity and campaigns to sell records, but the Sex Pistols have definitely used publicity and the press, both good and bad, to their advantage over the years, and continue to do so. In fact, isn’t this claim a prime example of saying something slightly out there in the hope of getting some coverage?

Lydon made the claims in a rambling interview with The Daily Star. He also speaks about not getting on with record companies, the possibility of new material coming from the band, and some other random rants. But the claims about never using publicity have me riled.

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I’m a big fan of the Sex Pistols, a fact you need to keep in mind while reading the following rant. The thing is, I’m a fan of them in their original guise, in the late 1970s, when the UK needed someone to come along and mix things up a little.

That is exactly what the Sex Pistols did back in the late seventies when they were at the forefront of the British punk movement, a movement which changed the music scene in the country, and possibly even the attitudes of a whole generation of people.

Back then, punk offered an alternative for the youth of the day to the corrupt and inept government and powers that be. In a time when the UK was probably at its lowest ebb since the Second World War, bands such as the Sex Pistols informed everyone that you didn’t have to sit by and be a bystander. You could actually do something about it all, and more than anything, have your say.

Fast forward thirty years and I have just had the misfortune of watching the Sex Pistols performance at last weekend’s Isle Of Wight Festival on television. And it has made me sadly come to the conclusion that it is time for Johnny Rotten and all to hang up their instruments and retire.

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Duffy has been one of the biggest stars to have emerged over the last six months in the wake of the success Amy Winehouse has enjoyed on both sides of the Atlantic. She was rewarded for her hard work by having her début hit Mercy named as Song Of The Year in the Mojo Honours List 2008 awards ceremony which was held last night at The Brewery in East London.

Duffy stood up to be counted alongside fellow winners The Last Shadow Puppets (Best Breakthrough), Led Zeppelin (Best Live Act), Neil Diamond (Classic Songwriter), Motorhead (Mojo Heroes) and The Sex Pistols (Mojo Icons). A full list of winners is available from the Mojo magazine website.

However, the biggest news of the night came after all the awards had been handed out and the winners were about to line up for a photograph. John Lydon, otherwise known as Johnny Rotten, decided he didn’t like the idea of a pop star winning an award at a historically rock oriented ceremony, and took his anger out on Duffy.

According to Metro, Lydon had been heckling Duffy all night long, verbally abusing the Welsh starlet who is currently riding high in the charts with Warwick Avenue. But then it got worse, and physical. Duffy is said to have been knocked in to a wall by a pair of swinging double doors near where Lydon was standing.

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The Sex Pistols are set to play a one-off gig at the tiny Birmingham Academy in preparation for their headline slot at the Isle Of Wight Festival in June.

The festival is set to be staged on the Isle Of Wight between June 13th and 15th with the vintage punk rockers closing the second night of proceedings.

The warm up gig will take place two days earlier, on the 11th June. It will be the first time that The Sex Pistols have played Birmingham in 32 years.

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Sex Pistol front man and former I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here contestant John Lydon has criticised the UK for “becoming more and more mediocre”.

Speaking at the launch of Guitar Hero III in London, the now California resident Lydon went on the rampage about his old home:

“I’ve been away a few years and it gets more and more mediocre here. It’s now coffee shops and wine bars and you can’t smoke anywhere.”

A journalist rightly responded that “It’s easy to moan about this country when you don’t live here.” To which Lydon, formerly known as Johnny Rotten, took exception, continuing his childish rant:

“I’m not moaning. I’m telling you, I’m out of here. You, you fool, you think ‘cos I come from here I’ve got no right to comment ‘cos I’ve gone elsewhere. You are still here and you ain’t changed.”

Oh grow up. How old is Lydon now? As much as I love the Pistols, they stopped being relevant about 25 years ago, and for Lydon to continue acting like a petulant 16 year old teenager isn’t going to get him very far…

Well, except some publicity in all the newspapers and blogs like this ahead of the Sex Pistols 5 date tour to commemorate the 30th anniversary of seminal album ‘Never Mind the Bollocks’.

Ah damn, I’ve fallen in to his trap.

I seem to have spent the 3 months I’ve been writing this blog talking mainly about 2 things; One is Amy Winehouse after her many drug and relationship problems, the other is the series of British bands who seem to be reforming lately.

First there were Britpop legends The Verve, then came Led Zeppelin, and Blur are due any day. But today the news is that The Sex Pistols are reforming for a one off gig in November to mark the 30 year anniversary of Never Mind The Bollocks.

Original members John Lydon, Paul Cook, Steve Jones and Glen Matlock will appear at the Brixton Academy on November 8. This isn’t the first time the punk icons will have reformed, having done a World tour in 1996, and also hooking up together for shows in 2002 and 2003.

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