British music has been widely recognized and loved around the world since the early 1950s. And sixty years on, each successive decade has proved to be a beast of its own, unique making. The British Music Experience charts these six decades of music in an interactive and entertaining way.

The British Music Experience is a permanent exhibition at the O2 in London. It has made a home in the O2 Bubble, just one small part of the huge complex formerly known as the Millennium Dome, which now has the O2 Arena at its heart.
The British Music Experience opened in March 2009, …read more

You just knew that the success of the campaign to get Rage Against The Machine to Christmas number one was going to set off a chain reaction. And so it has, with a new Facebook group now trying to get the Sex Pistols to number one for the Queen’s birthday in June.

To call the Killing In The Name campaign a success is an understatement. RATM made it to Christmas number one ahead of The X Factor’s Joe McElderry after a grassroots effort which started on Facebook and spread onwards and outwards.

Rather than being known as Johnny Rotten, or a former Sex Pistol, or punk royalty, maybe John Lydon should come to be known as ‘Rent-a-quote’ from now on. It seems that the man is always ready with a barbed comment when asked a question by a journalist or reporter.
His latest saw him hating on Coldplay and Radiohead.

According to The Sun, Lydon recently commented:
“Coldplay and Radiohead bug the hell out of me because it’s so soulless. It just seems pointless. It’s nice, but it’s tosh. They don’t care about you. They care about lining their coffers. There’s nothing about heart and …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more