Public ImageLtd - Metal Box (1979)

Whatever Lydon does in the future - or has done

in the last 10 years, "Bollocks" and "Metal Box"

can stand as hugely influential albums.

His grating vocals and abstract, doom laden

lyrics set the scene for the jagged Kraut-rock

rhythms, dub bass lines, droning keyboards

and Keith Levene's twisted, spiraling, harsh

brittle guitar work. Was this the first comprehensive

album to herald post-punk?

I remember interviews with them saying that they

recorded late at night, speeding off their tits and

just trying anything that did not sound like "rock".

All the songs have a minimal production which build

up the tension with a feeling of claustrophobic

suffocation that the repeated riff lines help to produce.

Jah Wobble weaves his bass lines in and out with the

guitar and the resulting songs are ahead of anything

I had heard before.

I got the Metal Box which contained 3 "12 records

which were a real fucker to get out without snapping

them in half. How proud I was with my shiny collectors

item sitting proudly with my other records. I am less

proud 32 years later now that my once-oh-so-shiny

tin is now covered with some sort of rust that marks

anything it touches! How proud PIL must be of that fact!

Bastards............ now enter a world of brilliance.

Band Info

If you want to see someone using the tin as a cookie mould - Watch