Q: I was just watching YouTube footage of the Sex Pistols, and there seemed to be a great deal of joy in your performances back in the seventies—which most people wouldn’t say about the Pistols. They just talk about your being pissed off.
A: Well, I’m amazed they missed that. But I don’t think our fan base has missed that. Never has. You know, the judgment of outsiders is always wicked at best, isn’t it? Really, the detractors—you’ve got to be looking at them as nothing but a bunch of jealous fucks.

Q: Who are the detractors at this point?
A: Oh, probably a bunch of New Yorkers claiming they invented punk.

Q: Oh, them.
A: Oh, them! You know, that poetry-reading bunch.

Q: I actually spoke to you back in 2000 at the Sundance Film Festival when The Filth and The Fury was there, and you described the drummer from the Sex Pistols, Paul Cook, as “excruciatingly dull.” You seem to have this skill for slagging on people and then getting them to work with you again.
A: You must understand, we’ve done this with the press throughout our entire lives—coming up with the most scathing comments we can on each other. It’s all done with a great sense of style and fun, and there’s no harm in it whatsoever. The fact that Paul is that dull is neither here nor there.

Q: He doesn’t call you up and say, “John, what the fuck?”
A: No, we’re very close. We always have been. It’s a game. All of us hate the world of gossip that just seems to surround the entertainment business, and so what you do is you put out worse gossip than anyone could ever imagine.

Q: How long have you been married?
A: Nearly 30 years. I never take any commitment lightly, and I certainly don’t take my wife lightly. I never did and I never will. That’s permanent. That’s true love.

Q: Do you ever wish that you’d had children?
A: Yes, of course. We lost one, years ago, and complications came out of that, and so we couldn’t have children, and that upset me. I mean, I’m not this callous clown walking around laughing at life all the time. I’ve had some serious, serious problems in my life. But I’ve come out with a smile. I’m not part of the self-pity whinge brigade, so please don’t put a Radiohead album on.

Q:Oh, you don’t like Radiohead?
A: Well, they just wallow in their own seriousness a little too much. And I think that that’s a stance, and it’s an unhealthy one.

Q: How did Never Mind the Bollocks change the world?
A: I have no idea. I don’t think of it like that. There’s no grandiose opera going on in my head about it. I mean, it’s an album that has had some serious influence on the music industry and the way people think. But it’s not a bible, and it’s not a manual, you know? Sorry! It’s all about thinking for yourself.