DEATH DISCO

NEVER MIND THE BULLOCKS,  HERE’S THE SEX PISTOLS  (1977) may indeed be the iconic snarling punk masterpiece,  but what followed as Johnny Rotten morphed back to John Lydon may ultimately be where Johnny/John found his teeth. Public Image Ltd. found Lydon, bassist Jah Wobble, and guitarist Keith Levene,  especially on their second release METAL BOX (1979, aka SECOND EDITION on CD) functioning on all cylinders. This is where the music became as experimental and fluid as its underlying  menace. Bass became the main rhythmic component, and was joined by dub’s cavernous spaces and synthesizer noise. Sound and presentation were optimized by the album being released as four 12″ 45s, while its metal film canister packaging and design were beautiful, unique, and collectible. METAL BOX was followed by FLOWERS OF ROMANCE (1981), an even more extreme take on pop experimentation,  losing its bass anchor to a prevailing dissonance of drums,  vocals,  tape loops,  and sound processing. These are the two records that could reasonably termed “death disco”.