Animation City | Multi-cel composite for The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, c. 1978

Animation City

Multi-cel composite comprising six frames for The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, c. 1978

(400 x 320mm.) each, two with painted backgrounds, unframed

This multi-cel composite is made up of six frames from the sequence where Johnny Rotten cornered in an alley with two muggers off Oxford Street. It begins with Rotten cowering away from two men holding a knife, then moves to him screaming in horror as they advance, and concludes with a shaken Johnny covered in blood. This refers to an incident which took place over Jubilee weekend, 1977, when Johnny Rotten was attacked, along with Chris Thomas, in the car park of the Pegasus pub, near the Wessex recording studios [England’s Dreaming, pp.365- 366]. 

Subsequent to his split from the band, John Lydon refused to take part in the film. As a result Glitterbest decided to construct a small number of animated sequences to aid in the reconstruction of the story of the Sex Pistols. Apart from short sequences of concert footage Johnny Rotten only appears in the film as an animated cartoon character.