The book that inspired the pistols series by Danny Boyle, although a few years old is worth revisiting. The show may have received mixed reviews but I for one really enjoyed it. Where Boyles telling focuses on before the pistols and during, the book also features an after the Pistols section. This is where the real meat of the story is.
The show did a decent job of the before and showing London as it was. A run-down derelict post war bomb site. The book goes into much deeper detail of this and more importantly the mental and sexual abuse Steve Jones suffered. His career as a thief and his own issues with sex and intimacy. His search for a surrogate family is a recurring theme throughout the book. He paints a London that was populated by a generation that really have no future. His deep friendship with Paul Cook is the anchor of his early life. The complicated relationship with John Lydon is another recurring theme naturally. On one hand he is extremely complimentary admitting Lydon is a genius and on the other calling him a total nightmare to work with. A spoiled diva whose bad behaviour is encouraged by all those surrounding him. Jumping ahead to the several attempts to reform the band shows the fault lines between these two desperately different men are too deep to repair only to clearly.
The period coving the pistols is brief which is understandable considering it was three years from 1975 to 1978…that’s it, three years and a singular album that changed everything. The fact they were 21 years old when they split up it is even more impressive. It’s a hell of a legacy. This period is also packed with detail and a lot happens in the brief life of the band. Jones is unforgiving on his opinion of Sid Vicious but acknowledges his status as a pop culture icon. He is also very pragmatic about McLaren’s stealing from them. The other cast of characters that where part of this small world Chrissie Hynde, Jordan, Billy Idol, Siouxsie Sioux is spoken of warmly and where warrened with respect. Unlike Lydon he has kind words for the Clash and develops a deep friendship with Paul Simonon in particular. His sadness at the Pistols demise is also tempered with a sense of relief. Jones admits he had stopped caring about the music and despite his scathing remarks about Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen had started using heroin himself.
The third period of the book deals with the long aftermath and Jones lost years in addiction. He is unflinching in his depiction of how seedy it becomes. His moral compass which is never that strong ceases to exist as he bites every hand that is held out to him. Stealing from friends and strangers alike to feed his habit. Combined with a lifelong alcohol issue and as he admits a sex addiction this makes for some harrowing reading. Sleeping on floors with no fixed abode to selling nicked contents of handbags he hits rock bottom. His saving grace is His rediscovery of music and a permanent move to the United States. He straightens himself out enough to become part of Iggy Pops band and record two solo albums that provide him with the funds to buy his own home. He calls this his Fabio period with long hair and riding a Harley. The people that orbit him is surprising from Bob Dylan to Various Duran Duran members.
His embrace of the 12 steps is the turning point for him. If he doesn’t exactly apologise for his actions, he absolutely owns them. He reaches out to make amends and accept whatever the reaction is. His attempt to forgive his mother and step farther (his first abuser) doesn’t go to plan and Jones accepts this in the stoic manner that has severed him well all his life.
That is not to say He is some sort of post therapy touchy feelie hippy new male. Females are still referred as birds and everyone else is a c**t or a geezer depending on the tale being recounted. There is no happy ending here. He never quite finds the family he is looking for but there is a final feeling of a man extremely aware of his faults and equally as proud of his legacy. His pride in his ongoing radio show Jonesy’s Jukebox is evident and the reader cannot but help to root for him.
An honest if (mostly) unrepentant tale from a man who has found as much peace as possible for him. It’s a great story told well. What more could anyone ask for.
-Bobo Coen
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