Johnny Rotten recalls the moment he made a really, really bad first impression on Neil Young

Veteran punk rebel John Lydon recalls how his novel attempt to bond with fellow rocker Neil Young proved ill-fated.

The former Sex Pistols frontman – aka Johnny Rotten – complains to Uncut magazine: “People like Neil reject me when I send out heart-warming signals.”

Highlighting an encounter with Young and his bandmates when they were once “having a meeting at the same hotel”, Lydon, 59, goes on to explain:

They had a cake. I came down barefoot from my room, I had a suit jacket on with a tie but no shirt, and not a lot else. I jumped on his cake barefoot and went: ‘Hello!’

But I meant it well. I thought they’d burst out laughing and go ‘this is our birthday gift, Johnny Rotten’.

Alas, the singer concedes the response proved more frosty.

Lydon concludes: “No, it doesn’t work like that, rock people or not. They lack spontaneous humour.”

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