Former Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon thinks it’s time for the Rolling Stones to retire.
His comment came during an interview on Good Morning Britain that aired on May 7. That part of the conversation began when Lydon, also known as Johnny Rotten, was asked about his previous comments about never touring again. He said such after the death of his wife, Nora Forster, in April 2023.
“That’s dementia for you, I forgot that bit,” Lydon, 69, responded. “As I indicated before, if I just sat back and retired, that’s not me. I’m not that kind of person,” he continued, before adding, “By all means, The Rolling Stones should retire, I’m not short of a song idea or two, so there’s a difference.”
“I’ve offended music lovers,” he said.
He brought ‘Anarchy to the UK’ nearly 50 years ago, but after sadly losing his wife Nora in April 2023, and his best friend and manager just 8 months later, former Sex Pistol John Lydon thought he’d never tour again.
But two years on, the pioneering godfather of punk is back… pic.twitter.com/Nr7oN6WBSZ
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) May 7, 2025
Lydon joined the Sex Pistols in 1975 and was part of the punk rock band for three years, before he went on to form Public Image Ltd. It wasn’t until 1996 that Lydon reunited with the Sex Pistols for the Filthy Lucre tour. In the 2000s the group reunited a handful of times, performing various shows across the globe, but they haven’t performed together over the past decade.
However, Lydon has made it very clear that he has no plans to ever reunite with the Sex Pistols again. He’s been touring with Public Image Ltd. and they have dozens of upcoming tour dates through August. The current members of the band are Lydon, Lu Edmonds, Scott Firth and Mark Roberts.
Meanwhile, the Rolling Stones are still very much together and embarked on the Hackney Diamonds Tour — which was backed by AARP — in 2024.
In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Mick Jagger — who is now 81 years old — said the band had no plans to retire.
“I’m not thinking about retirement. I’m planning the next set of tours,” he told the outlet a decade ago. The band’s current members; Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood are still performing together.
