![\"John](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/John-Lydon-Gorillaz-Split-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still \/ Gorillaz)<\/p>\n
Tue 16 September 2025 20:00, UK <\/p>\n
There is one instrument that seemingly separates music fans from different generations. The humble guitar<\/a> seems to spark an age-old question about the legitimacy of music, with faithful protectors of traditions claiming that music not led by a rousing guitar solo is plastic nonsense. But is that even true? <\/p>\n Sure, in the 1960s and 1970s, what we now deem traditional band music was as rebellious as it came. Starting alongside Elvis Presley\u2019s knee quivers, before thrusting itself into the arms of The Rolling Stones\u2019 outright sexual rock, the guitar stood strong through the changing tides of cultural history.\u00a0<\/p>\n But there is perhaps no more palpable emotion in society than anger and despair, a feeling not yet embraced in popular music. That was until the late 1970s and the booming emergence of punk, led by one Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols<\/a>. It was there that counter culture dwellers finally had a sonic landscape in which they could express their frustration. And it\u2019s arguably there, where the kernel of this idea that music is only authentic in the stripped back setting of a band, was formed. <\/p>\n Because everything great that came thereafter was a coalescence of all these influences, built around the guitar. The heady days of Britpop<\/a> saw the charisma of The Stones meet the anger of the Sex Pistols, all while building upon the sort of blues foundations that made Elvis such a star. For decades on end, the guitar was the most valuable player in culture\u2019s crusade to the top of our interest. <\/p>\n But like all good things, it had to come to an end. Innovation had to move us to a territory yet unknown, and with that, traditionalists were dragged kicking and screaming. To an extent, they could swallow the ever-growing interest in electronic music, but when one of their own, an indie icon, turned his back on traditional sensibilities and embraced the future, well then there was uproar. <\/p>\n \u201cI really don\u2019t wanna talk about shit like the Gorillaz, you know what I mean?\u201d Sex Pistols\u2019 John Lydon once explained, when asked about his thoughts on the band. \u201cCome on, I\u2019m the originator, don\u2019t toss us with that.\u201d<\/p>\n