Album by Public Image Ltd.

Album, the fifth studio record from Public Image Ltd (it's also known as Compact Disc, Cassette or mp3, depending on what format you bought), came out on Virgin and Elektra, and it's the sound of John Lydon, formerly Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, blowing up his own band's rulebook. By now Keith Levene, Jah Wobble and Jim Walker were all long gone and PiL was essentially Lydon's solo vehicle, and on the advice of producer Bill Laswell he went and rounded up a supergroup of hired guns: Steve Vai, Ginger Baker, Bernie Worrell, Tony Williams, Ryuichi Sakamoto of the Yellow Magic Orchestra and Malachi Favors of the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

The results are huge, glossy and gloriously strange. Where the early PiL records were abrasive, dub-heavy and deliberately hostile, this one hits like a hard rock record with a post-punk sneer: thundering drums, squealing guitar heroics, and Lydon's unmistakable caterwaul riding on top like he's laughing at the whole idea of a rock star.

"Rise" is the song that everybody remembers, a surging, chanting anthem that gave PiL one of the highest-charting songs of their career. Along with This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get, it marked Lydon's turn toward a more accessible sound and brought the band real commercial success.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.