“Poptones” by Public Image Ltd.

Public Image Ltd's "Poptones" comes off Metal Box, the band's second album, which Virgin sent out in November 1979 with its first pressings packed inside the round metal canister that gave the record its name. By February 1980 Virgin had reissued it in a standard sleeve as Second Edition.

John Lydon, Jah Wobble and Keith Levene share the music credit. Lydon sings and wrote the words, Wobble plays bass, and Levene handles the guitar and, on this track, the drums too, with the band producing itself. Metal Box was PiL's lunge away from their 1978 debut, First Issue, into far stranger, more avant-garde territory, built on Lydon's cryptic lyrics, dub-rooted rhythms driven by Wobble's bass, and the abrasive, metallic guitar sound Levene worked up. It has since come to be counted among post-punk's landmark records.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.