''Metal Box'' is the second studio album by
Public Image Ltd
Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band (and incorporated limited company) formed by singer John Lydon (previously known as the singer of Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble, and dr ...
, released by
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...
on 23 November 1979. The album takes its name from the round metal canister which contained the initial pressings of the record. It was later reissued in standard vinyl packaging as ''Second Edition'' in February 1980 by Virgin Records in the United Kingdom, and by
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
and
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...
in the United States.
The album was a departure from PiL's 1978 debut ''
First Issue
''Public Image: First Issue'' is the debut studio album by English rock band Public Image Ltd, released in 1978 by record label Virgin.
It is considered one of the pioneering records in the development of post-punk.
Recording
"Public Image ...
'', with the band moving into a more
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
sound characterised by
John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon (; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the late-1970s punk band the Sex Pistols, which lasted from 1975 until 1978, and aga ...
's cryptic lyrics, propulsive
dub-inspired rhythms led by bassist
Jah Wobble
John Joseph Wardle (born 11 August 1958), known by the stage name Jah Wobble, is an English bass guitarist and singer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s; ...
, and an abrasive, "metallic" guitar sound developed by guitarist
Keith Levene
Julian Keith Levene (18 July 1957 – 11 November 2022) was an English musician who was a founding member of both the Clash and Public Image Ltd (PiL). While Levene was in PiL, their 1978 debut album '' Public Image: First Issue'' reached No 22 ...
.
''Metal Box'' is widely regarded as a landmark of
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
.
In 2012, the album was ranked number 461 on ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' magazine's list of
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indust ...
.
Background
''Metal Box'' was recorded in several sessions with several drummers, none of whom were credited on the original release. "Albatross" and "Swan Lake"/"Death Disco" were recorded with new drummer David Humphrey at
The Manor Studio
The Manor Studio (a.k.a. The Manor) was a recording studio in the manor house at the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England, north of the city of Oxford.
Overview
The Manor and its outbuildings are Listed building#England and ...
in
Shipton-on-Cherwell
Shipton-on-Cherwell is a village on the River Cherwell about north of Kidlington in Oxfordshire, England. The village is part of the civil parish of Shipton-on-Cherwell and Thrupp.
Manor
The earliest known record of Shipton-on-Cherwell is fr ...
. "Poptones" was recorded with
Levene on drums. During this time, additional tracks were recorded at Townhouse Studios in London, namely "Beat the Drum for Me" (which later turned up on Wobble's first solo album), and a new version of "Fodderstompf" (which became the B-side of PiL's "Death Disco" 12" single). Humphrey left the band around mid-May 1979. "Memories", "No Birds", "Socialist" and "Chant" were recorded with new drummer
Richard Dudanski
Richard "Snakehips" Dudanski, also known as Richard Nother, is an English drummer who was a member of a number of seminal British proto-punk, punk and post-punk bands, including The 101ers, The Raincoats, Public Image Ltd., Tymon Dogg and the Fool ...
at Townhouse Studios in London. The instrumental "Graveyard" was recorded at Rollerball rehearsal studios in
Bermondsey
Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, a ...
, with Dudanski on drums. Dudanski left the band around mid-September 1979. "The Suit" was recorded as a solo track by Jah Wobble at
Gooseberry Sound Studios
Gooseberry Sound Studios, also known as just Gooseberry Studios, were recording studios at 19 Gerrard Street, Chinatown, London, located in a cellar underneath a dental practice.
The studio was owned by Peter Houghton and was known in its ear ...
in London. Vocals and some overdubs were added at
The Manor. "Careering" was recorded at
Townhouse Studios
The Town House (also known as Townhouse Studios) was a recording studio located at 150 Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush in London, built in 1978 under the direction of Richard Branson for Virgin Records. The studios changed ownership and eventuall ...
with Wobble on drums. "Bad Baby" was recorded with new drummer
Martin Atkins
Martin Clive Atkins (born 3 August 1959) is an English drummer and session musician, best known for his work in post-punk and industrial groups including Public Image Ltd, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Pigface, and Killing Joke. He also works as ...
at Townhouse Studios. Except for a brief period during 1980, Atkins remained with the band until 1985. "Radio 4" was recorded as a solo piece by Keith Levene at Advision Studios and an unknown second studio. According to Levene, this was the last recorded track. Levene utilized aluminium
Veleno guitars throughout the recording sessions to achieve a distinctively sharp and metallic guitar sound.
Recording and music
According to John Lydon, opener "Albatross'" was recorded live at
The Manor Studio
The Manor Studio (a.k.a. The Manor) was a recording studio in the manor house at the village of Shipton-on-Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England, north of the city of Oxford.
Overview
The Manor and its outbuildings are Listed building#England and ...
in Oxfordshire, with the singer free-forming his lyrics. Guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble, and drummer David Humphrey made the song up as they went along, and recorded the song in one take.
PiL also recorded at
Townhouse Studios
The Town House (also known as Townhouse Studios) was a recording studio located at 150 Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush in London, built in 1978 under the direction of Richard Branson for Virgin Records. The studios changed ownership and eventuall ...
in West London with session drummer
Richard Dudanski
Richard "Snakehips" Dudanski, also known as Richard Nother, is an English drummer who was a member of a number of seminal British proto-punk, punk and post-punk bands, including The 101ers, The Raincoats, Public Image Ltd., Tymon Dogg and the Fool ...
and produced the songs "
Memories
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...
", "No Birds", "Socialist", and "Chant";
Clinton Heylin
Clinton Heylin (born 8 April 1960) is an English author who has written extensively about popular music and the work of Bob Dylan.
Education
Heylin attended Manchester Grammar School. He read history at Bedford College, University of London, ...
: ''"Babylon's Burning – From Punk to Grunge"'', Canongate 2007, page 466 Levene recalls that "Memories" features him playing "this normal Spanish guitar thing that goes dun-da-da-dun da-da-dun... it's one of the first things I learned to play on guitar, very simple. I was very fond of that
..I just had the guitar going through an
Electric Mistress."
"
Death Disco
"Death Disco" is a song by Public Image Ltd. The record was released in both 7" and 12" single formats with a "½ Mix" of the song and "Megga mix" (an instrumental version of "Fodderstompf" from '' Public Image: First Issue'') on the 12" version ...
" – released as a single in late June 1979 – was remixed and retitled "Swan Lake" for ''Metal Box''. "I realised," said Levene, "that this tune that I was bastardising by mistake was '
Swan Lake
''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...
', so I started playing it on purpose but I was doing it from memory. You can hear that I'm not playing it exactly right. It just worked.
..There's a few versions of that. The one on ''Metal Box'' is version two, which is very different from the simpler, original 12-inch version."
The lyrics are based on Lydon's mother dying of cancer: "When I had to deal with my mother's death, which upset the fuck out of me, I did it partly through music. I had to watch her die slowly of cancer for a whole year. I wrote 'Death Disco' about that. I played it to her just before she died and she was very happy. That's the Irish in her, nothing drearily sympathetic or weak."
[Jack Barron: ''"I Cry Alone"'', '']New Musical Express
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'', printed 10 October 1987 PiL recorded the song at an empty hall in
Brixton
Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th ce ...
to test a three-bass sound system and worked with drummer
Jim Walker but didn't record with him.
"Poptones" was one of the first songs recorded for the album, according to Levene, who stated that he inadvertently played "
Starship Trooper
"Starship Trooper" is a song written by British musicians Jon Anderson, Steve Howe and Chris Squire, which first appeared on Yes' 1971 album '' The Yes Album''. The song is in three parts, "Life Seeker", "Disillusion" and "Würm". "Life Seeke ...
" during the song.
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his professional career on the staff of ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He has since gone on to freelance and publish a number of full-length books on music ...
: ''"Albatross Soup"'', printed in ''The Wire
''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...
'', December 2002 According to Lydon, "Poptones" was based on a story "straight out of the ''
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...
''" about a girl who was kidnapped and "bundled, blindfolded, into the back of a car by a couple of bad men and driven off into a forest, where they eventually dumped her. The men had a cassette machine with an unusual tune on the cassette, which they kept playing over and over. The girl remembered the song, and that, along with her recollection of the car and the men's voices, is how the police identified them. The police eventually stopped the car and found the cassette was still in the machine, with the same distinctive song on the tape."
[John Lydon's liner notes in ]Public Image Ltd.
Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band (and incorporated limited company) formed by singer John Lydon (previously known as the singer of Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble, and dr ...
's ''Plastic Box'' compilation, Virgin Records, 1999) In his 2009 autobiography ''Memoirs of a Geezer'', Jah Wobble says that Poptones refers to "a journey we took in
Joe
Joe or JOE may refer to:
Arts
Film and television
* ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle
* ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage
* ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971
* ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...
the roadie's Japanese car
.and Joe had one of his dodgy cassettes playing.". He highlighted the song as "the jewel in the PiL crown.
..That
assline is as symmetrical as a snowflake. To give him his due Levene went mental for it. We were at The Manor. We had a drummer with us who was pretty good
..but the bloke just couldn't get the right feel for 'Poptones'.
..In the end Levene put the drums down on that track, his drums are a bit loose, but that is actually a good thing."
[Jah Wobble: ''Memoirs of a Geezer'' ('']Serpent's Tail
Serpent's Tail is London-based independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Pete Ayrton. It specialises in publishing work in translation, particularly European crime fiction. In January 2007, it was bought by a British publisher Profile Book ...
'', 2009, pages 108–109)
Wobble cited "Careering" as his "second-favourite track from ''Metal Box'', and probably my favourite John Lydon vocal performance."
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his professional career on the staff of ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He has since gone on to freelance and publish a number of full-length books on music ...
: ''"Totally Wired: Postpunk Interviews and Overviews"'', ''Soft Skull Press'', 2009, page 20 Lyrically, the song is "basically about a gunman
n Northern Ireland
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
who is careering as a professional businessman in London."
[Peter Noble: ''"Jah Wobble of PIL"'', ''Impulse'' magazine, Toronto, May 1980)] The song was recorded at the Townhouse during a quick nighttime session helmed by Wobble; he told journalist
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his professional career on the staff of ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He has since gone on to freelance and publish a number of full-length books on music ...
in an interview: "If you listen to the drum rhythm it is very similar to the sort of rhythm a
drum and fife band would create.
..By now Keith had got hold of a
Prophet synth, he used that on 'Careering'."
Wobble created the drum track and bassline, while Levene played synth. Levene explained his synth playing in the song was an attempt to replicate the sound of ambient machine noise heard from a downstairs toilet, achieved by dropping an item on one of the synth keys to keep it going.
"No Birds Do Sing" (also listed as just "No Birds") features a line from "
La Belle Dame sans Merci
"La Belle Dame sans Merci" ("The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy") is a ballad produced by the England, English poet John Keats in 1819. The title was derived from the title of a 15th-century poem by Alain Chartier called ''La Belle Dame sans ...
", a poem by
John Keats
John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...
, which Lydon "just borrowed a bit of because it suited this particular rant about suburbia."
The song was recorded at the Townhouse with drummer Richard Dudanski, whom Keith Levene knew during his tenure with
The 101ers
The 101ers were a pub rock band from the 1970s playing mostly in a rockabilly style, notable as being the band that Joe Strummer left to join The Clash. Formed in London in May 1974, the 101ers made their performing debut on 7 September at the ...
. Wobble said that Dudanski made extensive and imaginative use of the
tom-tom drums,
and Levene told Simon Reynolds that "No Birds" is one of his favourite songs on the album.
"All that it is is me playing the guitar part and duplicating it, but feeding the second one through this effect I'd set up on the harmoniser. Meanwhile John is lying under the piano and singing that weird feedback voice, while twinkling the keys at the same time, just to be annoying. You can hear the piano on the record," said Levene.
"Graveyard" features a guitar part that was "made up on the spot," according to Levene. "I was in a very
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
mood. I didn't know what I was going to play. Wobble's playing the bassline and drums are playing so I had to do something."
The album version is an instrumental, a version with lyrics and vocals was retitled "Another" and released as the B-side to "
Memories
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...
" in October 1979.
"The Suit"—described by Lydon as being about "people of low origins trying to be posh"—is one of Levene's least favourite tracks.
Levene said, "It was never one of my favourite pieces because of what it was really about.
..There was this guy that was an old mate of John's who lived in this apartment. At some point John decided he hated his guts. He just wrote this really nasty, finger-pointing, over-exaggerated, ripping parody of what the guy was – 'Society boy.'
..This guy,
ashion designerKenny MacDonald, made his suit and all of ours and it made him look good to have the guys from PiL wearing his stuff. We'd wear it wrong and it looked even better, we didn't want the black leather jacket look like these punk bands. So John just decided to hate this guy, that's what happens and there's nothing you can do. He wouldn't be his lapdog and John thought he was a star and wanted that."
Wobble played and recorded the backing track of drums and piano for "The Suit" at Gooseberry Studios with Mark Lusardi, which started out as a cover of "
Blueberry Hill
"Blueberry Hill" is a popular American song published in 1940, best remembered for its 1950s rock and roll version by Fats Domino. The music was written by Vincent Rose, the lyrics by Larry Stock and Al Lewis. It was recorded six times in 1940 ...
".
He brought the backing track to the band at The Manor, to which Lydon "freaked out when he heard that... He was galvanised into action and within a few hours 'The Suit' existed."
"Bad Baby"—its title a nickname of Levene's
—was recorded at the Townhouse. Wobble (whose playing in the song was inspired by bassist
Cecil McBee
Cecil McBee (born May 19, 1935) is an American jazz bassist. He has recorded as a leader only a handful of times since the 1970s, but has contributed as a sideman to a number of jazz albums.
Biography Early life and career
McBee was born in Tu ...
) and drummer
Martin Atkins
Martin Clive Atkins (born 3 August 1959) is an English drummer and session musician, best known for his work in post-punk and industrial groups including Public Image Ltd, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Pigface, and Killing Joke. He also works as ...
recorded the song together.
Levene recalled that "Socialist" featured cheap synthesizers he had purchased: "Me and Wobble were really having fun fucking around with these things, whilst submerged in the mix was this huge soaring sound, rising upwards from the drum and the bass, like a whale's cry. Later on I dubbed up the cymbals, so you have that spiralling metallic sound. Dubwise!" Wobble told Simon Reynolds, "At the time I was a bit of a
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
.
..I hated
Thatcher, I hated everything
Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
stood for to be quite honest, you know, and at that time I just wanted that old-style, left-wing socialism."
Lydon called "Chant" an "old English ditty with a string synthesizer".
[Alfred Hilsberg: ''"Public Image Ltd. – Wir sind keine Rock 'n' Roll Band!"'', ''Sounds'' magazine, Germany, April 1980] Drummer Richard Dudanski cited it as one of his favourites.
Album closer "Radio 4" was named after the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
radio station. "I called it 'Radio 4' because in England, you got
...," said Levene. "Radio 1 played pop tunes. Before that, the BBC was so boring! It took until about 1985 before we had FM radio."
. Levene played the bassline "as if it was Wobble playing," and played a
String Ensemble to create the layered synth sounds. "I was using this thing and I start building it up, all I'm doing is taking different sounds from this thing and layering it. When I heard it, I pulled the drums out. I got on the idea of trying to make it sound orchestrated with the long chords played shorter. To get round the other stuff, I just used what was at hand. I played bass like I imagined Wobble would play bass to it, I wanted a Wobble feel to it. But basically, it's all me – that's when I realised I can completely do everything. You just hear the drums at the end.
With 'Radio 4', I was just alone in the studio one night, and I was overwhelmed with the sense of space. I just took everything out of the studio, moved the drum kit out and played everything myself, reproducing this sense of cold spaciousness I felt around me."
," Lydon recalled. "It had to be, because we'd spent most of the money on the container ''
' – and so what we had to do was quite literally sneak into studios when bands had gone home for the night. And these were pretty rough
The title of the album refers to its original packaging, which consisted of a metal case in the style of a
. It was designed by Dennis Morris and was innovative and inexpensive, costing little more to the label than the cost of standard printed sleeves for equivalent 12" releases (although Virgin did ask for a refund of a third of the band's advance due to the cost). Before the metal tin was finalised, there was discussion of the album being released in a sandpaper package that would effectively ruin the sleeve art of any records shelved next to it. That idea would later be realised by
The album's lack of accessibility extended to the discs themselves. Packed tightly inside the canister and separated by paper sheets, they were difficult to remove, and were prone to being nicked and scratched in the process. Since each side only contained about ten minutes of music, the listener was required to frequently change sides to hear the complete album.
Deleted from the catalogue on 23 November 1979 after an initial release of 60,000 units, the album was re-issued on 22 February 1980
. The sleeve art of ''Second Edition'' consists of distorted photographs of the band members, achieving a funhouse mirror effect. (The front cover is a photo of Keith Levene.) The lyrics are printed on the rear cover. These were originally printed in a magazine advertisement and not included with ''Metal Box''. The band initially wanted the album released with a lyric sheet but no track titles. The United Kingdom version of ''Second Edition'' appears as the band intended, with lyrics on the back cover, but no titles, and "PiL" logo labels on all four sides of the vinyl. The US edition of ''Second Edition'' has track titles both on the back cover and the labels.
The original metal canister idea was used a few years later during the compact disc era. By the late 1980s, a number of CDs were packaged in metal canisters. In 1990 the concept came full circle, with the compact disc release of ''Metal Box'' employing a smaller version of the original metal canister, containing a single disc and a small paper insert.
classic, and is highly acclaimed. Andy Kellman of
said that "PIL managed to avoid boundaries for the first four years of their existence, and ''Metal Box'' is undoubtedly the apex", noting that the album "hardly
like anything of the past, present, or future". He also compared it to the works of
.