"Theme" Public Image Limited

First in a series of in-depth song analysis.

I'd love to travel back to 1979 to witness the reaction to this song, the first track on the debut Public Image Ltd. LP.

People following John Lydon because of the Sex Pistols or Public Image, the rather conventional inaugural PiL single, must have been aghast.

Jah Wobble's impossibly low, impossibly loud bass sets the thuggish pace. After a big drum roll the whole band crashes into a titanic groove, set somewhere between cock rock and deep dub, while Keith Levene wrangles an Ornette Coleman impression out of his guitar. His playing is a violent blur, caked in flange and never settling on one riff or motif for too long. The effect is similar to the "sheets of sound" aesthetic espoused by John Coltrane, only propelled by nihilist brutality instead of spiritual ecstasy.

Lydon's vocal is positively depraved, all cackles and yelps in place of anything approaching singing, and punctuated by mocking laughter. It's made even more unsettling by the main refrain - "I wish I could die."

It's intersting that Lydon chose the conditional could. It suggests a number of possible meanings, from a craving for death that is somehow prevented, to an urge to die and be reborn - to experience death for experience's sake. Greil Marcus wrote of Lydon's ability to push language past interpretation into pure effect, and that ability, certainly Lydon's paramount talent, is on full display here. The performance is pure conviction but the sentiment resists categorization.

Theme is almost ten minutes long, and like all the best lengthy PiL tracks (Albatross, Poptones), it creates a strange sensation of lost time. The repetitiveness of the lyrics and the unwavering lock-step of the rhythm section meld with Levene's free-form playing, which implies movement but more creates a sense of hovering in place. The overall sound of it is so encompassing that it's difficult to gauge how much time is passing. Once the tune gets going it's as if it was always already playing and will always be playing, calling to mind the eternal music theories of LaMonte Young.

Of course referencing names and concepts from the high-brow wing of musical theory is a fun exercise, but it's hardly the point. Theme is simply a vicious rock song, an indelible musical moment spun from sheer inspiration. What's remarkable about it is the distinct bridge it builds between so many disparate styles. The drums recall Led Zeppelin but also point the way towards Steve Albini. The noisy guitar could imply free jazz but it's also not too far from No Wave and Sonic Youth, and even the later psychedelic stylings of Jason Pierce from Spaceman 3/Spiritualized. The lasting impression is that perhaps PiL were even more groundbreaking and influential than is usually assumed.