PUNK’S MOST enduring icon, Johnny Rotten, aka John Lydon, is second-generation Irish, his father having come from Tuam.
Lydon is among a number of British musicians of Irish descent who will feature in a new documentary, Guth, to be broadcast on TG4 tonight at 9.30pm.
The series explores how the Irish diaspora gave rise to new voices in the 19th and 20th century that would transform popular music.
Lydon was born and raised in the Finsbury Park, north London, and grew up with an awareness of his Irish heritage. Like many children of Irish immigrants in Britain, he spent many childhood summers in Ireland. He also grew up listening to Irish trad and folk.
The episode also looks at the influence of punk on Tuam and features interviews with Leo Moran and Padraig Stevens. “Before Punk came along, music was owned by the nuns,” says Moran. “The punk thing threw them out the window.”
Guth is directed by Dathaí Keane and produced by Bríd Seoige for Abú Media.
