Steve Jones of Sex Pistols to Publish Memoir

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Steve Jones, the guitarist best known for his brief but tumultuous time with the notorious Sex Pistols, is publishing his autobiography. Titled Lonely Boy: Tales of a Sex Pistol, and co-written with Ben Thompson, the 320-page memoir will be published January 15 by Da Capo Press. Pre-order is available here.

Says a press release: “Recognized as one of the key inventors of punk and celebrated as a living legend, guitarist and songwriter Steve Jones revisits his unruly, and often tragic, past in his upcoming autobiography.” The book’s release will coincide with the 40th anniversary of the band’s debut album, Never Mind the Bollocks: Here’s the Sex Pistols.

Adds the press release: “In Lonely Boy, Jones recounts the nihilistic songs, amphetamine-fueled music and influential anarchical fashion that turned a street urchin into a founding member of a genre-defining band. From his days of petty crime and havoc-wreaking in England, to his first impression of Sid Vicious and famously blowing off the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony with Johnny Rotten, Lonely Boy offers a portrait of a punk pioneer-a demigod to a generation of frustrated youth who identified with the band’s political and social condemnations of life for the working class.”

The publisher offered this teaser from chapter 4 of the book: “When it comes to what defines me as a person, a lot of the best things in my life have come about because of the worst things, which is a weird one when you try and think about divine intervention and all that bollocks. It would be a pretty twisted kind of God who would say ‘Let’s abuse that child so he can go off the rails and form a band.’ But looking back, I do feel like someone or something—God, destiny, whatever you want to call it—definitely threw me a lifeline in giving me music to hang onto.”

Jones is currently a musician, record producer, DJ, and actor. He lives in Los Angeles, where he hosts Jonesy’s Jukebox on 95.5 KLOS FM and www.955KLOS.com every Monday through Friday between 12:00 and 2:00 pm Pacific time.

Watch the Sex Pistols perform “Holiday in the Sun”