Steve Jones

While he rarely gets the credit for it, Sex Pistols' guitarist Steve Jones was certainly the originator and the actual main reason the band came into existence. Without Jones, who knows what may have become of the Pistols and the storied UK Punk scene of the 1970's that they pioneered?

While Jones has had a forum to tell his side for years now - his KLOS-FM show "Jonesy Jukebox" has been a radio staple for years now – he now officially tells his view of one of music’s most storied bands in his new book, "Lonely Boy."

Jones is not the first Sex Pistol member to tell his tale; original Pistols’ bassist Glen Matlock was the first one to hit bookshelves in 1990 with his vastly underrated book, "I Was A Teenage Sex Pistol," and John Lydon/Rotten put out his version of the bands history with the fabulous "Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs" in 1994.

While both of those books are very upfront and forthcoming, Jones' is brutally honest, as he even frequently admits several times during the book that his memory is shaky on some details (at times he relies on drummer Paul Cooks recall, for a more accurate picture).

By his own admission, Jones had quite a sad childhood and he details vividly the poverty and abuse he endured during his formative years. Add to this a good dose of neglect, and it is easy to see why Jones became quite the kleptomaniac/shoplifter. Not only was he was very talented at "pinching" automobiles and clothes from some of England's coolest haberdasheries of the time, he also lifted quite a good amount of musical instruments and gear from musicians (most famously, was his looting of equipment from the final concerts of David Bowies' Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars shows at the Hammersmith Odeon, from which Jones admitted getting a charge out of his first brush with fame, when he heard of his theft on the radio).

Jones explains his success at thievery to his so called "invisible cloak;" where his remained nearly invisible to possible witnesses, who ignored his presence (or just though he was harmless), making his thieving deeds all the more easier for him.

Jones talks very fondly of the Sex Pistols' early days, especially after Lydon/Rotten joined (and Jones is also responsible for giving Lydon his "Rotten" moniker), recalling the original rehearsals, and tracing the steps of how they slowly become a great band. All which became secondary after the infamous Bill Grundy interview (the full transcript of which is included in the book) - after which the Pistols became more of a media sensation, with the music becoming almost secondary. This attention caused the band, once a tight (even though they were always at each others throats!!) unit, to slowly come unglued and (after the big mistake of replacing Matlock with Sid Vicious on bass), the Pistols imploded at the end of their brief 1978 U.S. tour, cutting short what could have been a much longer tenure.

Jones spends a lot of time covering his post Pistols years, ones that are filled with drug usage and loss of identity (his reflections on his time on heroin are hard to read at times, and it is miraculous that he survived such hard living).

“Lonely Boy” is not only the best of the Sex Pistols autobiography, it is among the best rock books ever. Jones has an amazing talent for storytelling and even it his memory was not the best at times, it is still an amazing story of survival in the heartless music business. And while Jones may have felt lost in the post-Punk 80's (when he felt Punk and his career was dead), he is a now an elder statesman of Punk (and a guitar hero to many) and should be proud of himself for withstanding one of rocks most mythical, and trying eras.