The Rolling Stones ‘should retire,' fellow rock legend, Sex Pistols' star John Lydon proclaims

New York Post

09-05-2025

The Stones need to roll off into the sunset.
So says the Sex Pistols' John Lydon, formerly known as Johnny Rotten, who is calling for the 'Start Me Up' band to hang it up
'By all means, The Rolling Stones should retire,' Lydon, 69, said on 'Good Morning Britain' Wednesday.
The he quipped: 'I've offended music lovers.'
5 'I'm not short of a song idea or two, so there's a difference,' said the Lydon about why the Rolling Stones should retire.
Redferns
5 The Rolling Stones are sill rocking, even with two of their members — Mick Jagger and Keith Richards — in their 80s.
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But Lydon doesn't put himself in the same category as the Stones, with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards both 81, and Ronnie Wood, 77.
'I'm not short of a song idea or two, so there's a difference,' said the punk icon.
Lydon also walked back his previous announcement on 'Good Morning Britain' that he would never tour again.
'That's dementia for you, I forgot that bit,' he said.
5 John Lydon spent much of recent years as a full-time caregiver for his late wife Nora Foster, who died in 2023.
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'As I indicated before, if I just sat back and retired, that's not me. I'm not that kind of person.'
The Post reached out to the Stones' rep for comment.
Despite what Lydon thinks, the band is actually still going strong.
In 2023, they released 'Hackney Diamonds,' their first album of new material since 2005's 'A Bigger Bang' — and their first LP since the 2021 death of founding drummer Charlie Watts.
Then the Stones embarked on their 'Hackney Diamonds' Tour in April 2024, their first North American trek since 2019, which included two sold-out nights at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
5 Mick Jagger made a surprise appearance at the Oscars in March to present the award for Best Original Song.
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In February, 'Hackney Diamonds' won the Grammy for Best Rock Album, marking only the fourth time that the Stones brought home a gramophone since the legendary British band formed in 1962.
In 2015, Jagger told Rolling Stone that retirement hadn't crossed his mind.
'I'm thinking about what the next tour is,' he said. 'I'm not thinking about retirement. I'm planning the next set of tours, so the answer is really, 'No, not really.''
5 Punk-rock icon John Lydon fronted the Sex Pistols as Johnny Rotten in the '70s.
Corbis via Getty Images
Meanwhile, Lydon has spent much of recent years as a full-time caregiver to his late wife Nora Forster, who passed away in 2023 at 80 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
'It is with a heavy heart that we share the sad news that Nora Forster – John Lydon's wife of nearly 5 decades – has passed away. Nora had been living with Alzheimer's for several years. In which time John had become her full-time carer,' an announcement on X post read with a photo of the couple.
Lydon, who married Forster in 1979, revealed that he had become her full-time caregiver in a 2020 interview with The Mirror.
'For me, the real person is still there,' Lydon said of his wife. 'That person I love is still there every minute of every day and that is my life. It's unfortunate that she forgets things, well, don't we all?'