Public Image Ltd – Metal Box (1979)

December 25, 2024

I’ve come back to Metal Box countless times over the years, but I have never really been able to put my finger on what’s going on here. It walks an incredibly strange line between three things; pop sensibility, post-punk obtuseness, and chill-as-fuck dub. I don’t really know what I’m supposed to be feeling, and that’s ok, but it’s not really helped in allowing me to form some coherent thoughts on what’s actually going on, before we even get to whether I like it or not.

My favourite song I can safely say is “Poptones”. It sounds like it fell straight off Scorn’s Evanescence album. THAT super nonchalant yet irritating guitar unpinned by a tight dub bass is just uncanny. Rename the song to “Blacktones” or something and switch out Lydon for Bullen and you’re bang on the money. Crazy, because that album is hailed as ahead of its time yet here we are with PiL in the decade before! Props is due where props is due!

Worst song? Probably “Graveyard”.

No doubt I will continue to be perplexed by the vibes here on Metal Box for many years to come, but at least I finally wrote about it, eh?