The Sex Pistols may have hated everything about mid-‘70s England, but Public Image Ltd. despised the music industry itself. Johnny Rotten—using his real name, John Lydon—started the musically nihilist project after leaving the Pistols. The group's first album, 1978's First Issue, featured droning choruses, anti-religion screeds, and attacks on Malcolm McLaren, anchored by Jah Wobble's dub reggae bass and, of course, Lydon's distinctive wailing vocals. PiL was lauded by critics and had some chart success in England, but the band's experimentalism proved challenging for some fans.