Johnny Rotten Decries Upcoming Sex Pistols Compilation As 'Substandard'

Only a day after the Sex Pistols' biopic miniseries got an official release date, band cofounder and frontman John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten) has denounced the series' accompanying compilation album.

The 20-track The Original Recordings album focuses on Sex Pistols recordings between 1976 - 1978. The LP will be issued by Universal Music Group on May 27, a few days ahead of the launch of the Danny Boyle-directed miniseries, titled Pistol.

"For the avoidance of any doubt, John Lydon has not approved this compilation and does not endorse or support it," read a statement from Lydon's verified Facebook account. "He has not approved the artwork or tracklisting. He and his team were not involved in producing this compilation and consider it substandard compared to previous Universal releases since 2012."

Pistol will be available on Hulu beginning May 31 for viewers in the U.S.

Lydon has more than said his piece on the miniseries, Pistol, which is based on cofounder and guitarist Steve Jones's memoir. The frontman ultimately lost a legal effort to block the series.

Lydon complained that Pistol is a watered down and exploitative version of the Sex Pistols' story. He maligned the other Sex Pistols and Boyle for not allowing him to be involved in its production.

The Pistol miniseries has the backing of all the other surviving Sex Pistols — Jones, Paul Cook, Glen Matlock — and the estate of late-bassist Sid Vicious.

Lydon called his former bandmates "evil" for their involvement with the show and claimed that his legal challenge to it left him in "financial ruin."

Jones and Cook countered saying that they repeatedly invited Lydon to be involved in the show, but he ignored their outreach. They also quarreled with the singer's insistence that he is the lone caretaker of the band's true story.

Ultimately, a judge ruled that Lydon, under terms of deals he signed in the late-'90s, had no right to veto his bandmates' projects.