In many people’s eyes, the career of John Lydon (or Johnny Rotten, if you prefer) ended on January 17, 1978, when he split from the Sex Pistols. As the frontman of Pistols, Lydon had been crowned King of the Damned, riding to the top of the charts as a member of the first punk rock band. In the months that followed, there was a failed attempt by Virgin Records impresario Richard Branson to install Lydon as frontman of oddballs Devo, but Lydon decided he wanted to form his own new outfit and returned to the UK with the aim of putting a new band together.

He first approached now legendary Jamaican bassist Jah Wobble and the two set about creating a new sound, fusing a much wider range of genres than anyone would have assumed Lydon knew of: disco, kraut rock, world music and jazz were all thrown into the mix.

After a few months of writing and rehearsing the band added former Clash guitarist Keith Levene, drummer Jim Walker and settled on the name Public Image Limited (PiL). They released their debut album that year and instantly found a solid fanbase, going on to create seven further albums over a 14-year period, including the acclaimed Metal Box.

Initially, PiL were criticised by punks for making the music they’d sought so hard to destroy; however, the band and, indeed, the post punk genre they represent, has proved increasingly influential as time has gone on, with bands like Bloc Party and Foals citing them both as an inspiration.

These days, Lydon is the only survivor from that line-up, but he still continues to tour as Public Image Limited and, indeed, visits Oxford’s O2 Academy on Wednesday. This tour has the bizarre distinction of being financed by an advertisement, with Lydon putting the proceeds of his rather embarrassing turn promoting Country Life butter into making this tour happen. That’s still what most of us would call punk rock.

Tickets are priced at £25. You can get them from www.ticketweb.co.uk or from the O2 Academy box office.