John Lydon has revealed that Public Image Ltd's 1978 debut single, 'Public Image', marked his deliberate break from Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols, allowing him to reject the persona and politics that had defined the band. The Sex Pistols, assembled by manager Malcolm McLaren in 1975, ignited London's punk scene and released the landmark album Nevermind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, but internal tensions, worsened by Sid Vicious's heroin addiction, led Lydon to quit the group in January 1978 following a show at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom.

Speaking to Mojo in 2012, Lydon said the new single made clear he no longer needed to "repeat where I stand politically" and could instead focus on personal change, adding that "you can change everything that's wrong with your enemy by changing yourself first." The track represented Lydon distancing himself from McLaren's exploitative publicity tactics and gimmicks, opting instead for a more expansive musical direction with Public Image Ltd, effectively closing the chapter on London's first wave of punk.