John Lydon inducted the Sex Pistols, but the band refused to attend the ceremony or acknowledge the induction, complaining that they had been asked for large sums of money to attend. In September 2009 it was announced that PiL would reform, including earlier members Bruce Smith and Lu Edmonds, for a number of Christmas shows in the UK. Lydon financed the reunion using money he earned doing a UK TV commercial for Country Life butter. "The money that I earned from that has now gone completely—lock stock and barrel—into reforming PiL," said Lydon. In August 2010, Lydon played with Public Image Ltd
Sex Pistols a raunchy patchouli." The band signed with Universal Music Group in 2012 to re-release "Never Mind the Bollocks". On 30 October 2018 Billy Idol and Tony James, formerly of Generation X, along with Steve Jones and Paul Cook, formerly of the Sex Pistols, performed a free entry gig at The Roxy in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, under the name "Generation Sex", playing a combined set of the two former bands' material. The "Trouser Press Record Guide" entry on the Sex Pistols remarks that "their importance—both to the direction of contemporary music and more generally to pop culture—can hardly be overstated".