Well, this is unexpected. Last week, founding Sex Pistol John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon was named as the recipient for BMI’s Icon Award this year. In an interview with Rolling Stone, the punk icon-who has notoriously refused many honors in the past-will not only be accepting BMI’s award; he’s happy to get it.

Calling the honor “fantastic,” Lydon claims to take this honor more seriously than the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which he famously called a “piss stain” when the Sex Pistols were inducted in 2006. The BMI Award, in Lydon’s eyes, is a more important honor which he describes as “the British music industry saying, ‘Well done, John.'”

Lydon also claimed that his band Public Image Ltd. will keep on going after releasing their reunion album This Is PiL last year. According to Lydon, the band are back in the studio working on a follow-up. As for the band that made him famous, Lydon claims that the Sex Pistols are done for good: “I just can’t shift the gears backwards. My engine doesn’t run in reverse.”

You can check out the full interview with Lydon here.