Of all the early punk bands that popped up in the mid-late 70’s, one of the most (in)famous of them was the band known as The Sex Pistols. Led by singer/front man Johnny (Rotten) Lydon, this untalented, unruly band took England by storm, and shoved their own brand of punk rock down the throat of the masses. The Sex Pistols have, in their time and after it, influenced the shape of punk rock since the 70’s. This article exists to clear up much of the truth and myth behind one of the most chaotic, in-your-face punk bands to date.
Malcom
McLaren was London shop owner and a band manager in the 60’s and 70’s. During a visit to CBGB’s in New York,
McLaren fell in love with the “punk image” and hoped to create a band as soon as he got home to spread punk into England. From his shop, called “Sex,”
McLaren picked four random people to be in his band, which was to be managed by
McLaren, himself. The original three members,
Steve Jones (guitar),
Glen Matlock (bass), and
Paul Cook (drums), were soon joined up by a “true street hooligan” in
Johnny “
Rotten”
Lydon as singer and front man. Thus,
The Sex Pistols were born, picked almost completely randomly with no experience playing their respective instruments.
The band’s first gig was at the 100 Club on March 30th, 1976. The band was immediately showing signs of success, despite their total lack of talent. Rotten’s brutal screaming and in-your-face style caught on quickly in England, and on September 20th, at the first ever punk festival, obtained a record deal with E.M.I and two months later, in November, released their first single, “Anarchy In The Uk.”
Not surprisingly, the authorities and the mainstream media hated the Pistols, and did everything in their power to bring down the group. Rotten loved the attention, and attempted to catalyze the anger with offensive behavior everywhere and everytime he was seen. It wasn’t long before The Sex Pistols were banned from half the radios and stages in the U.K. On May 30th, 1977, E.M.I dropped the band. In June, A&M signed the band, but nine days later, dropped them as well. The Pistols did some ousting of their own, and replaced Glenn Matlock with Rotten’s old friend, Sid “Vicious” Beverly who, of course, had little/no skill with the bass guitar.
Despite all of this, the largely boycotted single, “Anarchy In The U.k.,” was still making the charts, and the Pistols decided to record and release another single, “God Save The Queen.” To add insult to injury, the band released the song on the day of Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee celebration. Despite the cries of outraged patriots (band members were beaten on the streets after the release of the song), this song took the top charts as well. The band’s third single, “Pretty Vacant,” (arguably the band’s most talented song) took the same rise to the charts, spiting the conservative public.
Later in the year, the Pistols released their one and only album, “Nevermind The Bollocks,” with Virgin Records. The record is considered a classic in the eyes of many, and did excruciatingly well on the charts, as did every other piece of music they ever released.
During all of this, McLaren was losing control of the band. He attempted to exert some control, and asked the Pistols to release a song that would help promote his store, but Rotten tricked McLaren with a song that did not at all promote the store, but somehow got McLaren to believe the opposite. McLaren had asked for the abnd to promote his BDSM/bondage stuff, so Lydon wrote Sub-Mission, which fooled McLaren, but had nothing to do with bondage and the like.
The Pistols’ final show was in San Francisco in the year following the release of “Nevermind The Bollocks” on Januray 14th. The band was disbanding as suddenly and chaotically as it had risen to power. It had seemed like The Pistols had figured out McLaren’s original intent to use the band as a commercial tool. They seemed to realize that they were made to become a part of the world they hated so ferociously. Whatever it was, the Pistols scattered to the winds.
Lydon, the most intellectual of The Pistols, loudly announced the death of “Johnny Rotten,” and built himself a new career in England. Sid, however, didn’t take such a passive path. An immoral, edgy junkie, Sid first was accused of stabbing his girlfriend, Nancy, to death (he was on so much heroin that he honestly had no idea if he killed her). Sid was eventually released on parole, and later went on to kill himself with an overdose of heroin.
McLaren put and end to everything with the film documentary, “The Great Rock And Roll Swindle.” McLaren revealed his own ambitions to use punk as a commercial tool used to his advantage, his wish to sell the image and style as something that could actually be bought.
With original bassist Matlock, the band got back together in 1996 to play a series of shows which turned out quite successful for the band. They also released “Filthy Lucre Live” with their old partner, Virgin Records, that year.
Lydon and Jones now live in California. Jones went on to form Neurotic Outsiders with members of Guns And Roses and Duran Duran.
It seems almost strange that, although hailed as one of the “classic” punk bands, The Sex Pistols released just one album. There are dozens of Sex Pistols recordings you can buy, but only one full length album. The rest are compilations and their four singles with various discs.
Now that much of the history is out of the way, I feel it necessary to debunk many of the myths and confirm some of the truths about The Pistols. Technically, it is true that The Sex Pistols were the first true “sell out” band in punk rock. However, it can also be argued that they rebuked this in their spiting of McLaren and their refusal to be anything that even resembled mainstream, despite all the attention they got from the media.
It is true that The Sex Pistols are a great influence to the punk rock world, despite their being “sell outs.” Joe Strummer, of The Clash, admitted that The Pistols were one of the reasons he got with The Clash, who turned out to be just as famous as The Pistols (if not more famous, since they released more than just one album).
The Pistols brought the punk image to the masses, just like McLaren wanted them too. It seems almost ironic that punk has grown to what it is. However, McLaren might be pleased at how the pop-punk explosion is/was treated. One can only wonder.
And thus concludes the history of one of punk’s most influential and interesting bands. The Sex Pistols aren’t quite the gods many think them to be (many times, various members of The Pistols got unplugged at shows due to their poor, sloppy playing), but they did indeed do many beneficial things for punk rock. Without The Pistols, we may not have seen such bands as The Clash, and the U.K. scene would not be what it is today. One cannot deny the impact The Pistols had, though the reason for their creation and the total lack of skill they displayed may overshadow that importance. Ultimately, it is up to you, the listener, to form your own opinion about one of the best known punk bands in history.
Luck and Love,
Mr. Lucky
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