Everything about The Sex Pistols totally explained
The
Sex Pistols are an
English punk rock band that formed in
London in 1975. The band originally comprised vocalist
Johnny Rotten, guitarist
Steve Jones, drummer
Paul Cook and bassist
Glen Matlock (replaced by
Sid Vicious). Although their initial career lasted only three years and produced only four singles and one studio album,
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, the Sex Pistols have been described by the
BBC as "the definitive English punk rock band." The Pistols are widely credited with initiating the punk movement in the
United Kingdom and creating the first
generation gap within
rock and roll.
The Sex Pistols emerged as a response to the "increasingly safe and bloated"
progressive rock,
disco and manufactured
pop music of the mid-1970s. The band created controversies which captivated Britain, but often eclipsed their music. Their shows and tours repeatedly faced difficulties with organisers and authorities, and public appearances often ended in mayhem. Their 1977 single "
God Save the Queen" was regarded as an attack on the
British monarchy and British
nationalism.
At the end of a turbulent
U.S. tour, Rotten left the band in January 1978. The remaining trio carried on with vocals by Jones,
Edward Tudor-Pole and
Ronnie Biggs before disbanding in early 1979. Vicious died of a
heroin overdose that February. In 1996, Rotten, Jones, Cook and Matlock reunited for the "Filthy Lucre" tour; they staged further reunion tours in 2002, 2003 and 2007. On
24 February 2006, the Sex Pistols were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but they refused to attend the ceremony, calling the museum "a piss stain".
History
Origins and early days
The Sex Pistols evolved from The Strand, a band formed in 1972 with Jones on vocals, Cook on drums and
Wally Nightingale on guitar. Early line-ups also included Jim Mackin (now a
GP practising in Lincolnshire) on organ, as well as Stephen Hayes, and later Del Noones, on bass. By 1973 the band members were spending time at
Don Letts's Acme Attractions and the more upmarket
Let It Rock, a 1950s-themed clothes shop in the
Kings Road,
Chelsea, area of London. Let It Rock was owned by former
New York Dolls manager
Malcolm McLaren and his partner
Vivienne Westwood; the shop specialised in "anti-fashion", selling the drapes, slashed T-shirts,
brothel creepers and
fetish gear later popularised by the punk movement. they began rehearsing at the Crunchy Frog, a studio near the
London Docklands. In 1974, they played their first gig at Tom Salter's Café in London. Noones was ejected from the band shortly afterwards, due to his unreliability and unwillingness to rehearse. Though he'd never considered singing before, after miming along to
Alice Cooper's "
I'm Eighteen" on the shop juke box, Rotten was asked to join as vocalist. Rotten and his circle of friends were by now dressing in the torn-shirt,
S&M-inspired clothing promoted by Vivienne Westwood. The band's core group of followers—including
Siouxsie Sioux,
Steve Severin and
Billy Idol, who would go on to form bands of their own—came to be known as the
Bromley Contingent, after the neighbourhood several were from. Their radical fashion ignited a trend that was adopted by the new fans the band attracted. Steve New answered the advert, and played with the band for a few weeks, before he too departed.
One of McLaren's first acts as manager was to rename the band. Among the options considered were Le Bomb, Subterraneans, Beyond and Teenage Novel. The band's first gig as the Sex Pistols was arranged by Matlock, who was studying at
Saint Martins College. The band played at the school on
6 November 1975. Two newly formed London punk rock acts,
The Clash and
The Damned, made their live debuts opening for the Sex Pistols on
4 July and
6 July, respectively. On
3 September 1976, the Pistols played their first concert outside Britain, at the opening of the Club De Chalet Du Lac in
Paris. Their first major tour of Britain soon followed, lasting from mid-September to early October.
EMI and the Grundy incident
Following a showcase gig at London's first
punk festival, held in October 1976 at the 100 Club in
Oxford Street, the Sex Pistols signed to the major label
EMI. The band's first single, "
Anarchy in the U.K.", released on
26 November 1976, served as a statement of intent—full of wit, anger and visceral energy. Despite a common perception that punk bands couldn't play their instruments, contemporary music press reviews and live recordings reveal the Pistols to have been a tight, competent and ferocious live band.
Their behaviour, as much as their music, brought them national attention. On
1 December 1976 the band and members of the Bromley Contingent created a storm of publicity by swearing during an early evening live broadcast of
Thames Television's
Today programme. Appearing as last-minute replacements for fellow EMI artists
Queen, band and entourage took full advantage of the
green room facilities, and consumed significant amounts of alcohol. During the interview, Rotten used the word "shit", and host
Bill Grundy, who was apparently drunk at the time, flirted openly with Siouxsie Sioux: "We'll meet afterwards, shall we?" This prompted the following exchange between the host and Steve Jones:
» Jones: You dirty sod. You dirty old man.
Grundy: Well keep going chief, keep going. Go on. You've got another five seconds. Say something outrageous.
» Jones: You dirty bastard.
Grundy: Go on, again.
» Jones: You dirty fucker.
Grundy: What a clever boy.
» Jones: What a fucking rotter.
Although the programme was broadcast only in the London region, the ensuing furore occupied the
tabloid newspapers for days. The
Daily Mirror famously ran the headline "The Filth and the Fury", while the
Daily Express led with "Punk? Call it Filthy Lucre"—phrases Lydon adopted for Pistols projects many years later. Thames Television suspended Grundy, and though he was later reinstated, the interview effectively ended his career.
The episode created mass publicity for the band and brought punk into the mainstream. The Pistols set out on the Anarchy Tour of the UK, though many of the concerts were either crowded by hostile press or cancelled by organisers or local authorities.
Following the end of the tour in December 1976, EMI arranged a series of concerts for January 1977 at the Paradiso in
Amsterdam. But before boarding the plane at
London Heathrow Airport, the band reportedly spat on each other and verbally abused airport staff. "One witness claimed the Sex Pistols were doing something so disgusting that she couldn't repeat it for publication ... it became generally believed Jones had been vomiting on old ladies in the preflight lounge," reported
Rolling Stone.
Sid Vicious joins the band
The Paradiso gigs would be their last with Matlock, who parted company with the band in February 1977. According to popular legend he was sacked because he "liked
The Beatles", Matlock now claims to have quit voluntarily, mainly because of an increasingly acrimonious relationship with Rotten. Matlock immediately formed his own band,
Rich Kids, with
Midge Ure, Rusty Egan and Steve New.
Matlock was replaced by Rotten's friend and self-appointed "ultimate Sex Pistols fan" Sid Vicious (Simon John Ritchie), previously drummer of
Siouxsie & the Banshees and
The Flowers of Romance. McLaren approved Vicious as a member on account of his look and "punk attitude", despite his limited musical abilities.
According to McLaren, "When Sid joined he couldn't play guitar but his craziness fit into the structure of the band. He was the knight in shining armour with a giant fist." Lydon later recalled, "The first rehearsals with Sid were hellish. Everyone agreed he'd the look. Sid tried real hard ... but boy, he couldn't play bass." and most of the bass parts on the band's later recordings were played by either Jones or Matlock. from
New York with a history of severe emotional problems. At least one radio station announced the song at number one, but refused to play it, as they'd been advised it might incite disruptions of the national celebration.
The Pistols marked the Jubilee, and the success of their record, by chartering a private boat, intending to perform live while sailing down the
River Thames, passing
Westminster and the
Houses of Parliament. The event ended in chaos, however, when the boat was raided by police, despite a license to perform having been granted. McLaren, the band and many of their entourage were taken into custody when the vessel docked.
Violent attacks on punk fans were on the rise; on
18 June Rotten himself was assaulted by a knife-wielding gang outside
Islington's Pegasus pub, causing tendon damage to his arm. A tour of Scandinavia, planned to start at the end of the month, was consequently delayed until mid-July. At the end of August came SPOTS—Sex Pistols On Tour Secretly, a surreptitious UK tour with the band playing under
pseudonyms to avoid cancellation.
Never Mind the Bollocks
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols was recorded between March and June 1977, in Wessex Studios,
Highbury, London, and produced by
Chris Thomas, who had worked with
Roxy Music. Due to Vicious's lack of musical ability, the bass parts on
Never Mind the Bollocks were performed by Steve Jones. According to Jones, "Sid wanted to come down and play on the album, and we tried as hard as possible not to let him anywhere near the studio. Luckily he'd hepatitis at the time." to mixed reviews.
Rolling Stone praised the album, comparing its sound to "two subway trains crashing together under 4 feet of mud, victims screaming", and applauded the band for playing "with an energy and conviction that's positively transcendent in its madness and fever". Some critics, however, were disappointed that the album contained versions of all four previously released singles, and considered the release to be effectively a "Greatest Hits" album. The album has come to be recognized as one of the most influential rock recordings since the genre's beginnings. A 2005
All Music Guide critique describes it as "one of the greatest, most inspiring rock records of all time".
The album title caused difficulties for the band.
Boots,
W.H. Smith and
Woolworth's refused to stock the album, a Conservative
MP condemned it as "a symptom of the way society is declining" and the Independent Television Companies Association refused to carry its TV advertising campaign. In
Nottingham a record outlet was threatened with prosecution for displaying "indecent printed matter". The case was overturned when defending
QC John Mortimer produced expert witnesses who were able to demonstrate that the word
bollocks was an
Old English term for a
priest. Although the word in popular slang means
testicles, in the context of the Pistols' album title it's primarily intended to signify "nonsense". Steve Jones had suggested the title—he claimed unwittingly—inspired by two friends who owned a hot dog stand. According to his account, they'd routinely interrupt him mid-sentence, exclaiming "Oh, never mind the bollocks". Though highly anticipated by fans and media, the tour was plagued by in-fighting, poor planning and physically belligerent audiences. McLaren has admitted that he purposely booked
redneck bars to provoke hostile situations. Over the course of the two weeks, Vicious, by now heavily addicted to heroin,
began to live up to his stage name. According to Rotten, "He finally had an audience of people who would behave with shock and horror. Sid was easily led by the nose." Suffering from heroin withdrawal during a show in
Dallas, Texas, he spat blood at a woman who had climbed onstage and punched him in the face. and coughing up blood, felt increasingly isolated from Cook and Jones, He later observed, "I hated the whole scenario. It was a farce. I felt cheated. Sid was completely out of his brains—just a waste of space. Malcolm wouldn't speak to me. But then he'd turn around and tell Paul and Steve that the tension was all my fault because I wouldn't agree to anything. It was all very bitter and confusing." He eventually telephoned the head of Virgin Records,
Richard Branson, who agreed to pay for his flight back to London, via
Jamaica. In Jamaica, Branson met with members of the band
Devo, and tried to install Rotten as their lead singer. Devo declined the offer.
The Sex Pistols continued, briefly, with Cook, Jones and Vicious. Attempts were made at finding a new frontman, but the band ended up with all three members taking lead vocal turns alongside guest vocalists. The group didn't perform live in the post-Rotten period, but the majority of the recordings from this time were later released.
Post-breakup
After leaving the Pistols, Johnny Rotten reverted to his birth name of Lydon, and formed
Public Image Ltd with former Clash member
Keith Levene and school friend
Jah Wobble. The band went on to score a UK Top Ten hit with their debut single, 1978's "Public Image". The following year PIL recorded the
post-punk classic
Metal Box. In 1978 Lydon had initiated legal proceedings against McLaren and his management company, Glitterbest. Among the claims were non-payment of royalties, improper usage of the title "Johnny Rotten", unfair contractual obligations, and damages for "all the criminal activities that took place".
Vicious relocated to New York, and with Nancy Spungen acting as his manager, began to perform as a solo artist. He recorded a live album, 1979's
Sid Sings, backed by "The Idols" featuring
Arthur Kane and
Jerry Nolan of the New York Dolls. On
12 October 1978 Spungen was found dead in the
Chelsea Hotel room she was sharing with Vicious, with stab wounds to her stomach and dressed only in her underwear. Police recovered drug paraphernalia from the scene and Vicious was arrested and charged with her murder. In an interview at the time, McLaren said, "I can't believe he was involved in such a thing. Sid was set to marry Nancy in New York. He was very close to her and had quite a passionate affair with her." He was only 21. Reflecting on the event, Lydon said, "Poor Sid. The only way he could live up to what he wanted everyone to believe about him was to die. That was tragic, but more for Sid than anyone else. He really bought his public image." A fictionalised account of Vicious's relationship with Spungen is the focus of the 1986 film
Sid and Nancy, directed by
Alex Cox. Lydon has been publicly critical of the film, taking issue both with its portrayal of the main characters and the speculation that Vicious and Spungen had formed a
suicide pact. A second attempt was made in mid-1978, with Cook and Jones starring in the McLaren-scripted
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. Directed by
Julien Temple, the movie is McLaren's fictionalised account of the Pistols' history; in it he claims to have controlled and manipulated the band from its inception. The soundtrack featured Jones, occasionally Cook or Vicious, and sometimes
Edward Tudor-Pole, trading on their vocals and engaging in McLaren-concocted gimmicks, such as recording two songs on the album with notorious British criminal
Ronnie Biggs.
Cook and Jones continued to work through guest appearances and as
session musicians, and later formed
The Professionals. In the mid-1980s, Jones joined then band Chequered Past and then released two solo albums,
Mercy and
Fire and Gasoline. After playing with the band Chiefs of Relief, Cook currently plays in
Man-Raze. Matlock has been involved in various bands, including
The Rich Kids (with Midge Ure) in 1978 and The Philistines since 2000, and has released several solo albums. McLaren went on to manage
Adam & the Ants and
Bow Wow Wow, and in the mid-1980s released a number of hit records as a solo artist.
After a bitter, drawn-out legal case, in January 1986 the four surviving members of the Sex Pistols as well as the estate of Sid Vicious were awarded control of the band's heritage, including publishing rights, master recordings, film footage and exclusive rights to the name "Sex Pistols". This access enabled the production of the 2000 Julien Temple documentary
The Filth and the Fury, formulated as an attempt to tell the story from the band's point of view, in contrast to the McLaren-oriented
Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle.
On
9 March 2006 the band sold the rights to their back catalogue to
Universal Music Group. The sale was criticized as a "sell out".
Reunions
The original four surviving members of the Sex Pistols reformed in 1996 for the six-month
Filthy Lucre Tour, which included dates in Europe, North and South America, Australia and Japan, According to Jones, "Once you want to be put into a museum, Rock & Roll's over; it's not voted by fans, it's voted by people who induct you, or others; people who are already in it."
They reunited for five gigs at
Brixton Academy in November 2007 and have remained active since.
Influence and cultural legacy
The Sex Pistols are remembered for arousing the passions of their audience beyond the immediate impact of their music. According to Lydon, "If we'd an aim, it was to force our own, working-class opinions into the mainstream, which was unheard of in pop music at the time." While many of the Sex Pistols' outrages were plotted, the most famous was evidently not.
The day after the Sex Pistols' infamous appearance on the Bill Grundy
Today show, their story appeared on the front page of every national newspaper in Great Britain.
Rolling Stone suggested the band, responding "to the star trappings and complacency" of mid-1970s rock, "came to spark and personify one of the few truly critical moments in pop culture—the rise of punk." while
Rolling Stone listed it at #2 in its 1987 "Top 100 Albums of the Last 20 Years". In 2004,
Rolling Stone ranked The Sex Pistols #58 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
The Sex Pistols directly inspired the style, and often the formation itself, of many punk and post-punk bands during their brief existence.
The Clash and Siouxsie & The Banshees are among those in London's "inner circle" of early punk bands that credit the Pistols. On
4 June 1976, still early in their career, the Sex Pistols performed to a crowd of around 40 people at the
Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester. It was to become one of the most important and mythologized events in rock history. Among the audience were many who would later form bands or otherwise popularise the embryonic punk movement, including
Pete Shelley and
Howard Devoto, who organised the gig and would soon found the
Buzzcocks;
Bernard Sumner,
Ian Curtis and
Peter Hook, later of
Joy Division;
Mark E. Smith, later of
The Fall;
Morrissey, later of
The Smiths; and
Anthony H. Wilson, founder of
Factory Records. In addition to the groups they directly inspired, the Sex Pistols influenced many later bands as well. Among those who have acknowledged their debt to the Pistols are
Nirvana,
NOFX,
Oasis,
Venom and
Guns N' Roses.
In 1997,
paleontologists Jonathan M. Adrain and Gregory D. Edgecombe named a series of fossil
trilobite species in honour of the Pistols' members:
Arcticalymene rotteni,
A. jonesi,
A. cooki,
A. matlocki and
A. viciousi.
Band members
Current members
- Johnny Rotten – lead vocals (1975–1978, 1996–present)
- Steve Jones – guitar, bass (studio), backing vocals (1975–1978, 1996–present)
- Glen Matlock – bass, backing vocals (1975–1977, 1996–present)
- Paul Cook – drums, backing vocals (1975–1978, 1996–present)
Former members
Sid Vicious – bass, backing vocals (1977–1978)
Post-Rotten Sex Pistols
People who sang on The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle other than Johnny Rotten include:
Paul Cook – lead vocals on "Silly Thing" (1978)
Steve Jones – lead vocals on "Lonely Boy", "EMI (Orchestral)", "Friggin' In The Riggin'" and the single release of "Silly Thing" (1978)
Ronnie Biggs – lead vocals on "No One Is Innocent", "Belsen Was a Gas" (1978)
Malcolm McLaren – lead vocals on "God Save The Queen (Symphony)", "You Need Hands" (1979)
Edward Tudor-Pole – lead vocals on "Rock Around the Clock", "Who Killed Bambi?", "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle" (1979)
Sid Vicious – lead vocals on "My Way", "C'mon Everybody", "Something Else" (1978)
Discography
Studio albums
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (28 October 1977) # 1 UK, # 106 US Platinum
Compilations, live albums, and bootlegs
Spunk (1977 bootleg, officially released in 2006)
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (2 March 1979) # 7 UK - Various Artists Album
(interviews and radio spots) (3 August 1979) # 6 UK
Flogging a Dead Horse (compilation) (8 February 1980) # 23 UK
(live) (1985)
Kiss This (5 October 1992) # 10 UK
Filthy Lucre Live (29 July 1996) # 26 UK
Jubilee (3 June 2002) # 29 UK
Sex Pistols Box Set (3 June 2002) # 160 UK
Raw and Live (2004)
Singles
from Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
from The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
from Kiss This: The Best Of
- September 1992 - "Anarchy in the UK" (re-issue) # 33 UK
- December 1992 - "Pretty Vacant" (re-issue) # 56 UK
from Filthy Lucre Live
- June 1996 - "Pretty Vacant" (live) # 18 UK
from Jubilee: The Best Of
- 27 May 2002 - "God Save the Queen" (re-issue) # 15 UK
from Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols - 30th Anniversary Edition
Further Information
Get more info on 'Sex Pistols'.
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