SEX PISTOLS BIOGRAPHY
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians. Although their original career lasted just two-and-a-half years and produced only four singles and one studio album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, they are regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of popular music.In their first incarnation, the Sex Pistols included singer Johnny Rotten, lead guitar player Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bass player Glen Matlock. Matlock was replaced by Sid Vicious in early 1977. Under the management of Malcolm McLaren, a visual artist, performer, clothes designer and boutique owner, the band provoked controversies that garnered a significant amount of publicity. Their concerts repeatedly faced difficulties with organisers and local authorities, and public appearances often ended in mayhem. Their 1977 single "God Save the Queen", attacking social conformity and deference to the Crown, precipitated the "last and greatest outbreak of pop-based moral pandemonium In January 1978, at the end of a turbulent tour of the United States, Rotten left the Sex Pistols and announced its break-up. Over the next several months, the three other band members recorded songs for McLaren's film version of the Sex Pistols' story, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. Vicious died of a heroin overdose on the 2nd February 1979. In 1996, Rotten, Jones, Cook and Matlock reunited for the Filthy Lucre Tour; since 2002, they have staged further reunion shows and tours. On 24 February 2006, the Sex Pistols—the four original members plus Vicious—were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but they refused to attend the ceremony, calling the museum "a piss stain". The Sex Pistols evolved from the Strand, a London band formed in 1972 with working-class teenagers Steve Jones on vocals, Paul Cook on drums, and Wally Nightingale on guitar. According to a later account by Jones, both he and Cook played on instruments they had stolen. They would go to music performances and, when the concert was over, would go up on stage and steal as much musical equipment as they could carry Early line-ups of the Strand—sometimes known as the Swankers—also included Jim Mackin on organ and Stephen Hayes (and later, briefly, Del Noones) on bass. The band members hung out regularly at two clothing shops on Kings Road, in London's Chelsea neighbourhood: John Krivine and Steph Raynor's Acme Attractions (where Don Letts worked as manager) and Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die. The McLaren–Westwood shop had opened in 1971 as Let It Rock, with a 1950s revival Teddy Boy theme. It had been renamed in 1972 to focus on another revival trend, the rocker look associated with Marlon Brando.
As John Lydon later observed, "Malcolm and Vivienne were really a pair of shysters: they would sell anything to any trend that they could grab onto. The shop was to become a focal point of the punk rock scene, bringing together participants such as the future Sid Vicious, Marco Pirroni (who became a guitarist, songwriter and record producer), Gene October (who became the singer for the punk band Chelsea), and Mark Stewart, among many others. Jordan, the English model and actress noted for her work with Vivienne Westwood and the SEX boutique, was a wildly styled shop assistant, who is credited with "pretty well single-handedly paving the punk look".In early 1974, Jones convinced McLaren to help out the Strand. Effectively becoming the group's manager, McLaren paid for their first formal rehearsal space. Glen Matlock, an art student who occasionally worked at Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die, was recruited as the band's regular bassist
In November, McLaren temporarily relocated to New York City. Before his departure, McLaren and Westwood had conceived of a new identity for their shop: renamed Sex, it changed its focus from retro couture to S&M-inspired "anti-fashion", with a billing as "Specialists in rubberwear, glamourwear & stagewear". Inspired by the punk scene that was beginning to emerge in Lower Manhattan—in particular by the radical visual style and attitude of Richard Hell, then with Television—McLaren began taking a greater interest in the Strand.
The group had been rehearsing regularly, overseen by McLaren's friend Bernard Rhodes, and had performed publicly for the first time. Soon after McLaren's return, Nightingale was kicked out of the band and Jones, uncomfortable as frontman, took over guitar duties According to journalist and former McLaren employee Phil Strongman, around this time the band adopted the name QT Jones and the Sex Pistols (or QT Jones & His Sex Pistols, as one Rhodes-designed T-shirt put it) The Saint Martins gig was followed by other performances at colleges and art schools around London. One of these on 9 December 1975 was at Ravensbourne College, Chislehurst, near Bromley in Kent, UK where they supported the Newcastle-based rock band Fogg. The band played for free as according to McLaren they were 'turning professional' the following year, although as McLaren's letter confirming the booking stated: 'free beer for the band would be appreciated'. Despite the band's punk positioning, their PA equipment (including EV Eliminator bass bins) was so much better than that of the established touring band Fogg that their equipment was used for the gig. The result of them staying later was a bar bill of over £50 during the headliner's performance. Simon Barker, a friend of Steve Severin saw the gig and enthused about the band. This resulted in them seeing the band at the Marquee on 12 February 1976. The Sex Pistols' 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 large suburban town several were from Their cutting-edge fashion, much of it supplied by Sex, ignited a trend that was adopted by the new fans the band attracted.McLaren and Westwood saw the incipient London punk movement as a vehicle for more than just couture. They were both captivated by the May 1968 radical uprising in Paris, particularly by the ideology and agitations of the Situationists, as well as the anarchist thought of Buenaventura Durruti and others.
On 4 and 6 July, respectively, two newly formed London punk rock acts, The Clash—with Strummer as lead vocalist—and The Damned, made their live debuts opening for the Sex Pistols. On their off night in between, the Pistols (despite Lydon's later professed disdain) showed up for a Ramones gig at Dingwalls, like virtually everyone else at the heart of the London punk scene. During a return Manchester engagement, 20 July, the Pistols premiered a new song, "Anarchy in the U.K.", reflecting elements of the radical ideologies to which Rotten was being exposed.
According to Jon Savage, "there seems little doubt that Lydon was fed material by Vivienne Westwood and Jamie Reid, which he then converted into his own lyric.Anarchy in the U.K." was among the seven originals recorded in another demo session that month, this one overseen by the band's sound engineer, Dave Goodman.McLaren organised a major event for 29 August at the Screen on the Green in London's Islington district: the Buzzcocks and The Clash opened for the Sex Pistols in punk's "first metropolitan test of strength".[65] Three days later, the band were in Manchester to tape what would be their first television appearance, for Tony Wilson's So It Goes. Scheduled to perform just one song, "Anarchy in the U.K.", the band ran straight through another two numbers as pandemonium broke out in the control room.
The Sex Pistols played their first concert outside Britain on 3 September, at the opening of the Chalet du Lac disco in Paris. The Bromley Contingent accompanied them, with Siouxsie Sioux's swastika armband causing a stir.The following day, the So It Goes performance aired; the audience heard "Anarchy in the U.K." introduced with a shout of "Get off your arse!" On 13 September, the Pistols began a tour of Britain. A week later, back in London, they headlined the opening night of the 100 Club Punk Special. Organised by McLaren (for whom the word "festival" had too much of a hippie connotation), the event was "considered the moment that was the catalyst for the years to come." Belying the common perception that punk bands couldn't play their instruments, contemporary music press reviews, later critical assessments of concert recordings, and testimonials by fellow musicians indicate that the Pistols had developed into a tight, ferocious live band. As Rotten tested out wild vocalisation styles, the instrumentalists experimented "with overload, feedback and distortion...pushing their equipment to the limit"
These interests were shared with Jamie Reid, an old friend of McLaren's who began producing publicity material for the Sex Pistols in spring 1976.[42] (The cut-up lettering employed to create the classic Sex Pistols logo and many subsequent designs for the band was actually introduced by McLaren's friend Helen Wellington-Lloyd.) "We used to talk to John [Lydon] a lot about the Situationists," Reid later said. "The Sex Pistols seemed the perfect vehicle to communicate ideas directly to people who weren't getting the message from left-wing politics." McLaren was also arranging for the band's first photo sessions.[45] As described by music historian Jon Savage, "With his green hair, hunched stance and ragged look, [Lydon] looked like a cross between Uriah Heep and Richard Hell."
The first Sex Pistols gig to attract broader attention was as a supporting act for Eddie and the Hot Rods, a leading pub rock group, at the Marquee on 12 February 1976. Rotten "was now really pushing the barriers of performance, walking off stage, sitting with the audience, throwing Jordan across the dance floor and chucking chairs around, before smashing some of Eddie and the Hot Rods' gear." The band's first review appeared in the NME, accompanied by a brief interview in which Steve Jones declared, "Actually we're not into music. We're into chaos." Among those who read the article were two students at the Bolton Institute of Technology, Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley, who headed down to London in search of the Sex Pistols. After chatting with McLaren at Sex, they saw the band at a couple of late February gigs.The two friends immediately began organising their own Pistols-style group, the Buzzcocks. As Devoto later put it, "My life changed the moment that I saw the Sex Pistols."
The Pistols were soon playing other important venues, debuting at Oxford Street's 100 Club on 30 March. On 3 April, they played for the first time at the Nashville, supporting The 101ers. The pub rock group's lead singer, Joe Strummer, saw the Pistols for the first time that night—and recognised punk rock as the future. A return gig at the Nashville on 23 April demonstrated the band's growing musical competence, but by all accounts lacked a spark. Westwood provided that by instigating a fight with another audience member; McLaren and Rotten were soon involved in the melee. Cook later said, "That fight at the Nashville: that's when all the publicity got hold of it and the violence started creeping in.... I think everybody was ready to go and we were the catalyst."[54] The Pistols were soon banned from both the Nashville and the Marquee.
On 23 April, as well, the debut album by the leading punk rock band in the New York scene, the Ramones, was released. Though it is regarded as seminal to the growth of punk rock in England and elsewhere, Lydon has repeatedly rejected any suggestion that it influenced the Sex Pistols: "[The Ramones] were all long-haired and of no interest to me. I didn't like their image, what they stood for, or anything about them"; "They were hilarious but you can only go so far with 'duh-dur-dur-duh'. I've heard it. Next. Move on." On 11 May, the Pistols began a four-week-long Tuesday night residency at the 100 Club. They devoted the rest of the month to touring small cities and towns in the north of England and recording demos in London with producer and recording artist Chris Spedding.The following month they played their first gig in Manchester, arranged by Devoto and Shelley. The Sex Pistols' performance of 4 June at the Lesser Free Trade Hall set off a punk rock boom in the city.
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!"; other papers such as the Daily Express ("Fury at Filthy TV Chat") and the Daily Telegraph ("4-Letter Words Rock TV") followed suit.[84] Thames Television suspended Grundy, and though he was later reinstated, the interview effectively ended his career.
The episode made the band household names throughout the country and brought punk into mainstream awareness. The Pistols set out on the Anarchy Tour of the UK, supported by The Clash and Johnny Thunders' band The Heartbreakers, over from New York. The Damned were briefly part of the tour, before McLaren kicked them off. Media coverage was intense, and many of the concerts were cancelled by organisers or local authorities; of approximately twenty scheduled gigs, only about seven actually took place. Following a campaign waged in the south Wales press, a crowd including carol singers and a Pentecostal preacher protested against the group outside a show in Caerphilly. Packers at the EMI plant refused to handle the band's single.
Bernard Brook-Partridge, a Conservative member of the Greater London Council and chairman of the Arts committee from 1977, declared, "Most of these groups would be vastly improved by sudden death. The worst of the punk rock groups I suppose currently are the Sex Pistols. They are unbelievably nauseating. They are the antithesis of humankind. I would like to see somebody dig a very, very large, exceedingly deep hole and drop the whole bloody lot down it."[89]
Following the end of the tour in late December, three concerts were arranged in the Netherlands for January 1977. The band, hungover, boarded a plane at London Heathrow Airport early on 4 January; a few hours later, the Evening News was reporting that the band had "vomited and spat their way" to the flight. Despite categorical denials by the EMI representative who accompanied the group, the label, which was under political pressure, released the band from their contract. As McLaren fielded offers from other labels, the band went into the studio for a round of recordings with Goodman, their last with either him or Matlock. Amidst the chaos that was the Sex Pistols, it’s often overlooked just what a great band they are, and what great records they made. The Sex Pistols are no ordinary band; their story is long and complicated, and not without its casualties. Without them popular culture in the last 30+ years would be very, very different. The Pistols didn’t just kick down doors; they kicked them off the wall. For a band who (really) only released one album and four singles, they spawned a sea of imitators; and still do to this day. Not bad for a band that supposedly couldn’t play. Yeah right! The Sex Pistols could certainly play; one listen to their ferocious slab of raw rock and roll will soon tell you that.
Despite claims from New York, the Sex Pistols are the true originators of punk; no one else had their attitude, balls, or honesty. The Pistols were inspired by anger and poverty, not art and poetry. “An imitation from New York, you’re cheese and chalk…”
There never was a punk movement. There was the Sex Pistols and there was the rest. The Sex Pistols ARE punk; the rest are “punk rock”. Big difference…
History is blatantly being re-written. Fabrications are constantly spouted that when The Ramones came to England in 1976 the Sex Pistols turned up at their first show at London, Roundhouse, and asked them how to form a band. Get it right. On that very night – July 4th 1976 – the Sex Pistols played the Black Swan, Sheffield (over 260 kilometres away!) and had regularly been playing live for over 8 months.
For 30 years the Pistols have had to put up with these kind of lies and petty jealousies. There is always someone, somewhere, trying to undermine them. But so what? It just proves they were doing something right in the first place.
Sex Pistols…
The band that would become the Sex Pistols originally began in 1972 when school-friends Steve Jones and Paul Cook decided to form a band; Glen Matlock later joined in 1974. Disillusioned by the bloated progressive-rock and hippie music scene of the time, the fledgling Pistols took their musical inspiration from the 60s mod and rock n roll of The Who and The Small Faces. However, it wouldn’t be until 1975 and the arrival of John Lydon that the band took on a whole new level. Steve Jones had spotted someone who looked “a bit different” in Malcolm McLaren’s clothes shop. Bernie Rhodes, one of McLaren’s associates, spotted the same guy on London’s Kings Road; complete with hacked green hair and a homemade “I HATE Pink Floyd” T-shirt. Sacrilege at the time.
Malcolm McLaren-who had become the band’s (mis)manager by this time-persuaded the reluctant and cynical John Lydon to audition in his shop. Miming to Alice Cooper’s “Eighteen” in front of a jukebox, Lydon launched into a series of self-mocking fits, hunches, and weird dances, while the others fell about laughing. However, deep down they knew they had found their man, someone who could help vocalize their thoughts. Lydon was an individual of the highest order. He looked and sounded like no one else on earth, and due to a childhood bout of meningitis, he had a stare that would kill! The perfect front-man, apart from the fact he couldn’t sing. But what did that matter, when he had something to say… The Sex Pistols soon started rehearsing, with Lydon (soon to be dubbed Rotten on account of his decaying teeth) providing the lyrics, and Matlock and/or Jones providing the music. One look at this mixture of madmen and working class delinquents told you they weren’t going to be just any other band.
Having made their live debut as quickly as November 1975, by early 1976 the band began playing live more regularly; playing anywhere that would take them. This was a time where your haircut and clothes could get you into serious trouble. With their unique look and sound, the Sex Pistols were such a bolt out of the blue that they would often find themselves in physical danger. They would regularly have to fight their way to their van after having the plug pulled on them! However, they soon started to attract a following of like-minded souls, some of whom were later nicknamed the “Bromley Contingent”, and would include the likes of Susan Dallion (aka Siouxsie Sioux) and William Broad (aka Billy Idol). Everywhere the Pistols would play, the majority of the audience just didn’t ‘get it’. They thought the band couldn’t play, John couldn’t sing and they looked awful. But there was a small percentage of the crowd they got through to. The Sex Pistols affected everyone they saw, whether it was a positive or negative reaction. They always got a reaction.
It wasn’t long before they came to the attention of record companies; the ever-ambitious Sex Pistols together with Malcolm McLaren’s entrepreneurial (aka blagging) skills had no intention of signing to a small label. They wanted the biggest and best. EMI eventually won the war. The band signed for £40,000 on October 8th 1976. A recent composition penned by Rotten was set to be their debut single, ‘Anarchy in the UK‘! Like his stage presence, Rotten wasn’t scared of saying, or doing, anything. He was more than happy to sow seeds of discontent. ‘Anarchy in the UK’ was eventually released November 26th, 1976; much to the bewilderment of the mainstream music press. December 1st, 1976 changed the Sex Pistols and the music scene forever. After the group Queen had to cancel at short notice, EMI booked the Pistols to appear on the ‘Today’ TV show, hosted by one Bill Grundy. A notorious drunk, Grundy had no time for these young upstarts. Treating the Pistols and their entourage with nothing short of thinly veiled contempt, he proceeded to goad them into swearing. Pre-empted by an apparent slip from Rotten, Steve Jones called Grundy’s bluff and launched into a stream of F-words. Unbeknownst to the band, the show was being broadcast live throughout London. Not that it would have stopped them anyway. Grundy was one of the first people to learn not to fuck (sorry, rude word) with the Sex Pistols… The following day the Pistols were headline news up and down the country. “Punk-Rock”, as it had been christened, had reached the masses. By early January 1977, EMI had buckled to internal pressure and sacked the Pistols. Honoring their £40,000 contract in full.
Around this time tensions between Matlock and Rotten came to boiling point. They were the proverbial “Chalk and Cheese”. Matlock was steeped in rock and roll tradition, while Rotten clearly wasn’t. Glen officially left by “mutual consent” in February 1977, with McLaren then claiming he was sacked because, “He liked the Beatles.” Matlock would later team-up with the band for the 1996 ‘Filthy Lucre’ World Tour.
Steve and Paul had been friends for years, and John saw his chance to even up the score by bringing in his old friend John Simon Ritchie/Beverley, aka Sid Vicious. Sid was one of the earliest Pistols fans; he loved the band, and couldn’t wait to join. Despite being practically unable to play bass!
A&M Records became the Pistols’ new label, and their next single was to be ‘God Save The Queen‘, John Rotten’s alternative National Anthem. To announce the A&M deal, the band staged a mock signing outside Buckingham Palace. However, after a drunken celebration at the A&M offices – and probably another mixture of cold feet – the band soon found themselves without a record deal yet again. Only ten days after they signed to A&M, the Sex Pistols were sacked! Finding them £75,000 richer in the process.
The next record company headhunt ended with them reluctantly signing to Richard Branson’s Virgin Records in May 1977. Just in time for the Queen’s 25th Silver Jubilee. The nation was gripped by Royal fever. The Queen was a national treasure. Everyone loved her, everyone except the Sex Pistols. Or did they? “We love our Queen…”
The release of ‘God Save The Queen’ sent shockwaves up and down the country. The band also had a perfect collaboration with Jamie Reid on artwork. This was Britain 1977 long before Diana, Fergie, Edward and the likes had exposed the Monarchy for what they were. No one had ever spoken up so publicly about them. The nation was up in arms. Government Members of Parliament even called for the band to be hung at London’s Traitors’ Gate!
Since the Bill Grundy controversy, the band had been public enemy #1, but that all paled into insignificance by the protest that met them after Jubilee week. Even though it technically out-sold the Number 1 record of the week – ‘The First Cut is the Deepest’ by Rod Stewart – ‘God Save The Queen’ peaked at Number 2. The powers-that-be refused to acknowledge it but the Sex Pistols were Number 1. This wasn’t a conspiracy theory, this was for real.
While many “punks” and perhaps even the odd journalist, might have supported the Sex Pistols’ rallying cry against the Monarchy, only the Sex Pistols themselves had to fight it head on. John Rotten and producer Chris Thomas were violently attacked by “supporters” of the Queen; with John being slashed several times. Paul Cook was also set upon with an iron bar. It was war!
Undeterred, the Pistols went onto release hit singles ‘Pretty Vacant‘ (July 2nd) and ‘Holidays in the Sun‘ (October 15th). October 28th 1977 saw the release of the Sex Pistols’ one and only true album ‘Never Mind The Bollocks‘, (that’s Bollocks not BULLOCKS guys!). Pre-release orders were so high it immediately charted at Number 1. Now considered one of the greatest albums ever, ‘NMTB’ towered above all the other thinly recorded “punk-rock” records of the time, the blistering guitars and scathing vocals inspired a generation to “Do It For Themselves.” A record that would often be imitated but never surpassed…
On the album’s release, more controversy surrounded the band when police took exception to its title being displayed in a shop window. The band were charged with the obscure Indecent Advertising Act of 1889! “Bollocks” is a slang name for testicles; however, the Pistols’ lawyer proved that it was actually derived from a nickname for clergymen! Bollocks was legal!
Internal bickering in and around the band had reached a high point by this time, but rather than dealing with the unrest in the camp, McLaren distanced himself from the band, especially Rotten. However, there was to be one last hurrah in Huddersfield, England on Christmas Day 1977. The Pistols volunteered to play two shows for families of striking firemen: a matinee show for the kids and an evening show for the adults. The kids loved the Pistols, they weren’t interested in the media hype – like the band – they only wanted to have fun! The band gave out presents; John was in charge of food duties, ending up in a huge ‘Bugsy Malone’ style pie-fight with the kids! (It’s not quite the band considered “subversive” by British intelligence (MI5) or the picture painted by the tabloid media, is it?).
A U.S. tour was arranged for January 1978. Initially the band were refused entry to the States due to their criminal records, however, their visa problems were eventually sorted with the band only having to pull two shows from the tour. The Pistols being the Pistols, they decided not to play big American cities. Instead they opted to play a short series of dates in the Deep South of the country, in a selection of redneck venues throughout the likes of Memphis, Atlanta and Dallas. These shows were probably the straw that broke the camel’s back. The pressure of touring, along with the mixture of in-fighting – together with McLaren’s unwillingness to deal with the band as human beings – came to a head. Sid’s ever-increasing drug problem – and the fact he was the only person on the planet who couldn’t see the irony in being called Vicious – didn’t help the animosity between the group either.
The alienation between the Pistols increased by the day, with things finally spiraling out of control at their last gig at San Francisco’s, Winterland Ballroom on January 14th, 1978. The band was on its last legs. John was fucked with flu, Sid was fucked with drugs, and Cook and Jones were fucked with Sid and John. John Lydon eventually walked out on the others the following day, after trying in vain to get Jones to dump McLaren. The Sex Pistols as we knew them were no more…
Sid Vicious’ destructive relationship with his junkie girlfriend Nancy Spungen finally hit rock bottom on October 12th, 1978, when she was found murdered in their New York hotel room. Sid was the main suspect. Whether he did it or not is still highly debatable. However, Vicious would never get the chance to clear his name as he fatally overdosed on February 2nd, 1979-most likely by accident-a day after his release on bail from New York’s Rikers Island Prison. Unfortunately, aged just 21, Sid Vicious ended up just another sex, drugs and rock and roll cliche. Everything he would have hated…
Post-Winterland, Rotten washed his hands of the Sex Pistols and moved on. Jones, Cook and Vicious kept the Sex Pistols name, releasing a series of singles between 1978-80 for use in McLaren’s new ‘movie’ version of the Pistols story, ‘The Great Rock n Roll Swindle’. A story of how he allegedly manufactured the group and manipulated them to his wishes. A story that, somewhat bizarrely, would be wildly believed by large sections of the media. After winning back control of the band from McLaren in a drawn out court case, the band members got their chance to readdress the balance in the acclaimed 2000 Sex Pistols documentary ‘The Filth and the Fury‘. As John stated, “Only the fakes survive…”
After countless rumors, 1996 finally saw the original band return to play live again on the ‘Filthy Lucre’ World Tour. The perfect antidote for the sickly Britpop of the time. The Sex Pistols would play almost as many gigs on this tour as they ever played in the 70s. Despite being largely ignored or slighted by the press, the tour was a huge success with the band playing to an audience eager to see a legend that thousands had claimed to have seen; but in truth never had.
With the band’s return to the public eye, British TV’s bland ‘Top of the Pops’ show-which had banned the Pistols in the 70s-requested they play on the show. The Pistols duly agreed, always willing to expose hypocrisy; while getting a platform to promote themselves. The band always understood the need for promotion; the Pistols never bought into the pointless small-minded punk-rock ethic of bands’ scared to push themselves in fear of “selling out”. The Pistols always wanted to be the best at what they did. There’s no point in playing to a handful of people if you’re capable of playing to thousands…
The 1996 tour wasn’t without its controversy; the band found themselves banned from playing Northern Ireland on grounds of “blasphemous content”! For some, the Sex Pistols were still too close to the bone to take… With the band’s unfounded reputation of violence going before them, John Lydon has commented, “We have never had problems with our audience and we play some of the toughest places on earth, with crowds whose violent potential cannot be disputed. They are there for us, and we care for them. So if we see any ignorant bouncer manhandling or abusing anyone we step in firmly… ala, just ask the security in Belgium 1996…”
Having played a unique Silver Jubilee celebration show in July 2002 at London’s Crystal Palace Sports Centre, the band decided to follow it up in the States by headlining the ‘KROQ Inland Invasion Festival’. Where they were supported by the likes of Offspring, Blink 182 and Bad Religion. It spoke volumes that the Sex Pistols would be headlining above such popular acts, while their British contemporaries such as The Damned and Buzzcocks were much further down the bill.
By popular demand 2003 would see the Sex Pistols return again, this time for an eventful North American tour. By setting up the tour themselves without the interference or “support” of a record company, MTV or the music press, the Sex Pistols proved-yet again-if you want something done properly, do it yourself! Never scared to confront the real issues of the day, a planned trip to Baghdad to play for the Iraqi people (not troops) was also offered in 2003, only to see red-tape scupper the project.
After years of being fashionably ignored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Shame the Pistols were forcibly inducted without their consent in 2006. The band sent a handwritten letter in their absence stating their (many) reasons for not attending. They were no monkeys for anonymous record industry judges. And they certainly weren’t going to pay for the so-called privilege. CongraDulations.
2007 was the 30th Anniversary of ‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols’. Anniversaries are meaningless. Never Mind The Bollocks is not. The album is just as powerful and fresh now as it was 30 years ago. It’s an album that has inspired countless musicians and individuals worldwide since its original release in October 1977. And an album that will continue to inspire – forever. “We’re the future. Your future…”
The same year also saw the Sex Pistols return to the recording studio for the first time in nearly 30 years to re-record two of their best known tracks for use in the ‘Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock‘ video game. Unable to locate the original multi-track masters for ‘Anarchy in the UK’ & ‘Pretty Vacant’ – John Lydon (aka Rotten), Steve Jones (guitar) & Paul Cook (drums), along with original producer Chris Thomas – entered the studio in summer 2007 to re-record the tracks for use in the game. “Guitar Hero is a humorous look at the wonderful world of music, and I think it sits in very well with the Sex Pistols ethos.” John Lydon commented.
It’s perhaps unfortunate that we still need the Sex Pistols today. Apathy rules supreme. Music is bland and insignificant. It’s the 70s all over again! One of the Pistols greatest achievements is they brought an alternative. People didn’t realize just how bad things were until the Sex Pistols showed them… The 2007 ‘Holidays in the Sun’ and 2008 ‘Combine Harvester Tour‘ shows reminded them all over again. We NEED the Sex Pistols…
