History Music / SexPistols

The band was put together by Malcolm [=Mc=]Laren. The lead singer Johnny Rotten, real name John Lydon, was discovered after [=Mc=]Laren saw him wearing a Music/PinkFloyd T-shirt he had altered to read "I Hate Pink Floyd," the irony being that Rotten actually ''didn't'' hate Pink Floyd; it was just to be nonconformist. (Additionally, [=Mc=]Laren once got pissed at Lydon because in an interview he named some of his musical influences as Music/{{Can}}, Music/VanDerGraafGenerator and Music/CaptainBeefheart, going against the punk image he was trying to cultivate.). Lydon couldn't sing, didn't look particularly like a pop star, but he was a genuine teenager from [[WorkingClassHero working class origins]] who was pretty fed up with a lot of things and now finally got a soapbox to voice his opinions. Fellow band members were brought together and the Sex Pistols were born.

No discussion of the Sex Pistols would be complete without mentioning Malcolm [=Mc=]Laren, their manager, and [[YokoOhNo Nancy Spungen, Vicious' girlfriend.]] [=Mc=]Laren had a habit of [[GladIThoughtOfIt taking the Pistols' ideas for his own,]] and spreading the [[TheSvengali myth that the whole group was his Structuralist art project]]. Spungen was stabbed to death in 1978. Vicious was imprisoned for Spungen's death (whether it was him or not is another, untold story) and died of a drug overdose in 1979 after his release on bail.

The band's original Lydon/Jones/Matlock/Cook line-up reunited for a tour in 1996. They reunited once more for a series of dates in 2002 and 2003. In 2007, they reunited once more for a few more shows (and to re-record "Anarchy in the UK" for ''VideoGame/GuitarHero III''). They were put on hiatus in 2008 so Lydon could restart [=PiL=], and the Pistols have abandoned the latest of several attempts to record their second album. Matlock has also become the bassist of the Music/{{Faces}}. Malcolm [=Mc=]Laren died in early 2010, and by that time Lydon and [=Mc=]Laren had at least patched up enough things for Lydon to recall him fondly in interviews leading up to [=Mc=]Laren's funeral.

* TheBandMinusTheFace: After Johnny Rotten left the band the rest released a few more songs.

* ClusterFBomb: In the song "Bodies".
--> "''Fuck this and fuck that, fuck it all and fuck the fucking brat!''"

* CountryMatters[=/=]LastSecondWordSwap: Rotten puts very deliberate and gleeful emphasis on the last syllable of "Pretty Vacant."

* DreadfulMusician: Vicious. Supposedly, he once told [[Music/{{Motorhead}} Lemmy]] "I can't play bass". Lemmy's reply? "I know".
** Jones admitted that the band tried "as hard as they could" to keep Vicious away from the studio while they were recording ''Never Mind The Bollocks''. Luckily for them, he had caught a severe case of hepatitis. Jones also admitted that they let him play one small bass part on "Bodies", but it was buried in the mix and he overdubbed his own.

* EvilLaugh: The very first thing uttered by Rotten on their very first single.
-->[[IncomingHam Rrrrrrrrright... NOW, mwahahahahahahaaaaa!]] on "Anarchy in the U.K.".
* ExactWords: When it was ruled they could not perform their song "God Save the Queen" on UK ''soil'', they got a boat and performed on the river Thames.
** On November 4 2016, in response to a call from an MP that the {{Creator/BBC}} should close each day's broadcasting with "God Save the Queen" (the traditional one), BBC 2's ''Newsnight'' invoked this trope, with a touch of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor.

%% Add more context to the example below, please

* JerkassFacade: ''Possibly'' Johnny Rotten/Lydon. Certainly a pretty abrasive guy and with strong opinions he was not at all shy about sharing, but his career and other work post-Pistols suggests he was at least in part playing up to the image in the public eye.[[note]]You might call it his [[Music/PublicImageLtd public image]].[[/note]]
* LocationSong: "Holidays in the Sun", where the band is near the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall, though even Johnny Rotten isn't sure why they are there in the first place. "Anarchy in the U.K." sings how anarchy came to the United Kingdom. "New York", a PretenderDiss at the Music/NewYorkDolls.

* NonAppearingTitle: Nowhere on the album is "Never Mind the Bollocks" uttered. Not even once.

* ObligatoryBondageSong: Parodied with "Submission". The song is a result of ExecutiveMeddling and the band's snarky TakeThat to it. [=McLaren=]'s clothing store, "Sex" (from whence the name "Sex Pistols"), sold along with its other punk clothes, a fair amount of bondage gear, and he demanded the Pistols write a song called "Submission," assuming it could be used as free advertising for the shop to move product. Johnny was particularly incensed by this request, and did write a song [[LiteralGenie called]] "Submission", but wrote it about a submarine mission, a [[ExactWords SUB MISSION]].
** There's plenty of winking double entendres in the song to submission, but they're [[StylisticSuck intentionally ridiculous]] exclusively to annoy [=McLaren=] and are immediately followed by absurd ''single'' entendres about undersea exploration.

** His behaviour is the reason why ''Never Mind the Bollocks'' carried an unusual production credit. To let Bill Price explain:
--> ''The simple facts of the matter were that Chris [Thomas] was hired by Malcolm to do a series of singles for the Sex Pistols. I was hired by Malcolm to do a series of album tracks with the Sex Pistols. Life got slightly complicated, because I did a few album tracks that Chris remade as singles. Also, Chris started a couple of tracks, which got abandoned as singles, which I remade to be used as album tracks. On quite a large number of songs, when we'd finished the album, we had two versions of the song. I couldn't quite understand why Malcolm kept chopping and changing between different versions of different songs. It slowly dawned on Chris and myself that Malcolm was trying to slip between two stools and not pay Chris or me. So we said, "I'll tell you what, Malcolm. Whatever's on the Sex Pistols' album, it was either done by me or Chris, and you can pay us and we'll divvy it out amongst our little selves." Which is what we did. But it did force that very strange credit, simply because the sleeve was printed long before it was finally decided which version of each individual song was on the record. If we'd known, it would have said 'produced by Bill Price' or 'produced by Chris Thomas'. That's how you ended up with that credit, 'produced by Bill Price or Chris Thomas'.''
** Subsequent issues of the album on CD have amended this to a slightly more reasonable "Produced by Chris Thomas, engineered by Bill Price".

** "New York" against the Music/NewYorkDolls
** "God Save the Queen" against the British Monarchy
** Their above-detailed writer revolt over "Submission"

* SmarmyHost: Bill Grundy, host of ''Today'', a regional news programme broadcast on Thames Television, who gained national attention for his interview with the Sex Pistols in 1976 that destroyed Grundy's career, while elevating the Sex Pistols to notoriety. One moment of the interview saw guitarist Steve Jones [[ClusterFBomb dropping f-bombs]] to him after Grundy [[DirtyOldMan made an explicit pass]] at Siouxsie Sioux. And to give Grundy even less credit, [[InVinoVeritas he was drunk at the time]].

** Music/SidVicious' tribute of Music/FrankSinatra's ''Music/MyWay''. With added [[CountryMatters C-]] and [[ClusterFBomb F-bombs]].

* AnnoyingLaugh: Steve Jones, though it's more hilarious than annoying. Just watch/listen to any of his Jonesy's Jukebox shows and you'll hear it repeatedly. "Hee hee hee hee!"

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Steve Jones and Paul Cook. They've known each other since they were kids, and even though they live thousands of miles apart (Jones in LA, Cook in London), they're still just as close as ever.
* HiddenDepths: Johnny Rotten showed his softer side when describing the sad saga of Sid and Nancy and Sid Vicious's downward spiral and death.

* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Johnny Rotten is melancholic; Steve Jones is choleric; Paul Cook is phlegmatic; Sid Vicious was sanguine; and Glen Matlock is leukine.

After the Pistols split, Cook became a session musician and Jones made a few solo albums before becoming a radio personality in Los Angeles. [=McLaren=] also moved on to other projects, first managing Music/AdamAndTheAnts and then Bow Wow Wow. He also became a musical trendsetter in his own right with his solo album ''Duck Rock'' and the classic single "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DeTR8n7eTU Buffalo Gals]]", both of which are fondly remembered and helped introduce Music/HipHop to the United Kingdom.

-->--'''Steve Jones,''' rejecting the band's admission to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

* {{Jerkass}}: Just watch any interview with Johnny Rotten/Lydon. Also Music/SidVicious qualifies, as any man who would confess to killing cats would.
* JerkassFacade: ''Possibly'' Johnny Rotten/Lydon. Certainly a pretty abrasive guy and with strong opinions he was not at all shy about sharing, but his career and other work post-Pistols suggests he was at least in part playing up to the image in the public eye.[[note]]You might call it his [[Music/PublicImageLtd public image]].[[/note]] Sid might also have started out this way before sadly [[BecomingTheMask becoming]] an ''actual'' {{Jerkass}}.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Often, Johnny uses his abrasiveness to good use. Agree with him or not, at least he often has something intelligent to say.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Sid, [[BecomingTheMask at first]].

The turning point from band to spectacle is usually considered to be the firing of Glen Matlock (their [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]]-liking, actually capable bassist who co-wrote most of their early songs) and the hiring of Music/SidVicious. Notably, Vicious didn't play any bass on their album ''Music/NeverMindTheBollocksHeresTheSexPistols'' (bar "Bodies"), with bass duties handled by Jones and (on "Anarchy in the U.K.") Matlock. In fact, he [[DreadfulMusician didn't even know how to play his instrument]], at least at first. But the band's appeal in general [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth had nothing to do with musicianship, more with their image, attitude and what the way they liberated a lot of youngsters to be themselves]]. They outraged countless people with their BrutalHonesty lyrics aimed at the conformity of {{Rock}} and {{Pop}}, AntiLoveSong material, swearing and shocking attacks on the British government. "God Save the Queen" was a savage criticism of the British Royal Family and became the alternative anthem during the 25th anniversary of Elizabeth II's crowning. Although the song peaked at No. 2 in the UK charts, many radio stations refused to play it, even denying its chart position. An entire nation was polarized over the success of this "filthy, degenerate band." One time when Rotten went home after a recording session he was attacked in the street by a bunch of people out of retaliation for "God Save the Queen". Upon arrival at hospital after this incident, police were called to arrest ''him''. The national outrage about the Sex Pistols became so gigantic that many concert halls cancelled their gigs and they had to perform as a surprise act in various cities.

* JerkassFacade: ''Possibly'' Johnny Rotten/Lydon. Certainly a pretty abrasive guy and with strong opinions he was not at all shy about sharing, but his career and other work post-Pistols suggests he was at least in part playing up to the image in the public eye.[[note]]You might call it his [[Music/PublicImageLtd public image]].[[/note]] Sid might also have started out this way before sadly becoming an ''actual'' {{Jerkass}}.

* LocationSong: "Holidays in the Sun", where the band is near the Berlin Wall, though even Johnny Rotten isn't sure why they are there in the first place. "Anarchy in the U.K." sings how anarchy came to the United Kingdom. "New York", a PretenderDiss at the Music/NewYorkDolls.

No discussion of the Sex Pistols would be complete without a mention of Malcolm [=Mc=]Laren, their manager, and [[YokoOhNo Nancy Spungen, Vicious' girlfriend.]] [=Mc=]Laren had a habit of [[GladIThoughtOfIt taking the Pistols' ideas for his own,]] and spreading the [[TheSvengali myth that the whole group was his Structuralist art project]]. Spungen was stabbed to death in 1978. Vicious was imprisoned for Spungen's death (whether it was him or not is another, untold story) and died of a drug overdose in 1979 after his release on bail.

--> ''The simple facts of the matter were that Chris was hired by Malcolm to do a series of singles for the Sex Pistols. I was hired by Malcolm to do a series of album tracks with the Sex Pistols. Life got slightly complicated, because I did a few album tracks that Chris remade as singles. Also, Chris started a couple of tracks, which got abandoned as singles, which I remade to be used as album tracks. On quite a large number of songs, when we'd finished the album, we had two versions of the song. I couldn't quite understand why Malcolm kept chopping and changing between different versions of different songs. It slowly dawned on Chris and myself that Malcolm was trying to slip between two stools and not pay Chris or me. So we said, "I'll tell you what, Malcolm. Whatever's on the Sex Pistols' album, it was either done by me or Chris, and you can pay us and we'll divvy it out amongst our little selves." Which is what we did. But it did force that very strange credit, simply because the sleeve was printed long before it was finally decided which version of each individual song was on the record. If we'd known, it would have said 'produced by Bill Price' or 'produced by Chris Thomas'. That's how you ended up with that credit, 'produced by Bill Price or Chris Thomas'.''

* JerkassFacade: ''Possibly'' Johnny Rotten/Lydon. Certainly a pretty abrasive guy and with strong opinions he was not at all shy about sharing, but his career and other work post-''Pistols'' suggests he was at least in part playing up to the image in the public eye. Sid might also have started out this way before sadly becoming an ''actual'' [[Jerkass]].

The band was put together by Malcolm [=Mc=]Laren. The lead singer Johnny Rotten, real name John Lydon, was discovered after [=Mc=]Laren saw him wearing a Music/PinkFloyd T-shirt he had altered to read "I Hate Pink Floyd," the irony being that Rotten actually ''didn't'' hate Pink Floyd; it was just to be nonconformist. (Additionally, [=Mc=]Laren once got pissed at Lydon because in an interview he named some of his musical influences as Music/{{Can}}, Music/VanDerGraafGenerator and Music/CaptainBeefheart, going against the punk image he was trying to cultivate.). Lydon couldn't sing, didn't look particularly like a pop star, but he was a genuine teenager from working class origins who was pretty fed up with a lot of things and now finally got a soapbox to voice his opinions. Fellow band members were brought together and the Sex Pistols were born.

The turning point from band to spectacle is usually considered to be the firing of Glen Matlock (their [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]]-liking, actually capable bassist who co-wrote most of their early songs) and the hiring of Music/SidVicious. Notably, Vicious didn't play any bass on their album ''Music/NeverMindTheBollocksHeresTheSexPistols'' (bar "Bodies"), with bass duties handled by Jones and (on "Anarchy in the U.K.") Matlock. In fact, he [[DreadfulMusician didn't even know how to play his instrument]]. But the band's appeal in general [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth had nothing to do with musicianship, more with their image, attitude and what the way they liberated a lot of youngsters to be theirselves]]. They outraged countless people with their BrutalHonesty lyrics aimed at the conformity of {{Rock}} and {{Pop}}, AntiLoveSong material, swearing and shocking attacks on the British government. "God Save the Queen" was a savage criticism of the British Royal Family and became the alternative anthem during the 25th anniversary of Elizabeth II's crowning. Although the song peaked at No. 2 in the UK charts, many radio stations refused to play it, even denying its chart position. An entire nation was polarized over the success of this "filthy, degenerate band." One time when Rotten went home after a recording session he was attacked in the street by a bunch of people out of retaliation for "God Save the Queen". Upon arrival at hospital after this incident, police were called to arrest him. The national outrage about the Sex Pistols became so gigantic that many concert halls cancelled their gigs and they had to perform as a surprise act in various cities.

The band was put together by Malcolm [=Mc=]Laren. The lead singer Johnny Rotten, real name John Lydon, was discovered after [=Mc=]Laren saw him wearing a Music/PinkFloyd T-shirt he had altered to read "I Hate Pink Floyd," the irony being that Rotten actually ''didn't'' hate Pink Floyd; it was just to be nonconformist. Additionally, [=Mc=]Laren once got pissed at Lydon because in an interview he named some of his musical influences as Music/{{Can}}, Music/VanDerGraafGenerator and Music/CaptainBeefheart, going against the punk image he was trying to cultivate.). Lydon couldn't sing, didn't look particularly like a pop star, but he was a genuine teenager from working class origins who was pretty fed up with a lot of things and now finally got a soapbox to voice his opinions. Fellow band members were brought together and the Sex Pistols were born.

Famously, the band performed to a crowd of approximately 42 people at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in Manchester England in June of 1976. As recounted in the film ''Film/TwentyFourHourPartyPeople,'' each person in the crowd either later formed a band (future members of Music/TheSmiths, Music/JoyDivision (and by extension Music/NewOrder), Music/TheFall, The Music/{{Buzzcocks}}, Music/{{Magazine}}, and Simply Red) or had a pivotal role in shaping that city's music scene (Factory Records founder Tony Wilson and NME journalist Paul Morley). This show alone was proof to the band's aforementioned reaching influence on punk, PostPunk, {{New Wave|Music}} and eventually [[AlternativeRock alternative]] and [[IndiePop indie rock music.]]

The '''Sex Pistols''' were an English {{punk rock}} band formed in UsefulNotes/{{London}} in [[TheSeventies 1975]]. Though [[ShortLivedBigImpact the band didn't last very long (1975-78), and produced only four singles and one studio album]], ''Music/NeverMindTheBollocksHeresTheSexPistols'', they were one of the most influential acts in the history of popular music, credited with initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom, and inspired many later punk and {{alternative rock}} musicians. The first incarnation of the Sex Pistols included singer [[Music/JohnLydon Johnny Rotten]], lead guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bass player [[Music/{{Faces}} Glen Matlock.]]

Famously, the band performed to a crowd of approximately 42 people at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in Manchester England in June of 1976. As recounted in the film ''Film/TwentyFourHourPartyPeople,'' each person in the crowd either later formed a band (future members of Music/TheSmiths, Music/JoyDivision (and by extension Music/NewOrder), Music/TheFall, The Music/{{Buzzcocks}}, Music/{{Magazine}}, and Simply Red) or had a pivotal role in shaping that city's music scene (Factory Records founder Tony Wilson and NME journalist Paul Morley). This show alone was proof to the band's aforementioned reaching influence on punk, PostPunk, NewWave|Music and eventually [[AlternativeRock alternative]] and [[{{Indie}} indie rock music.]]

* UsefulNotes/BerlinWall: The subject of "Holidays in the Sun".

* JerkAss: Just watch any interview with Johnny Rotten/Lydon. Also Music/SidVicious qualifies, as any man who would confess to killing cats would.
** JerkassHasAPoint: Often, Johnny uses his abrasiveness to good use. Agree with him or not, at least he often has something intelligent to say...

* RefugeInAudacity: Most of their work and stage persona is based on this.
** Few performers would have the ''chutzpah'' to perform "The Good Ship Venus", uncensored, in public, never mind record it for an album, yet they did just that.

* SmarmyHost: Bill Grundy, host of ''Today'', a regional news programme broadcast on Thames Television, who gained national attention for his interview with the Sex Pistols in 1976 that destroyed Grundy's career, while elevating the Sex Pistols to notoriety. One moment of the interview saw guitarist Steve Jones [[ClusterFBomb dropping f-bombs]] to him after Grundy [[DirtyOldMan made an explicit pass]] at Siouxsie Sioux.
** Though it does Grundy no credit, [[InVinoVeritas he was drunk at the time]].

** Any hope of a collaboration with American punkette Music/PattiSmith was scuppered by Johnny Rotten's sneering at what he saw as pretentious tripe:
--> ''Music/{{Horses}}, horses, fucking horses!''
*** As this was the title of her first LP, Smith was not flattered or amused.

* WorldWarThree: Mentioned in "Holidays in the Sun".

Many future punk rockers got their start as Sex Pistols fans, such as [[Music/SiouxsieAndTheBanshees Siouxsie Sioux]] and Billy Idol. Most of these musicians were part of the media-named, (in)famous "Bromley Contingent," a group of artistically minded youths who hung out in gay clubs and shared a love of Music/RoxyMusic and the Music/VelvetUnderground, and were, in fact, [[NonIndicativeName largely]] '''[[NonIndicativeName not]]''' [[NonIndicativeName from Bromley]]. Malcolm [=McLaren=] clothed them in Vivienne Westwood bondage apparel and helped them get from one Pistols show to the next - even France! - to cause controversy. Music/SidVicious was initially part of this group; he would be the Banshees' drummer for their first-ever show, as well as try to form his own band, The Flowers of Romance, before becoming a Pistol.

* [[OneBookAuthor One Album Band]]

* RealLifeWritesThePlot:
** "God Save the Queen" was written when Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 25th Jubilee, though the band has explicitly denied that they wrote it in response to the Jubilee, instead having written it as a "working-man's song" in frustration with a royal family that they viewed as out of touch. It was their bad luck that the single just happened to be released during the Jubilee, when pro-royal and general patriotic sentiment among the class they were trying to reach was at a high point.
--> '''Paul Cook''': "It wasn't written specifically for the Queen's Jubilee. We weren't aware of it at the time. It wasn't a contrived effort to go out and shock everyone."
** "Bodies" was inspired by Johnny Rotten's encounter with a [[LoonyFan crazed fan]] (not an exaggeration: she was institutionalised) from Birmingham named Pauline, who described to him in detail the abortions she'd had.

After the Pistols split, Cook became a session musician and Jones made a few solo albums before becoming a radio personality. The band's original Lydon/Jones/Matlock/Cook line-up reunited for a tour in 1996. They reunited once more for a series of dates in 2002 and 2003. In 2007, they reunited once more for a few more shows (and to re-record "Anarchy in the UK" for ''VideoGame/GuitarHero III''). They were put on hiatus in 2008 so Lydon could restart [=PiL=], and the Pistols have abandoned the latest of several attempts to record their second album. Matlock has also become the bassist of the Music/{{Faces}}. Malcolm [=Mc=]Laren died in early 2010, and by that time Lydon and [=Mc=]Laren had at least patched up enough things for Lydon to recall him fondly in interviews leading up to [=Mc=]Laren's funeral.

* ObligatoryBondageSong: "Submission" was originally going to be one of these, but the band got mad at [=McLaren=] and made it about a submarine mission instead.
** The actual story is one of ExecutiveMeddling and the band's snarky TakeThat to it. [=McLaren=]'s clothing store, "Sex" (from whence the name "Sex Pistols"), sold along with its other punk clothes, a fair amount of bondage gear, and he demanded the Pistols write a song called "Submission," assuming it could be used as free advertising for the shop to move product. Johnny was particularly incensed by this request, and did write a song [[LiteralGenie called]] "Submission", but wrote it about a submarine mission, a [[ExactWords SUB MISSION]].

The turning point from band to spectacle is usually considered to be the firing of Glen Matlock (their [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]]-liking, actually capable bassist who co-wrote most of their early songs) and the hiring of Music/SidVicious. Notably, Vicious didn't play any bass on their album ''Music/NeverMindTheBollocksHeresTheSexPistols'' (bar "Bodies"), with bass duties handled by Jones and (on "Anarchy in the U.K.") Matlock. In fact, he [[DreadfulMusician didn't even know how to play his instrument]]. But the band's appeal in general [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth had nothing to do with musicianship, more with their image, attitude and what the way they liberated a lot of youngsters to be theirselves]]. They outraged countless people with their BrutalHonesty lyrics aimed at the conformity of {{Rock}} and {{Pop}}, AntiLoveSong material, swearing and shocking attacks on the British government. "God Save the Queen" was a savage criticism of the British Royal Family and became the alternative anthem during the 25th anniversary of Elizabeth II's crowning. Although though the song peaked at No. 2 in the UK charts, many radio stations refused to play it, even denying its chart position. An entire nation was polarized over the success of this "filthy, degenerate band." One time when Rotten went home after a recording session he was attacked in the street by a bunch of people out of retaliation for "God Save the Queen". Upon arrival at hospital after this incident, police were called to arrest him. The national outrage about the Sex Pistols became so gigantic that many concert halls cancelled their gigs and they had to perform as a surprise act in various cities.

[-[[caption-width-right:320:Sex Pistols in 1976. From left to right: [[Music/{{Faces}} Glen Matlock]], Paul Cook, [[Music/JohnLydon Johnny Rotten]] and Steve Jones.]]-]

-->--'''Steve Jones''', rejecting the band's admission to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The '''Sex Pistols''' were an English {{punk rock}} band formed in UsefulNotes/{{London}} in [[TheSeventies 1975]]. Though [[ShortLivedBigImpact the band didn't last very long (1975-78), and produced only four singles and one studio album]], ''Music/NeverMindTheBollocksHeresTheSexPistols'', they were one of the most influential acts in the history of popular music, credited with initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom, and inspired many later punk and {{alternative rock}} musicians. The first incarnation of the Sex Pistols included singer [[Music/JohnLydon Johnny Rotten]], lead guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bass player [[Music/{{Faces}} Glen Matlock]].

The band was put together by Malcolm [=McLaren=]. The lead singer Johnny Rotten, real name John Lydon, was discovered after [=McLaren=] saw him wearing a Music/PinkFloyd t-shirt he had altered to read "I Hate Music/PinkFloyd", the irony being that Rotten actually ''didn't'' hate Pink Floyd; it was just to be nonconformist. Additionally, [=McLaren=] once got pissed at Lydon because in an interview he named some of his musical influences as Music/{{Can}}, Music/VanDerGraafGenerator and Music/CaptainBeefheart, going against the punk image he was trying to cultivate.). Lydon couldn't sing, didn't look particularly like a pop star, but he was a genuine teenager from working class origins who was pretty fed up with a lot of things and now finally got a soapbox to voice his opinions. Fellow band members were brought together and the Sex Pistols were born.

Famously, the band performed to a crowd of approximately 42 people at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in Manchester England in June of 1976. As recounted in the film ''[[Film/TwentyFourHourPartyPeople 24 Hour Party People]]'', each person in the crowd either later formed a band (future members of Music/TheSmiths, Music/JoyDivision (and by extension Music/NewOrder), Music/TheFall, The Music/{{Buzzcocks}}, Music/{{Magazine}}, and Simply Red) or had a pivotal role in shaping that city's music scene (Factory Records founder Tony Wilson and NME journalist Paul Morley). This show alone was proof to the band's aforementioned reaching influence on punk, PostPunk, NewWave and eventually [[AlternativeRock alternative]] and [[{{Indie}} indie rock music]].

The turning point from band to spectacle is usually considered to be the firing of Glen Matlock (their [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]]-liking, actually capable bassist who co-wrote most of their early songs) and the hiring of Music/SidVicious. Notably, Vicious didn't play any bass on their album ''Music/NeverMindTheBollocksHeresTheSexPistols'' (bar "Bodies"), with bass duties handled by Jones and (on "Anarchy in the U.K.") Matlock. In fact, he [[DreadfulMusician didn't even know how to play his instrument]]. But the band's appeal in general [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth had nothing to do with musicianship, more with their image, attitude and what the way they liberated a lot of youngsters to be theirselves]]. They outraged countless people with their BrutalHonesty lyrics aimed at the conformity of {{Rock}} and {{Pop}}, AntiLoveSong material, swearing and shocking attacks on the British government. "God Save the Queen" was a savage criticism of the British Royal Family and became the alternative anthem during the 25th anniversary of Elizabeth II's crowning. Although though the song peaked at No. 2 in the UK charts, many radio stations refused to play it, even denying its chart position. An entire nation was polarized over the success of this "filthy, denegerate band". One time when Rotten went home after a recording session he was attacked in the street by a bunch of people out of retaliation for "God Save the Queen". Upon arrival at hospital after this incident, police were called to arrest him. The national outrage about the Sex Pistols became so gigantic that many concert halls cancelled their gigs and they had to perform as a surprise act in various cities.

No discussion of the Sex Pistols would be complete without a mention of Malcolm [=McLaren=], their manager, and [[YokoOhNo Nancy Spungen, Vicious' girlfriend]]. [=McLaren=] had a habit of [[GladIThoughtOfIt taking the Pistols' ideas for his own]], and spreading the [[TheSvengali myth that the whole group was his Structuralist art project]]. Spungen was stabbed to death in 1978. Vicious was imprisoned for Spungen's death (whether it was him or not is another, untold story) and died of a drug overdose in 1979 after his release on bail.

After the Pistols split, Cook became a session musician and Jones made a few solo albums before becoming a radio personality. The band's original Lydon/Jones/Matlock/Cook line-up reunited for a tour in 1996. They reunited once more for a series of dates in 2002 and 2003. In 2007, they reunited once more for a few more shows (and to re-record "Anarchy in the UK" for ''VideoGame/GuitarHero III''). They were put on hiatus in 2008 so Lydon could restart [=PiL=], and the Pistols have abandoned the latest of several attempts to record their second album. Matlock has also become the bassist of the Music/{{Faces}}. Malcolm [=McLaren=] died in early 2010, and by that time Lydon and [=McLaren=] had at least patched up enough things for Lydon to recall him fondly in interviews leading up to [=McLaren=]'s funeral.

!!Principal Members (Founding members in '''bold'''):

!!Studio and Live Discography:

The turning point from band to spectacle is usually considered to be the firing of Glen Matlock (their [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]]-liking, actually capable bassist who co-wrote most of their early songs) and the hiring of Music/SidVicious. Notably, Vicious didn't play any bass on their album ''Music/NeverMindTheBollocksHeresTheSexPistols'' (bar "Bodies"), with bass duties handled by Jones and (on "Anarchy in the U.K.") Matlock. In fact, he [[DreadfulMusician didn't even know how to play his instrument]]. But the band's appeal in general [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth had nothing to do with musicianship, more with their image, attitude and what the way they liberated a lot of youngsters to be theirselves]]. They outraged countless people with their BrutalHonesty lyrics aimed at the conformity of {{Rock}} and {{Pop}}, AntiLoveSong material, swearing and shocking attacks on the British government. "God Save the Queen" was a savage criticism of the British Royal Family and became the alternate anthem during the 25th anniversary of Elizabeth II's crowning. The song rose to number one in the British charts, but many radio stations refused to play it, even denying its chart position. An entire nation was polarized over the success of this "filthy, denegerate band". One time when Rotten went home after a recording session he was attacked in the street by a bunch of people out of retaliation for "God Save the Queen". When Rotten was sent to the hospital the police were called in to arrest him! The national outrage about the Sex Pistols became so gigantic that many concert halls cancelled their gigs and they had to perform as a surprise act in various cities.