History Music / SexPistols

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.

** "Pretty Vacant" had a cover of Music/TheStooges' "No Fun" on the B-side. This was taken from the sessions where they first attempted to record the "Anarchy in the UK" single, which also happened to include a string of covers recorded live in the studio, the rest of which would surface on various bootlegs and film soundtracks in later years. It's an incredibly strong and spontaneous performance, especially considering that the band had just learned the song. It's also the longest single song they ever recorded: the full version comes in just under seven minutes, but the B-side edit cuts out the last 30 seconds or so of the chaotic AC/DC-esque ending.

--> ''Anarchy is mind-games for the middle class. It’s a wonderful philosophy if you've got the spare time to indulge in it. It’s more like French abstract art than reality, because ultimately you would destroy everything. What’s the point of that if you've got nothing to replace it with? Anarchy is a problem. It’s not a solution. But it’s worthy of some thought.''

** GroinAttack:
“''The second mate was Andy/By Christ, he had a dandy/Til we crushed his cock/with a jagged rock/[[{{Squick}} For cummin’ in the brandy]]''”

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: They tended to be in the 5-6 range. Unlike a lot of other punk rock bands who came after - and even at the time - they weren't terribly fast, but they were pretty raw-sounding, almost as if they could fall apart at any moment.

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 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[[note]]it's debated in some circles to this day whether the charts were rigged that week[[/note]], 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.

Many future punk rockers got their start as Sex Pistols fans, such as [[Music/SiouxsieAndTheBanshees Siouxsie Sioux]] and Music/BillyIdol. 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.

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 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.

** Song-especific examples include:
*** "New York" against the Music/NewYorkDolls.
*** "God Save the Queen" against the British Monarchy.
*** Their above-detailed [[invoked]] WriterRevolt over "Submission".
*** "Creator/{{EMI}}" [[BitingTheHandHumor against record company EMI]] (plus its last line "Goodbye A&M!", which was reference to another record company, Creator/AAndMRecords; the Pistols had ''briefly'' recorded for each label). It literally ends with a fart noise.

*** "Creator/{{EMI}}" [[BitingTheHandHumor against record company EMI]] (plus its last line "Goodbye A&M!", which was reference to another record company, A&M Records). It literally ends with a fart noise.

*** "Creator/{{EMI}}" [[BitingTheHandHumor against record company EMI]]. It literally ends with a fart noise.

* SincerestFormOfFlattery: Apparenty, the bass player for Creator/ABBA [[note]]It's not clear whether Glen meant Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus or the particular session's bass player[[/note]] took this view with Glen Matlock borrowing [=ABBA=]'s opening riff for "[=SOS=]" for "Pretty Vacant", as in a Rolling Stone interview for the 40th anniversary of ''Never Mind the Bollocks'', Matlock mentioned how once the provenance of the opening bass riff became known, he received Christmas cards from the bassist for about 10 years!

** His behaviour is the reason why ''Never Mind the Bollocks'' carried an unusual production credit "Produced by Bill Price ''or'' Chris Thomas" (since amended on subsequent issues of the album on CD to the slightly more reasonable "Produced by Chris Thomas, engineered by Bill Price"). To let Bill Price explain:

*** "EMI" [[BitingTheHandHumor against record company EMI]]. It literally ends with a fart noise.

->''"Ah ha ha..... ever get the feeling you've been cheated? Good night." [{{Mic Drop}}]''

* {{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.

* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Subverted somewhat with Johnny Rotten. While he doesn't view his time in the Sex Pistols as CreatorBacklash, he was an artsy kid big into groups like Music/{{Can}} and Music/VanDerGraafGenerator who was discovered wearing a shirt that said "I Hate Music/PinkFloyd". Johnny didn't hate Pink Floyd, he simply wanted to be TheGadfly. His eclectic musical tastes which threatened to make him persona non grata in the Punk scene became more pronounced when he formed Music/PublicImageLtd.

*** Their above-detailed WriterRevolt over "Submission".

* 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.
** Paul Cook and Keith Levene have both disputed this and said that Sid Vicious did become a fairly competent bassist. He was dreadful at it because he never played bass prior to being hired by the Sex Pistols (he was a drummer, singer, and saxophonist before that point). Coincidentally, most of the "Sid Vicious can't play" examples cite events that happened immediately after he was hired.
** Vicious is also said to have shown honest desire to improve his bass playing, at least before Nancy came into the picture. He apparently once stayed up a whole night on speed with a bass guitar and Music/TheRamones' debut album, practising along to the record until morning, by which time his playing had been greatly improved.
** Also worth mentioning that the manager stated he would have hired Sid Vicious to be the singer if it was an option, a logical choice given that Sid seemed to be able to hit notes far more accurately than Lydon when one compares their vocal performances.

* LocationSong: "Holidays in the Sun", where the protagonist is near the UsefulNotes/BerlinWall, though even he 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.

* ProtestSong: All of the songs, although on the other hand the group also states: "We don't care!"

** The entire group was an anarchic reaction against everything rock 'n' roll stood for.
** Their entire public image and songs were designed to shock the establishment.
** "New York" against the Music/NewYorkDolls.
** "God Save the Queen" against the British Monarchy.
** Their above-detailed writer revolt over "Submission".
** "EMI" [[BitingTheHandHumor against record company EMI]]. It literally ends with a fart noise.
** See the page quote: The band's refusal to attend their induction to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame - complete with a scathing TheReasonYouSuckSpeech - also qualifies.

* CoverVersion: "Stepping Stone" by Music/TheMonkees, "Silver Machine" by Music/{{Hawkwind}}, "No Fun" by Music/TheStooges, and "Substitute" by Music/TheWho used to be live mainstays. Notably, "No Fun" was the last song they played at their famous last gig in the USA - the one which ended with him throwing away his microphone and yelling "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?".

* {{Anarchy}}: Interestingly not actually in play in their music, given that their first single was "Anarchy in the UK". Apparently, the Pistols saw themselves as a fairly apolitical band, whose main task was to tweak the noses of a hidebound Britain as opposed to spearheading any sort of revolution, anarchist or otherwise. Johnny said it best years later:

* 1985 - ''Anarchy in the U.K: Live at the 76 Club'

No discussion of the Sex Pistols would be complete without mentioning 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.

** 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.

* 1985 - ''Anarchy in the U.K: Live at the 76 Club''

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: They tended to be in the 5-6 range. They weren't terribly fast, but they were pretty raw-sounding.

** "EMI" [[BitingTheHandHumor against record company EMI]].
** The band's refusal to attend their induction to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame - complete with a scathing TheReasonYouSuckSpeech - also qualifies.

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: They were a punk band; what did you expect?

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* 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]], JustForPun.[[/note]]