Sex Pistols / YMMV

Funny Moments: They were banned by police from performing "God Save the Queen" on British soil or air, so they performed it on a boat instead.
Genre Turning Point: The entire stereotype of The Quincy Punk is based mostly on things that the Sex Pistols did and said, giving punk rock its ethos of confrontational trolling and rough living.
He Really Can Act: Well, "He Really Can Play" in Steve Jones's. Those used to the strict Three Chords and the Truth version of Punk Rock often come away thinking the Sex Pistols sound more like a Hard Rock band after hearing Steve play.
Hilarious in Hindsight: As mentioned on the What Could Have Been section on the Trivia page, one of the names that the band had considered before picking the name "Sex Pistols" was, hilariously enough, "The Damned". At around the exact same time, the then-recently formed Ultravox were planning on calling themselves "The Damned" as well, before learning that the name was taken^note. Seems like "The Damned" may have just been a common starting name for emerging punk/new wave artists...
Memetic Loser: Sid Vicious gets a lot of this in guitar/bass playing circles, due to being a Dreadful Musician.
Mis-blamed: The Pistols for the Bill Grundy controversy. The band were angry that Grundy refused to take them seriously, was drunk on live television, and tried to goad them into saying something controversial. While Johnny Rotten did appear to "start" things up by muttering "shit" under his breath, he would later played coy when asked about it, meaning that it didn't even seem to be intentional. And the most famous swearing during the broadcast actually seemed to be not for just trolling: Steve Jones only swore at Grundy after he made a sexually explicit pass at the band's barely-of-legal-age friend Siouxsie Sioux, who was also present in the studio. Jones only gave Grundy exactly what he wanted all night out of rage, on the spur of the moment.
More Popular Replacement: Sid Vicious replaced Glen Matlock as the bassist and became one of the most iconic punk musicians of all time.
Once Original, Now Common: Nowadays in the age where being "edgy for the sake of being edgy" is mostly seen as more annoying than genuinely shocking, it might be hard to understand today just how ballsy it was to do what they did during the late 1970s.
Signature Song: "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen".
Tear Jerker: The performance of "No Fun" as the last song of their last show (pre-reunion) is pretty heartbreaking, since you can see and hear Johnny Rotten realise it's all over mid-song.
Oh bollocks, why should I carry on? (...) No fun. This is no fun. No fun. It is no fun at all. (...) Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? Goodnight. (Mic Drop)
Unintentional Period Piece:
- "Holidays in the Sun" is about the Berlin Wall, which clearly dates it to before its demolition on November 9, 1989.
- The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle has Steve Jones and Paul Cook "finding" Martin Bormann in Brazil, based on the belief at the time that Bormann could have survived World War II and escape to South America. This dates it as before 1998, when DNA analysis to some remains found in 1972 revealed them as being Bormann's, thus confirming that he did die during the fall of Berlin.
- "New York" is a Diss Track to the New York Dolls, who had already disbanded by the time Bollocks was released.
Values Dissonance: The profanity on the Grundy show appearance is not so shocking now. But what is is that the middle-aged Grundy seems to have no problem with the idea that he can publicly talk about trying to pick up Siouxsie Sioux after the show. (Subverted a bit in Jones immediately calling him out on it, although in context at the time it comes across as the band just responding to Grundy's provocation.)
Vindicated by History: The band, except Sid Vicious, but especially with Steve Jones, who is finally being recognized as a surprisingly talented guitarist. Those used to the strict Three Chords and the Truth version of Punk Rock often come away thinking the Sex Pistols sound more like a Hard Rock band after hearing Steve play.
The Woobie: Say what you will about the guy, but what is known of Sid Vicious's life, both before and after the Sex Pistols, is actually pretty heartbreaking.

YMMV / Sex Pistols

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