The Sex Pistols may have only been together for two years in the late '70s,
but they changed the face of popular music. Through their raw, nihilistic
singles and violent performances, the band revolutionized the idea of what
rock & roll could be. In England, the group was considered dangerous to
the very fabric of society and were banned across the country; in America,
they didn't have the same impact, but countless bands in both countries
were inspired by the sheer sonic force of their music, while countless others
were inspired by their independent, do-it-yourself ethics.
Even if they didn't release any singles by themselves, there was an implicit
independence in the way they played their music and handled their career.
The band gave birth to the massive independent music underground in England
and America that would soon include bands that didn't have a direct musical
connection to the Sex Pistols' initial three-minute blasts of rage, but
couldn't have existed without those singles. Guitarist Steve Jones
and drummer Paul Cook were regulars at a boutique owned by their
manager, Malcolm McLaren; bassist Glen Matlock worked at the
store. Vocalist John Lydon, who would later perform under Johnny
Rotten, met the rest of the group at the shop and was asked to join
the band. While the band played simple rock & roll loudly and abrasively,
Rotten arrogantly sang of anarchy, abortion, violence, fascism, and apathy;
without Rotten, the band wouldn't have been threatening to England's government
he provided the band's conceptual direction, calculated to be as confrontational
and threatening as possible.
The publicity caused by their caustic first single Anarchy
In The U.K. caused the band to be dropped by their record label,
EMI. Matlock was fired before their next single God
Save The Queen / Did You No Wrong which was released on Virgin; it was
banned by the BBC. Matlock's replacement was Sid Vicious, a street
tough kid who, unlike the rest of the band, couldn't play his instrument.
After releasing their first album Never
Mind The Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols (1977), the band headed over
to the U.S. for a tour in January of 1978; it lasted fourteen days. Rotten
left the band after their show at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom on
January 14, heading back to New York; he would form Public Image Limited
later that year. McLaren tried to continue the band but Cook and Jones soon
turned against him. In the two decades following the Sex Pistols' implosion,
an endless stream of outtakes, demos, repackagings, and live shows were
released on a variety of labels, which only helped their cult grow. In 1996,
to celebrate their impending twentieth anniversary, the Sex Pistols reunited,
with original bassist Glen Matlock taking the place of the deceased Sid
Vicious. The band embarked on an international tour in June of 1996, releasing
the Filthy Lucre Live album the following
month. Four years later, Julien Temple (who helmed the band's first movie,
The Great Rock & Roll Swindle) directed the documentary film The
Filth & the Fury. |
