The Untouchables 12.07.05: The Sex Pistols
Posted by Stephen Mogan on 12.07.2005
All image and no substance? Or the leaders of a musical revolution?
There are many bands that are universally recognised as being great, some achieve superstar status, but very few reach the point where the acclaim for them is so intense, that it becomes inconceivable to question their genius. They are The Untouchables….
Welcome to the latest edition of The Untouchables. I’m Steve Mogan and I’m your host again as we take a look at another band that has achieved Untouchable status. We’re gonna do things a little differently this week, with a bit more on the band themselves and a little less on the albums (well, album) they released, for reasons that will become obvious. Last week The Velvet Underground was deemed to be worthy of the hype, this week it’s the turn of British punk pioneers the Sex Pistols. All image and no substance? Or the leaders of a musical revolution? Let’s take a look…
The Sex Pistols
The Band:
Though the band existed for a few years before under various guises, 1975 is considered the Pistols’ year zero. That’s the year the band fully formed, after hiring Johnny Rotten as lead singer and adopting that infamous name. The band was managed by Malcolm McClaren, owner of London fashion shop Sex, which specialised in fetish gear. He’d originally tried (and failed) to infiltrate the musical mainstream with the New York Dolls, a cross-dressing band from (surprise!) New York, who helped lay the foundations for punk rock. Despite the Dolls’ lack of success, McClaren was undaunted and, looking for a frontman, auditioned Rotten for the role in his shop. Rotten passed with flying colours, after much miming to Alice Cooper and rolling about on the floor. He completed the band’s original line-up, along with guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and Glen Matlock on bass (don’t get comfy, Glen). McClaren famously claimed he wanted the Pistols to be like the Bay City Rollers, a Scottish pop band who were big in Britain in the early ‘70s.
The band signed to EMI in ’76 and then released their debut single, Anarchy In The UK. It was their mission statement, if you will (the title says it all really) and reached no. 38 in the charts. Not a huge splash you might think, but the Pistols soon ensured their name would be on the lips of every tabloid journalist in the country. Appearing on an early evening TV show hosted by the excruciatingly un-hip Bill Grundy, the band caused mass controversy by saying, amongst other things, the word “fuck” (gasp!) live on air. Nowadays Snoop Dogg can say “fuck” as much as he wants (and “ho” and “bitch” and “ho-bitch” and “ho-bag” and…well, I could go on…) at 6pm on national TV, but back then it was outrageous. In retrospect, you have to applaud the stupidity of the show’s producers. Surely someone must have done some research on this band before booking them right?
Producer 1: Hey Bob, why don’t we book this band? They’re like the Bay City Rollers, I love those crazy Scots!
Producer 2: Yeah, the Sex Pistols? They have a name that just screams early-evening entertainment!
Producer 1: I know, I know. Hey, check out these lyrics: “Fuck this and fuck that fuck it all and fuck the fucking brat”. That’s awesome. My kids would love that.
Producer 2: Hey, you don’t think they’d say “fuck” on the show do you?
Producer 1: What a ludicrous suggestion! That’s the kind of talk that’ll get you fired, Dave!
Ok, it may not have gone quite like that but anyway, they should have known. The presenter’s name was Bill Grundy, for fuck’s sake! (sorry, typing all these swear words is addictive). He sounds like he should be hosting a kid’s show with a cast of talking farm animals, not interviewing bands. Naturally, the newspapers ate this stuff up. “The Filth and The Fury!” screamed the headlines the next day. One opinion piece printed the reaction of a disgruntled truck driver: “I was so angry and disgusted with this filth that I took a swing at the TV set with my boot. It blew up and I was knocked backwards” (you couldn’t make this stuff up). As a result, the band was dropped from EMI and bounced around a couple of other labels before signing with Virgin and embarking on a horrendous nationwide tour, which resulted in many of the shows being cancelled thanks to the press furore still surrounding the ‘Old Farmer’ Grundy incident.
Matlock left in early ’77, to be replaced by alleged cat-strangler and ultimate rock icon, Sid Vicious. Sid projected the kind of image the band wanted; good looking, but still rough enough around the edges to be cool. He couldn’t really play, but then that didn’t really matter. Jones and Matlock (back again as a “session musician” for the recording of their debut album) were around to play his bass parts on records, while Sid could still throw shapes and sneer at the crowd when on stage, albeit with his amp turned right the way down. God Save The Queen, the band’s anti-royalist second single, came out in May ’77, in the week of the actual British Queen’s silver jubilee. It reached (*cough*) number 2 in the charts, though for some reason the powers that be decided that there would be no number 1 record that week (*cough*). Clearly, Britain thought the Queen deserved to be number 1 in her jubilee week, maybe not in the musical charts (that’d be stupid) but certainly in their hearts. Interestingly, nobody saw the Queen celebrating this by being arrested after trying to play a live set of her songs on a boat floating down the Thames River, resulting in near-riots and running battles between rival fans. She decided against that at the last minute, only to have her idea stolen by Rotten and co. D’oh!
The press coverage accumulated by these incidents meant that the anticipation surrounding the Pistols’ debut, Never Mind The Bollocks, was huge. When it finally arrived, there was yet more media hysteria over its title. A record shop owner was threatened with prosecution after displaying the cover in his window (what with ‘bollocks’ being a slang word for ‘testicles’, this didn’t go down very well). Another court case followed where the Pistols somehow managed to come out on top after proving that ‘bollocks’ was actually an ancient British word that was used to refer to priests (!).
Two further singles followed (Pretty Vacant and Holidays In The Sun) before the band prepared to embark on their first tour of America in 1978 (if this was a horror movie, the ominous organ music would be starting right about now). The tour was a complete disaster. The band played to incredibly hostile audiences in poorly-chosen locations, resulting in them either being buried by beer cans thrown from the crowd or, in some of the more “rural” venues, pig’s noses and rats. Sid started some sort of a fight most nights, at one point hitting a guy over the head with his bass. In short, the whole thing was a mess. Rotten had finally had enough and quit the band live on stage at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom.
And as if that little disaster wasn’t enough, McClaren decided it’d be great fun to mastermind a few more. His constant pressure to create and maintain a chaotic image for the band is one of the reasons cited by Johnny Rotten for his leaving. After Rotten was gone, McClaren took it to a whole new level. The band were encouraged to take part in a series of more and more ridiculous publicity stunts in an attempt to keep the Pistols in the public eye. The whole thing smacked of desperation, and culminated when the group recorded a song with notorious British criminal Ronnie Biggs (who was on the run from the law in Brazil at the time); the truly, truly awful Friggin’ In The Riggin’ (shudder). To top the lot, McClaren then saw fit to create a Sex Pistols film, The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle. The project ran into problems from the start, with scripts changing and directors leaving left and right. By the time it eventually limped to completion, the band was no more; an unjustly pathetic end for a group who started with such a bang.
The Album:
Yep, album. Singular. Sorry there’s not much content in this section this week but since they only released one proper album (I really can’t bring myself to listen to The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle, much less force my brain to make words about it) there’s not much I can do. On with the show!
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols (1977)
Yes, it was revolutionary. Yes, everyone and their dog owns it. Yes, it’s been scientifically proven that even babies fresh from the womb recognise that album cover. But what does it sound like nowadays? Well, to begin with; powerful. Opener Holidays In The Sun sets the tone perfectly for what’s to come. Beginning with the sound of an army marching, it builds to a frenzy of chanting on the chorus, culminating with Rotten’s crazed rants about scaling the Berlin wall. This hasn’t dated at all, and still sounds fresh today. It has a nice riff and roughly 50 times the energy of the “punk” “bands” MTV has to offer lately (you knew I was going to use that analogy at some point, right?). Great start.
Next up is Bodies, a live favourite. This song sounds more urgent and aggressive today than I ever remember it sounding when I’ve listened to the album in the past. Tackling the complex issue of abortion with their usually subtlety, the band create an aggressive, confrontational anthem with a giant chorus and an abundance of f-words (I’m not actually going to type it, I think I’ve used up my quota of those already in this article). This leads to song’s defining moment about ¾ of the way through, as rotten explodes with a flurry of curses that still caught me off guard despite having heard the song many times before. Still effective, then, almost 30 years on.
No Feelings is next, followed by Liar. The first is good, but lacks impact after the pure fury of Bodies. The second attempts to switch things up with some disco-ey drumming at the start, but the song overall is only decent and certainly comes into the category of “filler”. Kudos to Rotten for switching his vocal style on the first few tracks, but at this point the rest of the band are starting to sound a bit samey. Time for an anthem to liven the album up, methinks.
Oh, that’s handy: God Save The Queen. A classic song; there’s not a lot I more I can really write about it. Basically, well done to the band for looking at issues that the majority of artists would shy away from, and doing it with such pop-sensibility. This could easily have been an unlistenable rant, but comes off sounding like the ultimate song to throw yourself around a dirty dancefloor to. Problems follows, with Rotten putting in a fantastic vocal performance. He’s really owning this album so far. The rest of the Pistols’ contribution is decent but it’s Rotten who makes the track.
Next we have Seventeen, with its chorus of “I’m a lazy sod”. A short song, and one that wouldn’t really have worked if it was any longer. Great drumming, nice guitar bits at ¾ in again and overall it’s good for what it is.
Anarchy In The UK follows, and once more I’m struggling for things to say about this track that haven’t been said in the past. The lyrics were shocking when it was released, but seem tame now. Even so, any impact lost by the lyrics is made up for by Rotten’s delivery. With an intro that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck, a fantastic guitar riff and pounding drums, the song’s got everything. I don’t think I’ll ever figure out why this wasn’t first on the album; it surely would have been the perfect start. Still, even at track 8 it’s still a classic and possibly their best song.
Although I may have spoken too soon, since Submission is next. A slower song than the rest on the album, with a maddeningly simple-but-addictive riff borrowed (*cough*) from The Doors. It’s a slower song, that actually suits the band a lot and it’s a shame they didn’t adopt this approach on more tracks. Simply brilliant, my favourite Pistols song. Pretty Vacant is next, and one of the most memorable riffs in rock ‘n’ roll history is introduced and then disposed of within the space of 30 seconds (which is a bold move to say the least). With its raucous chorus of rebellious yelling, this one fits easily into the “anthem” category. Plus, Rotten gets to shout “Va-CUNT!” without, for once, facing a media backlash. The song completes a run of three classic tracks in a row; I’ll leave it to you to pick your favourite.
Unfortunately, from there the album loses momentum. Penultimate track New York has a heavy riff and drumming but lacks a killer chorus to push it up there with the best tracks on the album. Rotten’s vocal also strays to the wrong side of “silly” at points. It’s still good, but the track is fighting a losing battle in trying to live up to the three that precede it. Finally, we have EMI, the band’s dig at their former label, who dropped them after the Grundy incident. It’s decent enough, and I suppose the band felt that it was a song they needed to make. However, it’s not particularly memorable, and it certainly doesn’t feel like the song that should be closing the album. I’m a firm believer that the last track on an album should be memorable. However, EMI is fairly anonymous, and could have appeared anywhere on the record to be honest.
Overall, the album veers between pretty standard filler than hasn’t aged all that well and songs that will probably still sound incredible in another 30 years. It’s understandable that people found this record to be so alien when it was first released, as it still sound quite unique today. It’s rare to find an album of such brutal intensity that doesn’t stop for breath. However, the class of the slower track, Submission, kinda makes me wish they’d tried it out once in a while. It certainly would have stopped the album from sounding so samey in places, and if anything the Pistols sound even more menacing on that track than any of the others. Finally, Rotten’s performance is exceptional. He really makes this album everything that it is. It just shows that the Sex Pistols really were nothing without Johnny Rotten, which was proven by the fact that they could never adequately replace him.
Their Influence:
The Sex Pistols pretty much kicked off punk in Britain. Without them it’s unlikely that the likes of the Clash, the Buzzcocks etc. would have received anywhere near the level of recognition they did. Their shock tactics opened the door for their arguably more talented predecessors. In addition to this, there was a certain Pistols gig at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976, which has since seen pretty much every character from the 80’s Manchester scene claim to be in attendance. Definitely there, however, were soon-to-be members of Joy Division, The Buzzcocks, New Order and The Smiths; each inspired by what they saw that night and destined for greatness of their own. Another who was there for sure was Tony Wilson, the man who went on to found Factory Records, which in turn gave birth to The Happy Mondays, amongst others. That one gig created an entire music movement that breathed new life into a whole city. This influence is still felt even today as Ian Brown, singer with another classic Manchester band The Stone Roses, regularly includes a cover of the Pistols’ Submission in his live set. Not a bad legacy for a bunch of chancers who couldn’t play, eh?
The Verdict:
This one is so tough. One the one hand, you can’t really judge a band with songs like Anarchy In The UK, Pretty Vacant and God Save The Queen to be overhyped. On the other hand, however, they did only release one album. It really is a shame that Rotten left when he did, so we never got to see what the band might have done in the future (although it’s doubtful that they would have carried on much longer without imploding even if he had stayed). The fact that the one album they did release is split fairly evenly between the sublime and the average (listening to it today anyway) also makes this one a difficult call. Although there are no songs that could be described as poor on Never Mind The Bollocks…, there is a distinct lack of variety, especially on the average tracks. But then it would have been extremely difficult to do anything about this without ruining the effect of the album. The whole point is that it’s meant to feel like being repeatedly punched in the gut for 35 minutes.
It’s difficult but I’m gonna say that the Sex Pistols ARE worthy of the hype but only because of two things. Firstly, Johnny Rotten was just an awesome frontman (in the traditional sense of the word). He may not technically have been the best singer, but the anger he channels with his voice is so impressive. He also shows a surprisingly wide vocal range on Never Mind The Bollocks… too. Without him the Sex Pistols really would have been nothing (as they were after they left). Secondly, I’m going to cheat and say that my opinion of the band was changed slightly when I listened to their anthology, Kiss This. This isn’t an official album, more like a best-of that collects the entirety of Never Mind The Bollocks… and its associated b-sides with some of the more tolerable later material. Most of the extra stuff included on here is actually pretty good and, more importantly, listening to it reveals a greater depth to the band than their debut suggests. There is more variety in their songs when you take the b-sides into account. Since I don’t review singles and The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle was a soundtrack album with multiple artists, none of this could be covered earlier. However, if you’re going to buy a Sex Pistols album, make it Kiss This, since it’s a better album on the whole than Never Mind The Bollocks… (and Anarchy In The UK is track one, where it belongs). That point, and the brilliance of Rotten, leads me to the conclusion that the Sex Pistols are indeed worthy of their legendary status, not only for their historical significance, but for the music they created as well. Only just though, in the case of the latter.
What Now?
Sid Vicious, as everybody knows, unfortunately died of a drug overdose in 1979. Steve Jones is now a very successful DJ in LA and runs a joint website with Paul Cook that’s impossible to comprehend, much less navigate. As a result, I have no idea what Paul Cook is doing these days. Glen Matlock is touring with his new band The Philistines and desperately clinging to his former glories by turning up at any commemoration ceremony vaguely related to the Pistols, no matter how pointless (I’m fairly confident I could get Glen to show up at my house if it told him it would involve a plaque of some kind). Johnny Rotten has returned to his given name of John Lyndon and now appears in (*sigh*) reality TV shows with a jungle theme. He’s also squeezing more money out of the talents he once had with a new best-of CD. As you can see, he’s really fighting the system. The band as a whole also re-formed for the 1996 Filthy Lucre world tour. Malcolm McClaren regularly appears on lame nostalgic documentaries with titles like “The Punk Years” and “Sniffin’ Glue”. And yes, he’s still as about as annoying as the most annoying thing you’ve ever seen times 20. It’s estimated that to date he’s been responsible for over 600,000 hand injuries caused by television-punching incidents.
Right guys, that’s your lot for this week. If liked/disliked the column drop me a quick email to let me know what I should do more/less of. Any suggestions for bands you’d like to see covered in future weeks are also greatly appreciated. Take it easy,
