FEATURE:
Anarchy, EMI and the Monarchy:
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols at Forty
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FEW bands record a single album…
and go down in music history! There are fewer who could only release one record and remain in the memory for (over) forty years. Perhaps the Sex Pistols struck a particular vein at a perfect point in time. I will bring in a Rolling Stone article a bit later but, it seems, Never Mind the Bollocks… was the ultimate and most intense way of articulating the stresses and divisions apparent in 1977. The Punk band formed in 1975 and, despite four singles and one album, were instrumental in spearheading a new wave of Punk bands. There are those who say the group were overrated and arrived in music a little too late – albums by The Clash faring better and predating their sole album. If one looks at Never Mind the Bollocks… then you will see, years before, bigger and bolder Punk artists has already set the flame alight. The Clash released their eponymous debut in April (1977); the Ramones unleashed their eponymous debut the year before – there were already markers and leaders in the market before the Sex Pistols.
To get a bigger picture of the Sex Pistols’ only album and one has to look at the country at the time and John Lydon’s arrival in the band. In 1975, Bernard Rhodes – a good friend of Malcolm McLaren – spotted a nineteen-year-old John Lydon, a Kings Road habitué, at a gig wearing a Pink Floyd T-shirt – with the image's eyes gouged out; a message, ‘I Hate’, scrawled above the band’s name. It attracted Rhodes’ attention – he asked Lydon to meet with fellow musicians Steve Jones and Paul Cook. Unbeknownst to them; the green-haired rebel that entered their midst was going to be their leader. Lydon, at the start, improvised singing and would do some unique renditions of popular songs – to the amusement of his band-mates. His unconventional and untutored mannerisms – coupled with the fact he was seen as a bit grating and loud by the guys – meant there was a natural and instant bond. It would be two years before the band settled and recorded their landmark album.
IN THIS PHOTO: Sid Vicious in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Bob Gruen
At this stage – before the album was released – Glen Matlock was on bass. He was replaced by Sid Vicious (who had never played bass before joining the band) and, with McLaren managing the Sex Pistols, the legend was cemented. It was hardly a shock, given their non-conformist mind-set and anarchic disregard, they would prove unpopular with the press at the time. The Clash were, at the time, the biggest British Punk group: American had the Ramones and, at a time when there was the desire for social change and re-engineering; Sex Pistols seemed like a breath of (much-needed) fresh air. That yearning for pandemonium and moral retaliation – against the crown and state – meant the Sex Pistols were granted a free pass by the music public. If the press felt they were too uncouth and ragged to appeal to the shiny, white-teeth-polite-words requirements for the mainstream – those who preferred their artists real and original bonded with the London band. In the spring of 1977, the three senior members – excluding Sid Vicious – went to the studio to record the album. The band were not keen for Vicious to be around them at the time – fortunately, as they see it, Vicious had hepatitis. Matlock came and recorded with the guys as a session musician:
PHOTO CREDIT: Shutterstock/Richard Young
Vicious’ incompetence and behaviour meant he was barred from the studio. Jones played most of the bass parts on the record with Matlock having to audition, in a way, to play with the band – a process, many say, he felt demeaned having to do. The only element of Sid Vicious on Never Mind the Bollocks… is a pared-down, near-mute bass part recorded for Bodies. There was an appropriate amount of disarray and disorganisation when it came to recording the album. Members being switched and there was very little structure at the time. Many would say that is what one requires from a genuine Punk band: if they were methodical and well-behaved; that would take away from their ethos and music. Luckily, the band did actually make an album – what was captured remains one of the most explosive and important albums of the 1970s. Critics at the time had their opinions, for sure.
IN THIS PHOTO: Johnny Rotten
Some saw the record as too controversial for the sake of it; songs like Bodies contained profanity and, naturally, was not a favourite for radio stations – Never Mind the Bollocks… was censored because of its testicular reference. Politicians – often the go-to when it comes to music opinions and reflecting the opinions of the masses – felt the record reflected the downward turn society was taking. These bratty and explicit boys were not what Britain wanted or needed at that time. In 1977, Star Wars was breaking box office records; Elvis died; Red Rum won the Grand National for the third time – it was a weird and wonderful year. The fact our Queen was celebrating her Silver Jubilee. Around August, there were strikes against The National Front and it seemed there were contrasts in the U.K. in 1977. Even if you were not a royalist; you would have been captured in the spirit and celebration that unfolded then – a fact the Sex Pistols did not let slip.
The fact there was far-right fascism and a disenfranchised youth rallying sat with strikes, economic problems and regal celebrations meant a Punk movement of Pistols proportions was inevitable. Johnny Rotten and his crew recorded an incendiary record that verbalised an anger many felt. To commemorate the album; Johnny Rotten and Glen Matlock conducted an interview with Rolling Stone - and looked back on the record with mixed feelings:
"Bollocks was such a solid piece of work, yet when we were recording it, it felt anything but," says Johnny Rotten, looking back on the watershed 1977 LP Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. By his account, the group was working with a producer who was "deaf in one ear and tone deaf in the other," and he and his bandmates had to cram a lot into their time in the studio”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Dennis Morris
Their annoyance with production and sound mars the fact Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols sounds just right. If the singles/standouts – God Save the Queen and Anarchy in the U.K. among them – were highlighted by critics (and seen as the ‘hits’ among filler) then it only takes a few minutes to get stuck into the remaining tracks. Many overlook tracks like Liar and Seventeen: essential cuts that provide fuel, cohesion and story. They are an essential part of an album and songs that have their place. It was not until 20th September that the tracklist was finalised for the album. There were debates and problems along the way – the band were dropped by their label and signed with Virgin – and the record took a long time to get down. Holidays in the Sun – with Satellite as its flips-side – was the fourth single from the band and proved less successful as previous singles like Pretty Vacant. If the songs’ content and themes provoked controversy: the album’s title/cover – but was originally called God Save Sex Pistols – would see store leave blank spaces on shelves; remove copies from circulation or censor the cover. It caused a furore and did what Sex Pistols needed it to do: get people talking and cause controversy. Rolling Stone, in their recent article, assessed the magic and purpose of the record:
“Ultimately, the Sex Pistols created the defining clarion call for punk mayhem. The record was a little less than 40 minutes of seething rock & roll frustration aimed at anyone within gobbing distance, and their home country, in particular. And around the time Never Mind the Bollocks came out on October 28th, 1977, the band caused chaos as much as it inspired anarchy”.
God Save the Queen attacked the deference of the Crown and coruscated the country’s regalism; other subjects broached looked at the music industry, consumerism and apathy – violence, the Holocaust and abortion. Johnny Rotten, when speaking with the magazine, talked about songs like Bodies (“The song is about abortion, and yes, it is a woman's right [to choose] absolutely because she has to bear the child and all the issues thereinafter. Is it wise to bring an unwanted child into the world? No, I don't think it is, but again that is just my opinion, because I always would leave it to the woman”.) and Liar (“But the song isn't totally about Malcolm. I think we always knew that about him, and in an odd way, it was one of his most adorable features. Do you know when you really know someone, you kind of accept those kinds of things because you take everything with a pinch of salt?”).
Glen Matlock talked about Anarchy in the U.K. (“Around the summertime, we were rehearsing and once again I said, "Does anybody got any ideas?" And I had a go at Steve, 'cause I felt I was pushing the band along a bit, but that time he had something, which wasn't much. And he said, "Why don't you come up with something?" And I had half an idea for a big overture, and I just started playing that descending chord progression and everybody picked up on it and said, "Where's it go next?") and Pretty Vacant (“Malcolm McLaren had been going back and forth to the States to be involved in the rag trade and buy old Fifties clothes because he had a Teddy Boy shop, and I knew he ran into Sylvain Sylvain from the New York Dolls and went backstage. Malcolm came back with fliers for the shows and he brought back set lists, but none of these bands had made records at that stage. One said "Blank Generation," and that got me thinking about how there was nothing going on in London, and there was a real air of despondency and desperation, so I came out with the idea of "Pretty Vacant.”).
IN THIS PHOTO: Glen Matlock (2017)/PHOTO CREDIT: David Mallows
It is clear the biggest songs struck a chord with Rotten (Lydon) and Matlock. They have a fond spot for Seventeen, New York and Sub-Mission but their ‘anthems’ are the songs that have endured and resonated hardest. It is fascinating seeing two Sex Pistols dissecting and discussing their music forty years down the line. It is clear, regardless of whether you see the album as underrated or too pumped, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols remains a wonderful work. It is as synonymous with its background and changes as it was the music itself. By January 1978 – when the band completed a chaotic tour of the U.S. – Johnny Rotten announced the band’s split. There was no chance or time to release another album: that was the end of the Sex Pistols! The remaining members of the band have embarked on reunion tours – Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in 1979 – but it was merely a chance to rekindle some of the magic they created in 1977. Nothing or nobody can diminish the effect the Sex Pistols’ only album had on music. Maybe it caused conflict – among the government, record labels and distributors – at the time but it compelled and ignited the public.
It was unlike anything else out there and a true reflection of the simmering dismay in the 1970s. Times are tough now - so it seems an album like Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols has a relevance and purpose. Noel Gallagher claims it is his favourite album; Kurt Cobain listed it among his favourite albums, too – it has made a huge impact on generations of musicians. One need only look at the current musical landscape and realise Sex Pistols are encoded in the D.N.A. of our rawest and most primal acts. From IDLES and Sleaford Mods through to Honeyblood and Drenge: bands who all, consciously or not, have taken something from Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols.
I feel today, more than 1977, we need another band to spark the same kind of passion the Sex Pistols did then. If 1997 was defined by Radiohead’s OK Computer; 1967 by The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Joshua Tree in 1987, perhaps?!) then 1977 belonged to Sex Pistols. Against strong competition from fellow Punk luminaries, The Clash; a ramshackle group of guys came together to make something sensational. They may, on the surface, have seemed unprofessional and unfocused but the Sex Pistols were tremendous musicians and vital voice of their generation. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols has its detractors but, look at the musicians it has compelled, and one cannot ignore its importance. At a time where we are as fragmented and troubled as then (back in 1977), the relevance and wisdom of the Sex Pistols’ majestic album is…
PHOTO CREDIT: Dennis Morris
AT its absolute peak!