gee, some people sure do take things very seriously. very seriously.

dont forget chaps, it was the pistols, not mclaren, who were getting stabbed in the streets. they wrote the songs, played the notes; even if malcolm dressed them up and told them what to say, the defiance was theirs. how can you deny that the sex pistols were playing for keeps?

i would have felt the same way up until a few weeks ago, when i 'rock n roll swindle' and found, to my surprise, that their cover of 'steppin stone' was fantastix. many of the albums cuts were. then when i listened to their first album, what a revelation. when i was first listening to this album, i was playing close attention to the lyrics more than anything, and (like you) this was among my first punk records so everything about it was confusing, overwhelming and new. now, with a little more understanding of punk, i can listen to it and appreciate the sex pistols in a whole new way. for isntance, now i just go into paroxysms of delight whenever i hear JR roll those 'r's, or when his voice breaks right into the end of a phrases. his lyrics, too, hold up very well compared to other punk rock notables like the dead kennedys, the damned, black flag and the vibrators, whose lyrics now seem unbearably trite. i strongly suggest you give 'never mind...' a spin if its been collecting dust lately

I see that it is time, for the yearly obligatory Sex Pistols thread.

Were they revolutionary? Yes!

Were they a major influence on Punk and music? Yes!

Was their image and a lot of the controversy, especially that groupie masquerading as a bass player, the result of Malcolm McLaren’s handy work,? Hell Yes!

Were they a great trio and Bollocks a great recording? Oh, Hell Yes!

Were they the best Punk band? ummm No.

They also happen to be one of the worst live bands, I have ever seen and I have seen a few bands/musicians in my time. However, when you’re seeing a quartet and one of them isn’t even plugged in either time I saw them, what can you expect? There last show at the Winterland, was just a complete disaster.

I once asked John why he/they didn’t get rid of Sid and McLaren. His answer was, Sid was his “mate� and he wanted someone in the band who was on his side. Since, he believed both Jones and Cook always sided with McLaren, which is why both were not fired.

Who knows, if they had gotten an actual bass player and real manager, they might have ended up being the best.

When I think of the Pistols, I think of Johnny's last words at the Winterland, "Ever get the feeling that you've been cheated?" It covers the group as a whole, more than that one concert.


P.S. I ran into the masquerading bass player and Nancy Spungen, two days before her demise. They were a complete mess.

that is some deep stuff you have laid, but still i must say that because their album was/is so widely imitated, it gives them the extra credibility and malice needed to push em ahead of the rest of the first and second punk waves.

While I don't agree, I can understand your thinking.

For those who have a problem with the Sex Pistols manufactured image.


I give you


Before Brian Epstein, and even with their own masquarading bass player. Although in his case, the Pistols bass player made Sutcliffe out to be John Entwistle in comparision.







With Epstein as their manager. Notice any difference?






I am sure, you can remember how their image changed after Epstein's death.


Several years after, but gets the point across








You don't think Peter Grant played up, exgagerated, and helped spread the image surrounding Led Zeppelin?


The Sex Pistols were not the first and as history has shown, they were not the last.

Satch you've talked with John Lydon before?

I'd like to hear about that

Okay, but Brian Epstein wasn't a corporate rock manager/producer. He was interested in selling Beatles albums in his parents' furniture store. Plus, the Beatles went from rock 'n' roll dirty to clean-cut for the sixties audience. McLaren didn't clean the Sex Pistols up, he booked them across the US in shit-kicker saloons so they'd get beat up and cause a sensation...

///In New York City in the mid-1970s, McLaren was managing the New York Dolls, when he saw the Neon Boys perform. The Neon Boys included Tom Verlaine and Richard Hell, who went on to form Television. McLaren was greatly impressed with Hell's torn clothing, studded dog collars and leather jackets, and with Hell's dissolute attitude. According to Hell, McLaren approached him and Verlaine about being their manager, but they were not interested. When MacLaren returned to London and began managing the Sex Pistols, he borrowed much of Hell's look for the groups image.///

No offence, but it sounds pretty lame :/

man harrison and lennon were badass