Wikipedia has the whole story on the Sex Pistols. I missed the punk movement somehow; I was into other things by then. Were these guys the leaders?
The Pistols' second single, "God Save the Queen", recorded in February with Chris Thomas, was released by Virgin on 27 May. Though widely perceived as a personal attack on Queen Elizabeth II,[39] Rotten later stated that the song was not aimed at her specifically, but was instead intended to critique the deference given to royalty in general. However, the perceived disrespect to the monarchy caused widespread public outcry. The record was banned from airplay by the BBC, whose Radio 1 dominated music broadcasting. Rotten later remarked, "We had declared war on the entire country—without meaning to!"[16]
Were they the leaders? Tough question. They have since become more revered than they actually were at the time. They were only around for a short period and I've heard some critics call them punk's version of a boy band (since they were assembled by guru Malcom McLaren). I don't know. I liked them.
ReplyDeleteBy the time they formed in '75 there was already a punk movement alive in the U.S. and U.K. Bands like The Stooges, The New York Dolls, Swell Maps, Blondie, Television, The Patti Smith Group, The Dictators, The Ramones, etc... all formed in the years leading up to The Sex Pistols' debut.
The Pistols definitely inspired a generation of English and American punk bands, but at the time I think it would have been tough to call them "leaders". Especially in a medium that championed anarchy.
Mr. Earl, I agree with you. The Pistols were a concept band, formed by trend setter Malcom McLaren. Of course, he knew trends and the Pistols really could play and became a monster that really rocked!
ReplyDeleteI was a Detroit kid into the MC5 and the Stooges...I liked a lot of other music, but I was more of a naive dadaist....
In the early 70's, there was little in rock that I really liked and I discovered Jazz. I loved Roxy Music and Brian Eno....then I discovered Patti Smith and saw the Ramones in a rotten little club in a strip mall in Oregon, Ohio.
A life changing experience. Music that wasn't slick technical diddlying...this straight from the gut, short circuiting the brain, creating a some kind of emotional bypass that created the energy that I knew i needed to be a part of.
Needless to say, I quit my day job and moved to New York and spent the next 15 years destroying my hearing by standing in front of amplifiers turned to 11.
I loved the Dolls. I loved the destroy all dead rockstars esthetic...noise reigns supreme.
There's nothing like a massive industrial catastrophe wioth a good beat!
By the way, I never saw the Sex Pistols, but I saw PIL quite a few times.
I met the Clash and played on the same stage as them. Those guys went from musical primitives to masters in only a few months.
A few weeks ago, I posted a video of a recent performance of Jayne County...sort of an exocism ritual blog cleansing...the sound track for a rapture.
Jayne was still extremely nasty after all these years, buut he didn't have his Dave Clark 5 electric tiara anymore.