I was living in New Zealand when 'Punk' became a thing. There were punk groups and a representation of punk culture but nothing that seemed to take over any noticeable areas of life. I remember we had a friend who embraced it, but she came from a rich family so it didn't really seem the same. Years later I was reminded of her when I heard Pulp sing 'Common People' ..
"But still you'll never get it right
'Cause when you're laid in bed at night
Watching roaches climb the wall
If you called your Dad he could stop it all, yeah"
Certainly by 1979 when 'The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle' came out I couldn't have been more polar opposite to the non-conformist, anti-corporatism, anti-consumerism ethos. I was middle-management, driving to work in my company car wearing a 3-piece suit and arranging a mortgage for my first house.
That didn't stop me taking a musical interest though. It was impossible to ignore the impact that 'Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols' had. It stirred controversy, interest, shock and horror and despite all it stood for, it made some people a lot of money. Songs of anarchy, abortion, the Queen, the Berlin Wall .. didn't matter who you were, there was enough offence to go around and find something for you to object to. Unless, that is, this is exactly what you had been waiting for. That's probably why the album sold in such numbers and reached #1 in the charts. It was overdue, inevitable and in most people's minds, fleeting. Grab it while you can.
Malcolm McLaren had been supplying the New York Dolls with stage wear and renamed his outlet SEX. Through the outlet he got to know Paul Cook and Steve Jones, brought in Glen Matlock and John Lyndon (Johnny Rotten) and became the manager of The Sex Pistols.
Malcolm was the driving force behind the movie 'The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle' which took the form of a 'mockumentary' with a loose storyline and basically Malcolms version of the rise and fall of the band. That version became hotly disputed later and mis-management, money and reputations (such as they were) became central to years of court cases.
Between 'Bollocks ..' and the movie and soundtrack John Lyndon had left the band and Sid Vicious replaced Glen Matlock, but Sid's guitar skills weren't up to par so Glen was asked to play on part of the 'Bollocks ..' when it came to the movie and soundtrack Lyndon and Matlock were only seen in archive footage.
The band and McLaren all had character names in the film. McLaren was 'The Embezzler', Johnny Rotten 'The Collaborator', Sid Vicious 'The Gimmick' and they even roped in notorious Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs, who had been hiding in various countries since his escape from prison. He was named 'The Exile'.
Before the movie was released in 1980 the soundtrack double album came out. What we got was a mishmash of Sex Pistol songs from the 'Bollocks ..' days, a string of cover versions, a few more originals and a mix of old and new vocals. The band only lasted just over 2 years, had one studio album and 4 singles, so cover songs were inevitable. The choice of those songs though was quite bizarre.
'Rock Around the Clock' 'C'mon Everybody' and 'Johnny B Goode' went way back. 'Watcha Gonna Do About It?' by the Small Faces, 'Substitute' by The Who and '(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone' by Paul Revere then later The Monkees were strange but not unreasonable choices, but wait for it.
How did they justify the Max Bygraves song 'You Need Hands' performed by Malcolm McLaren? Whose idea was it to go with 'My Way' and then to end the album with the schoolboy classic 'Friggin' in the Riggin'.
The Sex Pistols are a major part of musical (and social) history. Love them, hate them, be totally confused by them, but do not ignore them.
Do not write off Malcolm McLaren as solely 'The Embezzler' either. He went on to create and develop 2 of my favourite albums, 'Duck Rock' (see my review 6 Jun 2020) and 'Paris' (see my review 7 Jun 2020).
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