Sex Pistols
Formed
Disbanded
1978
Members
Steve Jones (guitar, bass, vocals), Paul Cook (drums), Glen Matlock (bass, 1975-77), Nick Kent (guitar, 1975), Johnny Rotten [John Lydon] (vocals, 1975-78), Steve New (guitar, 1975), Sid Vicious (bass, vocals, 1977-78)
Related Artists
Ex Pistols, Greedies, Lightning Raiders, The Looters, The Professionals, Public Image Ltd, Rich Kids, Sham Pistols, The Vicious White Kids
Also Known As
QT Jones and the Sex Pistols [1975], The Sex Pistols, The Original Pistols, The Original Sex Pistols
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1981 • Ten Pole Tudor with Sex Pistols
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resist_retreat
"Sex Pistols were like no band that had ever been, and we have yet to see their like again. In an age when causing offence is a cardinal sin, it's worth recalling that a bunch of urchins once sparked a revolution by being loud and obnoxious and calling a dipsomaniac TV presenter a "dirty fucker" on live TV, by being no platformed by concert venues, by giving the establishment a collective panic attack with their unique way of "celebrating" Her Maj's Silver Jubilee, by refusing to play anyone's game but their own, and refusing to apologize, for anything.
Because I hold it as self-evidently true that as the figureheads of punk rock, Sex Pistols brought about a social revolution in Britain. You can debate the pros and cons of that revolution all day long, but I dare you to name a band since that has come anywhere near achieving that. They didn't leave a huge musical legacy, because their already highly dysfunctional interpersonal relationships were exacerbated by a manager who self-identified as a svengali, and liked to pretend he had manufactured the band and masterminded the chaos that engulfed them, when in reality what he did was respond to a series of accidents.
What Sex Pistols did manage to record up until January 1978, however, is some of the most antagonistic, confrontational and uncompromising stuff of all time. Sure, you can find loads of bands who approximate the style, but none have come close to the sheer gleeful effrontery of the Pistols in their heyday. And their legacy? Incalculable. In 1976/77 they kicked down doors that gave weirdos and misfits no label would have looked at even once scant months earlier a shot at success. It's hard to think of anyone who picked up a guitar post-1976 in Britain being without some kind of debt to Sex Pistols."
Because I hold it as self-evidently true that as the figureheads of punk rock, Sex Pistols brought about a social revolution in Britain. You can debate the pros and cons of that revolution all day long, but I dare you to name a band since that has come anywhere near achieving that. They didn't leave a huge musical legacy, because their already highly dysfunctional interpersonal relationships were exacerbated by a manager who self-identified as a svengali, and liked to pretend he had manufactured the band and masterminded the chaos that engulfed them, when in reality what he did was respond to a series of accidents.
What Sex Pistols did manage to record up until January 1978, however, is some of the most antagonistic, confrontational and uncompromising stuff of all time. Sure, you can find loads of bands who approximate the style, but none have come close to the sheer gleeful effrontery of the Pistols in their heyday. And their legacy? Incalculable. In 1976/77 they kicked down doors that gave weirdos and misfits no label would have looked at even once scant months earlier a shot at success. It's hard to think of anyone who picked up a guitar post-1976 in Britain being without some kind of debt to Sex Pistols."
RYM Rough Guide for Sex Pistols
Biography
Upon return he and the Strand set about reinventing themselves, inspired by McLaren's time in the New York punk scene. Nightingale was removed from the band, and Jones was moved from vocals to guitar, and the band changed their name to QT Jones and the Sex Pistols. A search for a frontman followed, with Sylvain Sylvain, Midge Ure, Kevin Rowland and Richard Hell among those who were either auditioned or offered the role, though all either failed to make the grade or turned the opportunity down.
In August 1975, a 19 year old John Lydon was spotted by Rhodes wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt with the words "I hate" written above it. Lydon was taken to a nearby pub by either Rhodes or McLaren and introduced to Jones and Cook. Later that evening, the party moved to Sex and Lydon was convinced to audition for the group by singing along to Alice Cooper's "Eighteen". Lydon was given the job and was renamed by the group as Johnny Rotten. The band themselves also truncated their name at this point to just the Sex Pistols. During this period Nick Kent and Steve New both played guitar in the group for brief periods, but left before the band's later success.
The band would make their debut as the Sex Pistols on November 6th, 1975, opening for Pub Rock band Bazooka Joe. At this point the band's musical repertoire consistent mainly of covers. However, the band would spend the next year writing songs and building a fanbase through touring the UK so that by October 8th of 1976 they were signed to a two year contract by EMI Records, who released their debut single "Anarchy in the U.K. / I Wanna Be Me" on November 26th.
The band's first major publicity came when they were asked to appear on the Bill Grundy-hosted Today programme after labelmates Queen were forced to pull out. During the programme, shown well before the watershed, the inebriated band, and Jones in particular, swore repeatedly, partially goaded by Grundy telling him to "say something outrageous." Though the programme was only shown in the London area, the incident was front page news for tabloid newspapers, and the band became a household name across the country overnight. This would be the first of many controversial appearances by the band through their career.
While the appearance on Today helped to build the band's reputation, it also had negative consequences: on the group's "Anarchy Tour of the UK" the band played only around seven gigs of their scheduled 19 after organisers and local authorities canceled or banned them. The controversy around the band grew so much that by January of 1977 the band were dropped by EMI.
In February of 1977, Matlock, who was at that point the band's primary songwriter, was ejected from the band and a friend of Rotten's, Sid Vicious (born John Simon Ritchie), was brought in to replace him, in spite of Vicious's lack of ability on the instrument. Matlock would form Rich Kids almost immediately after with one-time Pistols member New, auditionee Ure and drummer Rusty Egan.
The Pistols next signed with A&M Records at a press ceremony outside Buckingham Palace, but due to several negative interactions between the band and label, the deal lasted less than a week. It wasn't until May that The Pistols signed their third contract, this time with Virgin Records, who released their second single "God Save the Queen / No Feeling" on the 27th of that month. Despite Vicious now being the group's bassist, the bass on the recording was recorded by Jones, a practice that would be repeated on almost all Sex Pistols recordings.
While the group worked on their debut album, two further singles were released in 1977: "Pretty Vacant / No Fun" in July and "Holidays in the Sun / Satellite" in October.
In October of 1977, the band released what would be their only full-length studio album, Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols, recorded throughout the year with producer Chris Thomas and engineer Bill Price. The album went to number 1 on the UK album charts, in spite of bans by many high street retailers. Following this the band played a few gigs in the Netherlands, and launched an eight gig UK tour, of which they played four. This would be their last UK tour.
In January 1978 the band embarked on their first and only tour of the United States of America. McLaren had mainly booked shows in the Deep South of the country, specifically to provoke a hostile reaction amongst the audience. The shows on the tour would be marked by a series of shocking and often violent antics performed onstage by Vicious, who was now deep in heroin addiction. The band's last show would be on January 14th at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. Rotten, disgusted by Vicious, isolated from Jones and Cook, and increasingly disagreeing with the direction that McLaren was taking the band in, left soon after. He would later re-emerge as a founding member of Public Image Ltd, reverting to his birth name of John Lydon from that point onwards.
The band continued briefly after this, recording tracks with a variety of vocalists, though never performing live. The Pistols' first single post-Rotten was "No One Is Innocent / My Way", featuring Great Train robber and then-fugitive Ronnie Biggs on the A-side and Vicious singing the B-side. McLaren had wanted Vicious to become the band's singer, but Vicious, who had grown tired of McLaren, left the band and moved to New York in September of that year to launch a solo career. This was to be short lived, however, as when Vicious's girlfriend Nancy Spungen was found stabbed to death in a hotel room they were staying in on October 12th, 1978, he was accused of and charged with her murder. After being released on bail on February 1st, 1979, Vicious died of a heroin overdose in the early hours of February 2nd at the age of 21.
5 days later in London, hearings began on a lawsuit that Lydon had brought against McLaren. While Jones and Cook had previously allied themselves with McLaren, they switched sides when evidence was shown that almost all of the band's revenue was placed into a film project by McLaren, later released as The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. This was the final nail in the coffin for the Sex Pistols. A final album of unreleased 1978 recordings, covers of Pistols songs by other artists and early demos with new backing tracks was released as The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle in 1979, as the soundtrack to the then unreleased film.
Jones and Cook would form a new band in 1980, The Professionals, while McLaren would go on to manage Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow, as well as having a solo music career of his own.
In 1996, Lydon, Jones, Cook and Matlock reformed the group for the Filthy Lucre Tour. The band have reunited on several occasions since then, but never issued any new studio recordings.
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