The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 434

Number 434

Sex Pistols

"Anarchy In The UK"

(1976)

Genre: Punk Rock

I want my ...

MTV have launched their own music embedded video site www.mtvmusic.com to rival www.youtube.com and their music videos. Now this is good news for me, just for the reason having to replace 200 odd video's [on average] at the beginning of each month to replace the dead links because Viacom, MTV, etc, whoever -- tell Youtube to remove the illegal content. Personally, i spend more time replacing vids than i do writing new content, absolutely mind bending.

Oh by the way America, please vote for change ... the worlds counting on you. If we [foreigners] could vote ..... WE WOULD. [maybe even muslims]

Punk rocker '08

While mostly accurate, dismissing Never Mind the Bollocks as merely a series of loud, ragged midtempo rockers with a harsh, grating vocalist and not much melody would be a terrible error. Already anthemic songs are rendered positively transcendent by Johnny Rotten's rabid, foaming delivery. His bitterly sarcastic attacks on pretentious affectation and the very foundations of British society were all carried out in the most confrontational, impolite manner possible. Most imitators of the Pistols' angry nihilism missed the point: underneath the shock tactics and theatrical negativity were social critiques carefully designed for maximum impact. Never Mind the Bollocks perfectly articulated the frustration, rage, and dissatisfaction of the British working class with the establishment, a spirit quick to translate itself to strictly rock & roll terms. The Pistols paved the way for countless other bands to make similarly rebellious statements, but arguably none were as daring or effective. It's easy to see how the band's roaring energy, overwhelmingly snotty attitude, and Rotten's furious ranting sparked a musical revolution, and those qualities haven't diminished one bit over time. Never Mind the Bollocks is simply one of the greatest, most inspiring rock records of all time. ~ [Steve Huey, All Music Guide]

Anarchy? What Anarchy?

Whos Rotten?

The single was the only Sex Pistols recording released by EMI, and reached number 38 on the UK Singles Chart before EMI dropped the group on January 6, 1977, a month after the televised Bill Grundy incident ***. The song later appeared on the album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The song's lyrics espouse a nihilistic and violent concept of anarchy. The lyrics mention several political/paramilitary organizations prominent at the time, comparing them to the UK: the MPLA, the UDA, and the IRA. "Anarchy in the U.K." was number 53 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.[ In 2007 the surviving members (not including Glen Matlock) re-recorded "Anarchy in the U.K." for the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock because the masters could not be found. ~ [Source: Wikipedia]

McCain punk'ed

*** Their behaviour, as much as their music, brought them national attention. On 1 December 1976, the band and members of the Bromley Contingent created a storm of publicity by swearing during an early evening live broadcast of Thames Television's Today programme. Appearing as last-minute replacements for fellow EMI artists Queen, band and entourage took full advantage of the green room facilities, consuming significant amounts of alcohol. During the interview, Rotten used the word "shit", and host Bill Grundy, apparently drunk, flirted openly with Siouxsie Sioux: "We'll meet afterwards, shall we?" This prompted the following exchange between the host and Steve Jones:
Jones: You dirty sod. You dirty old man.
Grundy: Well keep going chief, keep going. Go on. You've got another five seconds. Say something outrageous.
Jones: You dirty bastard.
Grundy: Go on, again.
Jones: You dirty fucker.
Grundy: What a clever boy.
Jones: What a fucking rotter ~ [Source: Wikipedia]

For more Sex Pistols see Number 500

For Queen see Number 539, #747, #799 & #805

What does Rolling Stone think of the Pistols?

If it's not clear to you now, it's going to be: the rock wars of the Seventies have begun, and the Sex Pistols, the most incendiary rock & roll band since the Rolling Stones and the Who, have just dropped the Big One on both the sociopolitical aridity of their native England and most of the music from which they and we were artistically and philosophically formed. While a majority of young Americans are probably going to misunderstand much of the no-survivors, not-even-us stance of the punk-rock New Wave anarchy in the U.K. (compared to which, the music of the Ramones sounds like it was invented by Walt Disney), none of us can ignore the movement's savage attack on such stars as the neoaristocratic and undeniably wealthy Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger, Elton John, et al., whose current music the Pistols view as a perfect example of jet-set corruption and an utter betrayal of the communal faith. It's obviously kill-the-father time in Great Britain, and, if this is nothing new (after all, Jimmy Porter, England's original Angry Young Man, spewed forth not unlike Johnny Rotten as far back as 1956 in John Osborne's Look Back in Anger), it certainly cuts much deeper now because conditions are unquestionably worse. And when one's main enemy is an oppressive mood of collective hopelessness, no one learns faster from experience than the would-be murderer of society, I suppose. ~ [Source: RS PAUL NELSON 1978]

For the Rolling Stones see Number 689 & #767

For the Who see Number 556

For Elton John see Number 531

Rolling Stone magazine deemed their '434th Song of all Time' was "Mustang Sally" by Wilson Pickett. Mustang Sally has appeared in The Definitive 1000 @ #676