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A PUNK ROCK THNRWe

JANUARY 1 —- London’s first purely punk club, The Roxy, opens with two sets
by The Clash. Sadly, the club lasts only 100 days.

 

JANUARY 6 — EMI terminates their contract with The Sex Pistols, citing
negative publicity generated by the band’s behaviour.

JANUARY 27 — The Clash sign with CBS Records for a 100,000 pound
advance. ee omromty
800 pounds to record.

 

FEBRUARY 4 — The Ramones open for Blue Oyster Cult in New York.

FEBRUARY 24 -SidVicious ois Gin Maicckastasinoresx "TE Sex Pistols’

because he liked The Beatles.

) W
MARCH 9-TieserPansignocrxnteoiconctnmwn “GOA Save The
A&M, outside Buckingham Palace. eT ee T mW
pounds to terminate the contract. h Q
APRIL 8 - The Clash’s eponymous debut is released in Britain e€ ueen
JUNE 8 — The poli 11 people following The Sex Pistol’s performance of i
eg Music On the (You)Tube

y Mark Fisher
preys rao ag emt ss

L head anarchists who don’t give a shit
~~ ; Wien the Sex Pistols first hit the What anyone thinks about them. You
JUNE 16 — Foheny Roten is stacked by skinheads outside 2 London pub. scene in the latter half of the 1970s, the can definitely see why they became
Pistols drummer Paul Cook would suffer a similar attack only a few days later. British people went hysterical, either one of the most imitated bands ever,

out of fanatical devotion or disgust what angry teenager wouldn’t want this
JULY 5 - Elvis Costello quits his 0 job as a computer operator for Elizabeth at “their society’s decline.” The Sex much attention while getting to be this
Arden to focus on music full-time Pistols managed to scare, anger, and pepe - ea

, speaking of irresponsibility, it’s

OCTOBER 11 — Joan Jett and The Jam’s Paul Weller appear on Tomorrow With ghee ay sisal Paacas worth noting that the entire band and
Tom Snyder on NBC to discuss punk rock. Snyder degrades the genre, saying Hei chavices of almost every punk some of their crew were arrested on
“there’s no music. It’s just chords and ranting and raving and putdowns.” seis Geto. 1a Gact, I'd say. shat ponk June 7, 1977 for trying to play “God
OCTOBER 28 — Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols is released on bands that followed Ry ; , Sane ee ence
Virgin Records in the UK. after them imitate the “Just from listening to 2 beatin the River

Pistols’ attitude far , Thames during the
DECEMBER 10 - Never Mind the Bollocks enters the American Billboard more than do their the first verse of this free oe me
album chart. It at No.106. t's no wonder the

peaks S “ a abloody 5078 You can see ii ee
DECEMBER 17 — Elvis Costello defies NBC and plays “Radio Radio” during shame, because so many British kids got >y the BBC and
an appearance on Saturday Night Live. musically “God Save Britain’s Independent
pas the Queen” is atop. Tiled up from this stuff.” Broadcasting

DECEMBER 31 - The Ramones record their show at the Rainbow in London. sich sedi Tis give: Authority. Even in

The recording becomes part of It’s Alive, the band’s first live concert document.

 

 

 

and-go between guitarist Steve Jones’
power chords and Johnny Rotten’s nasal
vocals on the first verse is probably one

SE) of the most raw and energetic opening

verses of a song ever to be recorded,

ie and the chemistry between the two

occurs right in front of your eyes in the
video. Just from listening to the first
verse of this song, you can see why so
many British kids got riled up from
this stuff. Paul Cook was a monster on
drums, and Sid Vicious... well, let’s just
say that he managed to make it through
the video without dropping his bass (of
course, they probably recorded this in
multiple takes).

The video doesn’t hide the fact
that the music was pre-taped and that
the band isn’t actually playing —most
modern videos do a better job of that—
but that doesn’t take much away from
the impact of the song, it just makes the
Pistols look more like messed-in-the-

the face of all this blatant censorship,
the single still rocketed to the number
two spot on the UK Singles Chart, and
there’s even a theory that it reached
number one, but was purposefully
held off by Rod Stewart’s “I Don’t
Want to Think About It” for fear of the
implications.

If there was ever a video that could
make the older generation scared of
the one that would come next, this
it. Johnny Rotten, beer can in hand,
looking into the camera and snarling
“No future” undoubtedly gave
masses of people nightmares while
simultaneously becoming a rallying cry
for punks everywhere. While this won’t
have the same effect on anyone these
days, this performance will always
make a lasting impression and ensure
that the Sex Pistols brief reign will be
remembered long after their reunion
tours are over.

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