Ever Get the Feeling You've
Been Cheated?

The Spirit of "77 and the Rise of Punk Rock

By Luke Simcoe, A&E Editor

on guitar and drums, respectively. Save the Queen,” which called the most influential and important pieces of
rs year is 1977. The world is After recruiting Glen Matlock on bass — monarch a “moron,” and accused her of _ the contemporary popular culture puzzle.
disillusioned by a phony president and and Johnny Rotten on vocals, the band running a “fascist regime,” arrived just The record, and the band that penned it,
a phony war. The social movements of renamed themselves The Sex Pistols in time for Queen Elizabeth II’s annual have inspired countless other musicians,
the 1960s have faded. “Recession” is the 224 began playing shows in the London —_Jubilee (check out Mark Fisher’s music _ and been the subject of some 25 books and
word of the day. Political machinations are ““°* The band was signed quickly, and —_video review for more info) in 1977. films.
setting the table for the eventual arrival of dropped =ree quicker (for more info, see Although it was declared single of the Unfortunately, the Pistols wouldn’t
Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Pat McKenzie’s Song of the Week) by year by Sound magazine, the song was so remain a band long enough to see any of
Floctwoud Mine's Bideciet a pecoed EMI, and released their first single, the controversial that it led to violent attacks _ this impact. The band disbanded in the
about cocaine and high-maintenance visceral and relentless “Anarchy in the on punks in the streets of London. Rotten middle of their first and only American
relationships —is the year’s best- = tour —a journey fraught with violent
selling record. Star Wars wows audiences, drugs, and in-fighting.
audiences all over the western s rr Their final show occurred in San
world. Elvis dies. And punk rock Pe ee abi Francisco on January 14, 1978.
is born. s mee, wy ~~ The performance spawned Rotten’s
October 28, 2007 will mark a . » \ ar i: nic famous quote: “ever get the feeling
the 30" anniversary of The Sex ™ ! _ 5 Spates e | you’ve been cheated?” a question
Pistols’ landmark debut (and only ‘ , Sete he en al which he posed to the audience before
full-length record), Never Mind the . -— a leaving the stage for the final time.
Bollocks. While not technically the lt be. ‘ Rca a Since then, Rotten has gone on to
first punk album — The Ramones Ce __ a Ks become something of a cultural icon,
were there first, and earlier groups = = ie ta Jones hosts a popular radio show, and
like The Velvet Underground , pom] 7% ow] — Glen Matlock and Paul Cook continue
and MCS had already laid the “ : a a -— —= to pursue careers as musicians. Sid
groundwork—it was able to . (ae — 3 Vicious died of a heroin overdose on
articulate the sentiment of this new February 2, 1979 in New York. He
movement more forcefully and . _ co 2, was 21, and on trial for the murder of
more clearly than anything that had ’ die his former girlfriend, Nancy Spungen.
come before it. . These five working class British
The story of The Sex Pistols is “ kids would come to define an entire

a short and sordid one. The locus genre, and in some ways an entire
of the band was SEX, a punk and generation. None of them asked

fetish clothing store in Londo: me ; for it, none of them wanted it, and
ee eg ee ee ee and UK” in 1976. Shortly after its release, the and Cook are among the victims of these _ ultimately they weren’t able to handle the

: Pistols would appear on the BBC’s Today _ random assaults. zeitgeist that they helped create. Sure, all
vant eae b The a — program, and Steve Jones would call the Amidst all this chaos, The Sex Pistols _ of this happened before most of us were
scene, and many notable members, host, Bill Grundy, a “fucking rotter,”0n would release Never Mind the Bollocks on born, but if it helps you to understand the
including Siouxsie Sioux, Billy Idol, and live television. : a Virgin Records in the fall of "77. Rolling _ situation and significance, you.can draw
Mick Jones (of The Clash) iidin The band’s line-up would solidify Stone would describe the sound of the more than one parallel between the Pistols
establishment. Mel ian, 0 been __ itself in 1977, when John Ritchie replaced album as “two subway trains crashing and Nirvana.
the one-time manager of The New York Matlock on bass guitar. Ritchie, a friend —_ together under 40 feet of mud, victims Anyway, put on your boots, pull up your
Dolls; saw the potential in the scene; and of Rotten, would come to be known as screaming.” Despite being called “a pants, and join us here at the OP as we
henelanitehd t reigns of a Sid Vicious, and his brief tenure asa Sex symptom of the way society is declining” wade knee deep into the filth and fury that
band called thea se hich fi i Pistol would ultimately destroy him. by a Conservative British MP, the album _was The Sex Pistols and the Spirit of ’77.
fi Phaicds Stowe Sense and Past Cock The Sex Pistol’s second single, “God _ has gone on to be heralded as one of the

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