"Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols" is the first and only album recorded by the Sex Pistols. Released in October of 1977, the album is generally considered to be one of the most influential and important in the history of rock music not only for its content but for its impact on a generation of bands that followed. It is the only official album released by the Sex Pistols while vocalist Johnny Rotten was a member of the group (the band broke up less than three months after the album's release). Plagued upon its release by a hailstorm of controversy, particularly for the incendiary lyrics to the songs God Save the Queen and Anarchy in the U.K., "Never Mind the Bollocks...." was perceived as a deliberate attack on the monarchy and English society. Regardless, the album reached #1 on the UK charts.
Rotten's snarled, off-key "singing" is perhaps "Never Mind the Bollocks...." most startling characteristic. Strikingly original at the time, Rotten's vocal style has since been copied by hundreds of singers and has influenced hundreds more. Similarly, the Pistols' choice of song topics, from corporate control to intellectual vacuity to political hypocrisy, continues to resonate more than 30 years later. In an interview during 2002, Rolling Stone journalist Charles M. Young stated: "Never Mind the Bollocks changed everything. There had never been anything like it before and really there's never been anything quite like it since. The closest was probably Nirvana, a band very heavily influenced by the Sex Pistols."
The album, which moves with all the strength and velocity of a pissed-off stallion, kicks off with the raging "Holidays in the Sun" followed by the downright morbid "Bodies," a song seemingly about a botched abortion featuring the uplifting lyrics: "Fuck this and fuck that/fuck it all and fuck the fucking brat/She don't wanna baby that looks like that/I don't wanna baby that looks like that." "No Feelings," with its nihilistic chorus "I got no feelings/no feelings for anybody else/Except for myself/my beautiful self" features crunching, swaggering guitars from the underrated Steve Jones. The appropriately titled "Liar" accuses an unnamed nemesis of being - what else? - a liar. The thunderous "Problems" follows, featuring the manic drumming of Paul Cook, blistering guitar work from Jones, and Rotten literally spitting the lyrics "In a death trip I ain't automatic/You won't find me just staying static/Don't you give me any orders/for people like me there is no order." The song, a sonic jackhammer to the temple, ends with Rotten repeating the word "problem" over and over like a petulant child.
The infamous "God Save the Queen" is next, featuring the lyrics "God save the Queen/she ain't no human being/There is no future/in England's dreaming" and ends bleakly with the band singing together "No future/no future for you/no future for me." In the song "Seventeen," with its chorus "I'm a lazy sod!" one can clearly hear echoes of Rancid and Green Day. "Anarchy in the UK," arguably the Pistols' most famous song, includes the opening lyrics "I am an anti-Christ/I am an anarchist/don't know what I want/but I know how to get it." Rotten is at his belligerent best here, and Jones' deceptively simple guitar work perfectly complements the lead singer's obvious irritation at his home country. "Submission" is one of the Pistols' catchiest songs, one that would not sound out of place on today's modern rock charts. "Pretty Vacant" opens with a simple guitar lick followed by Cook's pounding drums. The band then comes in full-force as Rotten's whining, snorting lyrics join the fray. As a scathing indictment of vacuous celebrity culture, the song still resonates today.
"New York" resounds with the Pistols' trademark disdain for celebrity culture: "Think it's swell playing in Japan/When everybody knows Japan is a dishpan/you're just a pile of shit/I wanna kiss/You do just about anything/oh kiss this." The album's final song, "EMI," opens with a blast of guitar, drums and bass. Rotten's nasty attitude is on full display here: "Blind acceptance is a sign/Of stupid fools who stand in line."
In closing, "Never Mind the Bollocks...." is to this listener one of the rawest and most honest musical statements ever recorded. Unlike the here-today-gone-today acts of 2008, "Never Mind the Bollocks...." is an album we'll be listening to for decades to come.
Give it a listen.
For your viewing pleasure: Julien Temple's documentary, "The Filth and the Fury"
1 comment:
Bought it when it first came out. LOVE IT! Full of energy/emotion. Have you heard Sid Vicious's version of My Way?
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