Rebellion causes innovation, and punk rock is the poster child of rebellion. Bands like the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Ramones organized the genre; their anti-society attitudes and straight forward approach to music inspired thousands of bands from their time to this day. The Sex Pistols, quintessentially punk, were the most influential band I have ever experienced.
'Never Mind the Bollocks...Heres the Sex Pistols' is one of the most eye-opening albums I have had the pleasure of hearing. The twelve songs on the album drip with attitude and chaos. John Lydon(also known as Johnny Rotten), whose personality is almost as sarcastic and acidic as his vocals, spat out lyrics that would frighten the old and captivate the new. Steve Jones's fat, chuggy guitar tone inspired thousands of garageband guitarists of the future, including Kurt Cobain -who would later completely change music again. Sid Vicious, who could barely play his intrument, was the image of punk. Paul Cook, the drummer, wrote the book on punk drumming with his simplistic style.
When I bought their first and only album, 'Never Mind the Bollocks...Here's the Sex Pistols', I had never heard anything like it before. I listen to it as often as I can, with it growing on me every time I hear a song from. Created in a time of social and economic unrest in London, the Pistols were the result from the accumulation of all the anger and rage that was felt during those times.
Shouting and screaming, fighting and cursing establishment, the band was targetted by the British and American media as a laughingstock. Their frontman , Johnny Rotten, often caused trouble in interviews by stating his strong opinions explicitly on television. One occasion of this was when John was being interviewed on the Bill Grundy show (the British equivalent to 'The Today Show') and ended up cussing out Bill Grundy on national, live television. The Sex Pistols only gained infamy in these interviews, and created a punk scene in London that still exists today.
The song "God Save the Queen", banned on English radio even today, has lyrics that criticize Great Britain's monarchy and was strategically released on the date of the Queen's 30th anniversary as queen. One of their more popular songs, 'Anarchy in the U.K.' also caused controversy with it's lyrics.
Musically, the songs, written by guitarist Steve Jones and early bassist Glen Matlock are raw, and contain influences from Chuck Berry but sound like him on steroids.
I decided to post this mainly because The Sex Pistols are one of my favorite bands, but also because teenagers my age all listen to pop. I hope that they will read this and open their minds to the world of punk rock, which is more fulfilling and unique than pop.
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