A documentary about the rise and fall of the most notorious punk rock band of all time; The Sex Pistols.
When I was a kid I was hypnotised by Johnny Rotten / John Lydon, and to some extent I still am. He looked and sounded so different from anybody else, particular the musicians who were on TV a lot, like Abba and David Cassidy. He was scary, unique, funny, and behind his penetrating stare there was an almost ruthless, questioning intelligence. I never bought for a second what the authorities said about how The Sex Pistols would create a corrupt society. I thought a corrupt society had created The Sex Pistols, and I thought their music - and the music of the many bands they influenced - was brilliant. This thought-provoking documentary is a companion piece to Temple's 1980 cult classic The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. But whereas that was the brainchild of their egocentric impresario manager Malcolm McLaren, this is their story in the band's own words. It deals with the social upheavals of seventies Britain which gave rise to them, and then does an excellent job of charting their progress from alternative music club heroes to national pariahs to chart topping music icons, to disillusioned and ripped-off losers, without pulling any punches. Typical Sex Pistols day; internal band punch up in limo, sign prestigious contract in front of Buckingham Palace, get wasted and trash record company offices, record a number one hit single (God Save The Queen, which was subsequently banned) and get fired by your new label. If anyone has the right to call themselves anarchists, it's them. Some of the footage in this film comes from Swindle and other familiar sources, but there is also lots of new stuff, particularly some intimate pieces with Vicious, which make his pathetic, tragic fate all the more sobering. It's also packed full of tub-thumpingly great music and performances from a terrific band who compressed so much energy into their short-lived career. A must for all punk fans and for anybody interested in one of the most influential musical movements of all time. The title comes from a tabloid newspaper headline the day after their infamous Bill Grundy TV interview. For more detailed insights into Lydon and the heady years of the late seventies, read his excellent book No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs.
When I was a kid I was hypnotised by Johnny Rotten / John Lydon, and to some extent I still am. He looked and sounded so different from anybody else, particular the musicians who were on TV a lot, like Abba and David Cassidy. He was scary, unique, funny, and behind his penetrating stare there was an almost ruthless, questioning intelligence. I never bought for a second what the authorities said about how The Sex Pistols would create a corrupt society. I thought a corrupt society had created The Sex Pistols, and I thought their music - and the music of the many bands they influenced - was brilliant. This thought-provoking documentary is a companion piece to Temple's 1980 cult classic The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. But whereas that was the brainchild of their egocentric impresario manager Malcolm McLaren, this is their story in the band's own words. It deals with the social upheavals of seventies Britain which gave rise to them, and then does an excellent job of charting their progress from alternative music club heroes to national pariahs to chart topping music icons, to disillusioned and ripped-off losers, without pulling any punches. Typical Sex Pistols day; internal band punch up in limo, sign prestigious contract in front of Buckingham Palace, get wasted and trash record company offices, record a number one hit single (God Save The Queen, which was subsequently banned) and get fired by your new label. If anyone has the right to call themselves anarchists, it's them. Some of the footage in this film comes from Swindle and other familiar sources, but there is also lots of new stuff, particularly some intimate pieces with Vicious, which make his pathetic, tragic fate all the more sobering. It's also packed full of tub-thumpingly great music and performances from a terrific band who compressed so much energy into their short-lived career. A must for all punk fans and for anybody interested in one of the most influential musical movements of all time. The title comes from a tabloid newspaper headline the day after their infamous Bill Grundy TV interview. For more detailed insights into Lydon and the heady years of the late seventies, read his excellent book No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs.