Killīs 50 greatest albums ever - #43

[Kill]

T h e   S e x   P i s t o l s

NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS, HEREīS THE SEX PISTOLS
(1977)

No band ever tried as hard to be a national scandal and no band ever did  turn into a national scandal like The Sex Pistols. Punk was a novelty to most of the British pop audience in 1977, although New York avantgarde bands like The Velvet Underground (Lou Reed later being labeled the "grandfather of punk") and the New York Dolls had, in a way, laid the foundation stone almost two decades earlier. However, even with The Ramones making a lot of noise in the USA and bands like Motorhead and The Damned pioneering the genre in Great Britain, it didnīt receive a lot of public attention before The Sex Pistols forced their angry sound upon the ears of rock fans and the most conservative of citizens alike.

And they did so with a vengeance. Johnny Rottenīs sneering vocals seemed to reflect pure schadenfreude and unleashed a never heard before amount of fury on the audience, while the band rambunctiously played simple riffs of pure malevolence. The single "Anarchy in the UK", which begins with music historyīs most threatening "right now" and ends with Rotten no less ferociously singing "get pissed, destroy" seemed to be so revolting that the band got dismissed from their label, which - of course - was some of the best publicity they ever got. After "Anarchy in the UK" and the equally disturbing "God Save the Queen" had been released, The Sex Pistols were the most infamous band of the country and probably of the western world.

The album itself, however, was heavily critisized. While American reviewers, almost completely oblivious of British punk, praised the incendiary quartet as the new big thing, to most British fans and critics the album came in as a let-down, an example of how mass hysteria can result in the big disappointment "Never Mind the Bollocks" was to them. Indeed, after several scandalous hit singles had got the bandīs reputation established, they proved to be incapable of having the same effect throughout the length of an entire LP. The lacklustre compilation of known singles and only six new cuts didnīt seem to be enough for anyone and the "NME" hit the nail on the head for most of the audience: The magazine retorted with the by general consensus very apt title "Never Mind The Sex Pistols, Hereīs the Bollocks" and sarcastically asked "Hey punk! You want an LP-sized īAnarchyī single?"

The band proved to have as little future as their depiction of their own generation. After bass player Glen Matlock, the bandīs most talented musician, was kicked out and replaced with the much more image-fitting Sid Vicious who barely had any skills at all, the downfall of The Sex Pistols began. The group tried to plagiarize its own material from back in the pre-debut album days and often failed miserably, turning nihilistic anthems into pretentious cynicism. Nevertheless and despite all the bad criticism, "Never Mind the Bollocks" stands as one of the most important emblems of the late seventies. It might not be the definition of good music, but itīs the most legendary punk album ever, a short, noisy attack at a whole nation, the one everlasting record by a band that went as quickly as they came.

[white Boy]

i really wana hear this, been wanting to try them out

[Lincoln]

Never heard it before, but I'll give it a listen.

[W-Side]

punk's usually not my kinda shit but let's see. props

[Diabolical]

Fucking great album!

Ive been listeniing to it for the past 4/5 days.

I dont think most of you guys'll like it. Its very "British".

[ToOoOoN!!!]

they only did 1 album but they influence a lot of the british  and us punk,80's rock: joy division,the smiths,bad brains,

[MidoriHaze]

Yer this album is definatly a classic. I heard 'Pretty Vacant' few years back and just from hearing that one track i went out and bought this LP and i've never really liked punk music.

Whilst their not the most musically talented, it all comes together well and i enjoy the attitude that comes across. I prefer this album over London Calling, however it's not as good as The Ramones self-titled debut. But then again i guess the one thing the Sex Pistols  had over The Ramones was they never had a musical downfall.

[Elevz]

I'm gonna give it a try. I might even like it, so props for the hookup & review 

[W-Side]

it would be dope if the following hookups were in mp3, not wma, my pc always has to load for like 2 seconds when I try to play a wma audio file, which goes for some other people too, and in my case it even freezes sometimes lol

[Kill]

it would be dope if the following hookups were in mp3, not wma, my pc always has to load for like 2 seconds when I try to play a wma audio file, which goes for some other people too, and in my case it even freezes sometimes lol

Iīm sorry for that but you should know what the mp3 converters did to me lol. Really, it just fucks up, only thing I can upload is wma, sorry. (or wav theoretically, but I doubt anybody wants 600mb files)

[Kill]

...although, some ARE gonna be in mp3, cause I d/l those which I only have on vynil and some are on burnt mp3 CDīs. Hence you wonīt always have that problem, but as for the stuff I rip/upload from regular CDīs I bought in stores, I canīt help you really. Sorry.