...What can you say about The Sex Pistols? The progenitors of modern British punk, they didn't last very long, musically speaking- pretty much having this one, incredible album to show for themselves. But, I suppose if you're going to follow the Blade Runner school of thought: 'That which burns twice as bright, lasts half as long' then The Sex Pistols are the prime example of greatness and genius that flared like a supernova and then quickly was swallowed by the leviathan of British punk that they helped spark.
Musically, there's not a lot to say about this album. It's classic hardcore punk: simple guitar chord work, simpler melodies (if there are much of any at all) and behind it all- lead singer Johnny Rotten snarling and spitting his way through the lyrics. Rotten is the very epitomy of the angry young man, raging against a conformist and (what was then, anyway) a seemingly decaying country- capturing the mood of the moment perfectly. (While The Clash's lead singer Joe Strummer proved to have more musical longevity and depth that Rotten, I would say that when it comes to pure, unbridled anger, Strummer, who can howl and snarl with the best of them has to take a back seat to Johnny Rotten.)
All the songs you expect are to be found here: Holiday In The Sun, Anarchy In The UK, God Save The Queen- but the ones to me that stand out are Problems and Bodies. Bodies opens with 'she was a girl from Birmingham/she just had an abortion' which gets your attention right away and the song just holds you from there. Problems stands out because of the end, more than the start. Although the general tone and tenor of the song 'and the problem is you' Johnny Rotten exhorts the listener- is a clarion call to rebellion of some sort, it's the end, when the music starts to die and Rotten just starts repeating 'problems... problems' over and over again until Rotten is left alone, repeating it again and again into the mic, like a mindless zombie.
Another thing that makes this album unique is the cultural and historical context it emerged in. Historical analysis isn't something I'm expecting to dabble a lot in when listening to these albums, but in the case of this album, a casual knowledge of late 70s Britain will certainly make a lot of this album make a lot of sense. An odd group, really, the Sex Pistols were formed to help fashion impresario (and then punk impresario) Malcolm McLaren sell clothes. No, really. He had a shop called Sex and wanted to play with fashion and model his clothes, so he thought a rock n'roll band would be the way to do it. The idea quickly took on a life of its own and became more about music than clothing very, very quickly. Musically, Britain was itching for a remedy to the bloated, symphonic progressive rock of the late 70s. Socially and economically, the late 70s were fairly bleak and the post-war consensus (whatever that was) didn't seem to hold true anymore. Looking around at contemporary America, it's easy to see what rage against an uncaring establishment could prove to be so attractive- and with the Pistols, that rage is given a voice.
Another interesting point: 'God Save The Queen' probably the 'Pistol's most famous song provoked what I've seen called 'the last great moral panic' of rock n'roll, with the band being pilloried in the British press for their lack of deference to The Crown. However, when listening to it decades later, the sheer brilliance of this song as razor sharp social commentary is easy to see. On occasion in life as in all things, you can get in trouble for being too honest- and this is one example of that. It's easy to see why the British Establishment lost its collective s--t over this song: it's way, way too honest. Uncomfortably honest if you're a member of the elites of British society. The sheer idiocy and grim foolishness of demanding conformity and staging a ghastly Jubilee celebration for the Queen while the country is decaying around them was a blazing hot truth that the 'Pistols shot directly into the mouth of the British Establishment. No wonder they freaked out.
Of course, the band fell apart quickly. Rotten walked away at the end of their turbulent U.S. tour and Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose the next year and then they were gone. Although the New York Dolls and the Ramones emerged as probably the first true 'punk' bands, it was the 'Pistols that took that notion and made it sing and made it angry and from that, wave after wave of imitators and fellow punks and the influence of this album echoes today- making it one of the most influential albums in the history of rock n'roll.
Overall: It's the granddaddy of them all. Perhaps not the most musical of albums, if you want hardcore, pissed off music, you can't beat the punk album of punk albums. A must listen for everyone, must have for people who love their punk music.
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