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Below is the Amazon review of this CD, but, before we get to that The Dude would like to say that I strongly disagree with the reviewer. Unless you were there you can’t appreciate what the Pistols represented in Rock history. Granted, The Ramones may have done it sooner and perhaps even better, but no punk group at the time spread their net as far as the Pistols. This was a time when the rock n’ roll of the sixties was just starting to fade into what would become the popular Country of the Eighties and beyond. Rock was at a point where it was becoming a caricature of itself. Yes, Malcolm McLaren knew how to make money, and that’s another thing that made the band a product of its time. Before the suits realized what they were dealing with the band had self destructed and an the industry had to scurry to catch up to a ghost. The Sex Pistols helped pave the way for more indie music to come. The music was never what the Pistols were about. This was a time when parents were just starting to trust rock and roll (which wasn’t such a good thing in those days). The Pistols’ goal was to destroy Rock N Roll. With songs like "God Save The Queen" and "Anarchy in the UK" they helped give a generation that had inherited Neil Young, Eric Clapton, James Taylor and gotten stuck with the likes of Disco; something of their own. The Sex Pistols were never an accomplished set of musician’s. But that was never what they were about. This was the real deal, it was pure rebellion – a band that actually oozed "sex and drugs and rock and roll" and it wasn’t just a cliché. Bile-filled music for bile-filled times (see below). Soon would come Bob Dylan in a suit, sitting on a sports car with dancing girls gyrating around him. Inevitably, the Pistols’ also went the way of MTV. In 1996 the original Pistols toured and this time when they sang God save the Queen they really did mean it, man. Their music was much better this time, but gone was the honest disrespect that was there so long ago. The Pistols had grown up just like everyone else – but they had their time. Recognizing that there's no such thing as bad publicity, manager-Svengali Malcolm McLaren molded the Pistols into the most confrontational, nihilistic band rock & roll had ever seen. Propelled by Johnny Rotten's maniacal vocals, Steve Jones's buzz-saw guitar, and (most importantly) bass player Glen Matlock's hook-filled compositional skills, the Pistols' early singles "Anarchy in the U.K." and "God Save the Queen" defined the raging style of British punk. By the time they recorded their lone 1977 album, Matlock had been bounced, replaced by the image-correct but utterly untalented (and ultimately group-dooming) Sid Vicious. Not a 10th as good as the singles, the album nontheless remains a bile-filled emblem of the times. --Billy Altman, Amazon.com There are no "official" sites for the Sex Pistols, for obvious reasons. Three of my favorites are below. |
Regressive Music Review