lambchops's Full Review: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols by...
Punk has always been about saying what’s on your mind without any concern about who is listening or what the consequences may be. Of course I am talking about real punk and not the watered down “pretty boy” punk that currently dominates radio and MTV. Punk is wild and carefree, abrasive and forceful. Punk is precisely the kind of music that England’s own Sex Pistols helped popularize.
Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and the unskilled but crazed Sid Vicious (who was actually the replacement bassist) didn’t set out to do anything but make loud music that caused political uproar. I don’t believe they ever intended to become legends. Even stranger is the fact that the band only ever released one album. Following 1977’s Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols, the band imploded. They had a disagreements with their manager, lost their EMI contract and said “screw it” to the whole shebang. The Sex Pistols were no more—yet the memory of their insane behavior and rebellion persists and their music serves as a soundtrack.
With that said, there is nothing about Never Mind the Bollocks that is perfect—not the production, recording, instruments, or writing. The importance of the album is more so in the eventual mainstream acceptance of the band’s considerable lunacy. To put that album in the stereo today is to step into a disenchanted, anti-establishment culture that is still thriving but buried beneath sloppy layers of other not-at-all angry “punks.” The production isn’t great and the instruments are repetitive but none of that matters. The Sex Pistols come across as unrestrained wild boys. And I like it…
Never Mind the Bollocks is one of the rare occasions when despite all of the flaws and problems, an album is transcendent. The Sex Pistols introduced an angry, pompous, and distinctly British variety of punk that was new. In America we had already experienced the Stooges, MC5, New York Dolls, and the Ramones. They laid the framework for a counter-culture movement that the Sex Pistols came to symbolize despite their brief and energetic reign.
What really sets this album apart from others is that it is incredibly kinetic. The instruments are bombastic and Rotten’s twisted and nihilistic delivery is classic. He is a bitter guy and has no problems attacking British conventions. He says “screw them all” at the same time he entertains. The sneering vocalist along the rest of the reckless band is what gave the songs their edge. Never Mind the Bollocks is a classic album of epic proportions and is full of fantastic material. It works incredibly well today, too, and never sounds in the least bit dated. This, my friends, is what punk music is all about. The Sex Pistols hate you but you bought their album anyway.
My favorite tracks are scattered throughout. Even though I do have favorites, the fact is that I can listen to the nearly forty minute album straight through. I never have to skip anything nor do I grow tired of any of the twelve songs. The Sex Pistols kick my butt every time. The best song is Anarchy in the U.K. I realize it is an obvious choice, but Rotten’s attitude is classic on the track. Even better is the fact that the song is relatively organized in comparison and has an uncharacteristically memorable melody. If this track doesn’t get you out of your seat and screaming I don’t know what will.
Speaking of great songs, I’m also drawn to album opener Holidays in the Sun not to mention Liar, God Save the Queen and Pretty Vacant. The common denominator between those songs is that they seem to have been slightly better thought out and have somewhat intentional melodies. Again that’s what is so amazing about this album. It feels like the Sex Pistols just whacked out a bunch of songs with little forethought and somehow they managed to become hits. There’s no real rhyme or reason but still it is amazingly entertaining fare.
Again I want to reiterate that I don’t think the band was brilliant. I think they tapped into the heart and soul of an era of disenchanted kids. The message still works today as the problems they screamed about are even more apparent now. Love them or hate them, the Sex Pistols are a model for dozens upon dozens of angry punk bands that followed. They were loud, unconventional, violent, bizarre, and entertaining. They are still one of a kind in the history of rock music.
Rating: 5/5 stars – CLASSIC!
01. Holidays in the Sun
02. Bodies
03. No Feelings
04. Liar
05. Problems
06. God Save the Queen
07. Seventeen
08. Anarchy in the U.K.
09. Submission
10. Pretty Vacant
11. New York
12. E.M.I.
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