Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols (1977)
12 tracks, 37 minutes
Spotify • iTunes
The Sex Pistols and Never Mind the Bollocks… have already been the inspiration for hundreds of thousands of words, and I doubt I’ll be able to add anything particularly enlightening to them, so I’ll try to keep it short today.
Although the ‘point’ of punk and its DIY attitude was that musical skill was entirely optional – anyone could be in a punk band, all you needed was the right attitude and something to make noise with – the Sex Pistols could actually play. On the recordings, at least; Sid Vicious was so bad at playing bass that they actually omitted him from all but one of the tracks. The album itself, though, has well-played music that still sounds fresh and exciting today, powered by the sarcasm-driven shouting of Johnny Rotten that takes centre stage without just sounding pathetic, which it might have done in another setting. Instead, it’s a great reflection of almost-aimless juvenile rage that explodes out of your speakers.
This must surely be one of the most important albums in history. It’s almost clichéd to state how influential it was at the time, and continues to be. The most famous songs such as ‘Anarchy in the UK,’ ‘God Save the Queen’ and ‘Pretty Vacant’ still hit with a sting after all these years, let alone the more often forgotten album tracks such as ‘Liar’ and ‘Holidays in the Sun.’ Riffs like the ones on this album can still be heard in the music of hundreds of bands across the world. You don’t even have to look that hard, there’s probably one playing in a pub near you tonight. But just because it’s a cliché to say it, doesn’t stop it from being a bloody good record.
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