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Rating: Well yes, I feel like stirring up some trouble. Because I've heard a ton of behind-the-scenes gossip from sticker collectors about the Pistols, and since I have the truth in my pocket and it’s inconvenient for me, I’ll share some. Let's start with an essential premise: those who hate Nevermind and the Pistols, citing reasons that have nothing to do with music, have just fallen into the Pistols' dirty game, the same as the little swastika t-shirt, just a bit more subtle. The Pistols originate, for better or worse, from McLaren, fresh from a colossal flop with the New York Dolls. He owns the shop, the style, the ideas, the foundation, his contacts for the first lineup, the one before Vicious. This guy had studied the New York Dolls well, had the idea, had checked out Richard Hell's clothes, the voice (listen to Rotten and compare with Hell, please), he needed a means to launch the "style". So he takes four thugs, gives them some instruments, a name, some clothes. From there begins a series of embarrassing nonsense; if it were history, the Nazis would be a group of well-meaning people (quote).
In short. The record labels initially don't even know who the Pistols are; they start having a following (composed also of the likes of Ian Curtis or my beloved and "sexual perversion till 1984" Siouxsie) for the concerts, which are a concentrate of violence and madness never seen from those parts. These four start to adopt quite worrying attitudes, in the sense that the singer, Rotten, regularly goes off on rants between the absurd and the insulting, Vicious, the young friend of Rotten who joined the band as a fan, starts to increasingly mix the character with his life. Things that aren't good, to be clear. This thing is just to imagine, the Pistols are images to be kept in mind, they are stuff that goes beyond music - these four ragged guys, almost always drunk, who pose as nihilists in a continuous nonsense, iconoclasts with the sole purpose of offending, because in the end the result of all this philosophy is that they're a real pain in the ass. Yes, the first in a series of irrefutable points is this; they are objectively ungovernable.
But let's go slowly. In '76, the first single is released, the one that explodes the phenomenon, "Anarchy in the UK". It's very raw stuff, they really don't know how to handle the instruments, but there’s something inside, it's not just "garage for dummies", it's an instinctive thing that gets inside the heads of the youngsters, a desperate rebellious movement that obviously will lead to nothing, stuff like "up until now you've preached free love and now I have AIDS, allow me to disagree". Rotten, as already specified, is a pain, so with the shout of "we do it just for the money" at the beginning of '77, we have Matlock out for a Vicious who comes in, as well as the first record deal goes down the toilet (great policy, if you want to make money, ruin record contracts). It's then time for a new single, "God Save the Queen", and a new record deal. The Pistols start to get boycotted by the media, and it's not that they speak badly about them; they simply don’t speak about them at all (another great strategy for selling). And off goes another ruined contract; Virgin comes along. Meanwhile, the band can no longer do concerts. Got it? The white collars freaked out, and they tried to take them down. How are we doing with points?
And it arrives. Nevermind sweeps everything away; it’s a manifesto and a birth, without having to trouble pseudo-surf bands, or all the other people who didn’t have a tenth of the charisma and stage presence of the last of the Pistols; this is where it all really begins. It's not even properly punk; it's, as I already said, faster and less refined Garage. Thanks to Nevermind, thousands of bands are born; thanks to Nevermind, the "style" starts, the clothes, the fashion, the safety pins in the butt, especially the non-response to society. The tracks are bar politics, superficial and aware of being so, cheap and minimalist philosophy without rhyme or reason, nihilism and iconoclasm. The record is the people of the time, unprotected and insecure but eager to win anyway: the answer is "do whatever you want, you can't do anything to me".
Then it's the descent. The American tour starts, which is not clear if it’s going well or not, Rotten and McLaren are at each other's throats, Vicious meets the two women of his life and goodbye, by the end of the year, the Pistols have split up. Here, just to give a point of support to those who "have heard," the first documentary by Julien Temple comes out, "The Great Rock'n'roll Swindle," with a gloating McLaren claiming to have piloted the Pistols pretty much in everything. Clearly, this is nonsense. Let's start from the premise that a person who cannot succeed with a band like the New York Dolls is unlikely to be someone who can make an O with a glass; to claim that a band that became a cultural phenomenon and Rock Music History did so thanks to the manager is idiotic (with offense, clearly). He had the ideas, he contributed, but the chaos was made by the Pistols. Rotten used to be bossed around but then goes crazy and starts fighting with those who bossed him? Come on... And without his mentor, he puts together an absolutely splendid and seminal band like PIL? Get out of here; you have current running between your ears. And then they were inflated, they were constructed, they couldn’t play.
Meanwhile, you polish your wherever-for-the-umpteenth-time Pearl Jam cover, repeat these words: "I have Siouxsie and Curtis as fans, at my concert tonight there were the Buzzcocks and the Damned, my opening band are the Clash", now gather your self-esteem and go to the bathroom, you know what you have to do. Then there's always this thing about not being able to play that always comes in handy for the Pistols, with the Beatles no one ever brings it up, it’s quite strange this thing. Few also know that Temple made a second documentary, where the Pistols are given a voice, and in which McLaren's figure is heavily downsized, but this is for refined palates. Then, in the end, they're just the grandiose delusions of a de-punk; like it or not, it’s all the same to the Pistols, I swear.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Holidays in the Sun (03:19)
A Cheap holiday in other peoples misery!
I don't wanna holiday in the sun
I wanna go to new Belsen
I wanna see some history
'Cause now i got a reasonable economy
Now I got a reason, now I got a reason
Now I got a reason and I'm still waiting
Now I got a reason
Now I got reason to be waiting
The Berlin Wall
Sensurround sound in a two inch wall
Well I was waiting for the communist call
I didn't ask for sunshine and I got World War three
I'm looking over the wall and they're looking at me
Now I got a reason, Now I got a reason
Now I got a reason and I'm still waiting
Now I got a reason,
Now I got a reason to be waiting
The Berlin Wall
They're staring all night and
They're staring all day
I had no reason to be here at all
But now i gotta reason it's no real reason
And I'm waiting at Berlin Wall
I'm gonna go over the Berlin Wall
I don't understand this thing at all
I gonna go over and over the Berlin Wall
I'm gonna go over the Berlin Wall
I'm gonna go over the Berlin Wall
Claustrophobia there's too much paranoia
There's too many closets oh when will we fall?
And now I gotta reason,
It's no real reason to be waiting
The Berlin Wall
I gotta go over the Wall
I don't understand this thing at all
It's third rate
Cheap dialogue,cheap essential scenery
I gotta go over the wall
I wanna go over the Berlin Wall
Before me come over the Berlin Wall
I don't understand this bit at all...
I'm gonna go over the wall
I'm gonna go over the Berlin Wall
I'm gonna go over the Berlin Wall
Before me come over the Berlin Wall
I don't understand this thing at all
Please don't be waiting for me
02 Bodies (03:01)
She was a girl from Birmingham
She just had an abortion
She was a case of obscenity
Her name was Pauline she lived in a tree
She was the one who killed her baby
She sent her letters from the country
She was an animal
She was a bloody disgrace !
Mummy
I'm not an animal !
Dragged on a table in a factory
Illegitimate place to be
In a packet in a lavatory
Die little baby SCREAMING !
Mummy
Screamin fucking bloody mess
It's not an animal
It's an abortion
Body I'm not an animal
Mummy I'm not an abortion !
Throbbing squirm gurgling bloody mess
I'm not a discharge
I'm not a loss in protein
I'm not a throbbing squirm
Fuck this and fuck that
Fuck it all and fuck
The fucking brat
She don't wanna baby that looks like that
I don't wanna baby that looks like that
Mummy
I'm not an animal
Mummy
I'm not an abortion
I'm not an animal Mummy !
03 No Feelings (02:48)
Seen you in the mirror when the story began and
I fell in love with you I love yer mortal sin
Your brains are locked away but I love your company
I only ever leave you when you got no money
I got no emotions for anybody else you better understand
I'm in love with myself myself
my beautiful self
A no feelings no feelings for anybody else
Hello and goodbye and a runaround Sue
You follow me around like a pretty pot of glue
I kick you in the head you got nothing to say
Get out of the way cos I gotta getaway
You never realise I take the piss out of you
You come up and see me and I'll beat you black and blue
okay I'll send you away
No feelings for anybody else
except for myself my beautiful self dear
Ain't no moonlight after midnight
I see you stupid people out looking for delight
well I'm so happy I'm feeling so fine
I'm watching all the wankers you wasting my time
I look around your house and there's nothing to steal
I kick you in the head when you get down to kneel
and pray you pray to your god
No feelings, No feelings for anybody else
Your daddy's gone away
be back another day
See his picture hanging on your wall.
04 Liar (02:39)
Lie lie lie lie liar you lie
lie lie lie lie tell me why tell me why
Why d'you have to lie
should've realised that
you should've told the truth
should've realised
you know what I'll do
You're in suspension
you're a liar
How I wanna know know know know
I wanna know why you never look me
in the face
Broke a confidence just to please
your ego
Should've realised
you know what I know
You're in suspension
you're a liar
I know where you go everybody you know
I know everything that you do or say
So when you tell lies
I'll always be in your way
I'm nobody's fool
and I know all 'cos I know
what I know
You're in suspension
you're a liar
you're a liar
you're a liar
A lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie...
Lie lie lie lie
Liar you lie lie lie lie lie
I think you're funny
you're funny
Ha-ha
I don't need it don't need your blah blah
should've realised
I know what you are
you're in suspension
you're in suspension
you're in suspension
you're a liar
you're a liar
you're a lie lie
LIE
05 God Save the Queen (03:17)
God save the queen
The fascist regime
They made you a moron
A potential H bomb
God save the queen
She ain't no human being
And there's no future
In England's dreaming
Don't be told what you want, you want
And don't be told what you need
There's no future, no future
No future for you
God save the queen
We mean it man
We love our queen
God saves
God save the queen
'Cause tourists are money
And our figurehead
Is not what she seems
Oh God save history
God save your mad parade
Oh lord God have mercy
All crimes are paid
When there's no future, how can there be sin
We're the flowers in the dustbin
We're the poison in your human machine
We're the future, your future
God save the queen
We mean it man
We love our queen
God saves
God save the queen
We mean it man
And there's no future
In England's dreaming
No future
No future
No future for you
No future
No future
No future for me
No future
No future
No future for you
No future
No future
No future for you
06 Problems (04:09)
Too many problems oh why I am here
I don't need to be me cos you're all to clear
well and I can see there's something wrong with you
but what do you expect me to do ?
At least I gotta know what I wanna be
don't come to me if you need pity
Are you lonely you got no one
you get your body in suspension that's no
Problem Problems the problem is you
Eat your heart out on a plastic tray
you don't do what you want then you'll fade away
you won't find me working nine to five
it's too much fun a BEING ALIVE
I'm using my feet for my human machine
you won't find me living for the screen
are you lonely all needs catered
you got your brains dehydrated
In a death trip I ain't automatic
you won't find me just staying static
don't you give me any orders
for people like me there is no order
bet you thought you had it all worked out
bet you thought you knew what I was about
bet you thought you solved all your problems
but you are the problem
Problem the problem is YOU
what you gonna do with you
what you gonna do
I'll leave it to you
the problem is you
oh what you gonna do
they know a doctor gonna take you away
they take you away and throw away the key
they don't want you and they don't want me
you got a problem the problem is you
Problem what you gonna do ?
07 Seventeen (02:01)
You're only 29
Got a lot to learn
But when your mummy dies
She will not return
We like noise it's our choice
It's what we wanna do
We don't care about long hair
I don't wear flares
See my face not a trace
No reality
I don't work I just speed
That's all I need
I'm a lazy sod, I'm lazy sod
I'm a lazy sod I'm so lazy
I'm a lazy sod I'm lazy sod
I'm a lazy sod I'm so lazy
I can't even be bothered
Lazy Lazy
09 Submission (04:10)
I'm on a submarine mission for you baby
I feel the way you were going
I picked you up on my tv screen
I feel your undercurrent flowing
Submission going down down
Dragging me down submission
I can't tell ya what I've found
You've got me pretty deep baby
I can't figure out your watery love
I gotta solve your mystery
Your sitting it out in heaven above
Submission going down down
Dragging me down submission
I can't tell you what I've found
For there's a mystery
Under the sea under a water
Come share it
Submission going down down
Dragging me down submission
I can't tell ya what I've found
'Cos it's a secret
Under the water under the sea
Octopus Rock
Got me pretty deep baby
I can't figure out your watery love
I gotta solve your mystery
Your sitting it out in heaven above
Submission going down down
Dragging me down submission
I can't tell ya what I've found
Submission Submission
Going down down under the sea
I wanna drown drown under the water
Going down down under the sea
10 Pretty Vacant (03:15)
There's no point in asking you'll get no reply
Oh just remember a don't decide
I got no reason it's all too much
you'll always find us
Out to lunch !
Oh we're so pretty oh so pretty VACANT
but now AND WE DON'T CARE
Don't ask us to attend cos we're not all there
Oh don't pretend cos I don't care
I don't believe illusions cos too much is real
so stop your cheap comment
cos we know what we feel
We're pretty pretty vacant
We're pretty pretty vay-CUNT
And we don't care
11 New York (03:03)
An imitation from New York
you're made in Japan from cheese and chalk
you're hippy tarts hero cos you put on a bad show
you put on a bad show oh don't it show
Still... out on those pills
Oh do you remenber...
Think it's swell playing Max's Kansas
you're looking bored and you're acting flash
with nothing in your gut you better keep your month shut
you better keep your month shut you're in a rut
Still... out on those pills
Oh do the sambo...
You're four years on you still look the same
I think it's about time you changed you brain
you're just a pile of SHIT you're coming to this
ya poor little FAGGOT
You're sealed with a kiss
Kiss me... Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
Think it's swell playing in Japan
when everybody know Japan is a dishpan
you're just a pile of SHIT you're coming to this
You poor little FAGGOT
You're sealed with a kiss...
Pills cheap thrills Anadins Aspros anything
you're condemned to eternal bullshit
you're sealed with a kiss
Kiss me...
A kiss a kiss you're sealed with a kiss
A looking for a kiss you're coming to this
I wanna kiss...
You do just about anything
Oh kiss this
Eh boy
12 EMI (03:09)
It's unlimited supply and there is no reason why
I tell you it was all a frame they only did it cos of fame
Who?
EMI EMI EMI
Too many people had the suss, too many people support us
An unlimited amount too many outlets in and out
Who?
EMI EMI EMI
And sir and friends are crucified
A day they wish that we had died
We are an addition we are ruled by none
Never ever ever ever
And you thought that we were faking
That we were all just money making
You do not believe we're for real
Or you would lose our cheap appeal
Dont' judge a book just by the cover
Unless you cover just another
And blind acceptance is a sign
Of stupid fools who stand in line
Like
EMI EMI EMI
Unlimited edition with an unlimited supply
That was the only reason we all had to say goodbye
Unlimited supply EMI
There is no reason why EMI
I tell you you it was all a frame EMI
They only did it 'cos of fame EMI
I do not need the pressure EMI
I can't stand the useless fools EMI
Unlimited supply EMI
Hello EMI Goodbye A and M
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Other reviews
By 2+2=5
An attitude that deeply changed an era, an attitude that finds and has found one of its preferential communication channels in music.
"I am an antichrist, I am an anarchist..." Unhinged, irreverent, uncomfortable, and annoying... In short, fundamental.
By sexyajax
Punk is not music but an expression of oneself.
The energy they transfer with 'Anarchy In The U.K.,' 'Liar,' 'No feelings,' 'God Save The Queen' and 'Holiday In The Sun' is like a bomb about to explode.
By joe strummer
"God Save The Queen is perhaps the absolute pinnacle of punk rebellion; a spit in the face of everything, authority, religion, culture."
"The Sex Pistols were the true heralds of punk only during the period when they performed violent and nihilistic concerts; the very act of producing a record already goes against its founding principle."
By carlo cimmino
We listened in silence. We were shaken and almost frightened.
I thought there was nothing more punk than a woman smiling like that.
By vm
Listening to the CD was 40 minutes of fun and enjoyable listening.
The true dimension of this music is live, pogo and sweat all together inevitably.
