Sex Pistols

AttractiveAndSingle

Fake band. The boyzone of their genre. So many better punk bands from that period.

seamus

A lot of bands were always about the right place and time. Capturing the zeitgeist at exactly the right time. The ones talked about most are never the first of their genre, because they've been inspired by earlier bands and have developed the sound at just the right time to explode onto the scene.

Usually it's a combination of the sound, the attitude and the charisma, at just the right time.

If Nirvana had popped up in the early 80s they would have been called angry post-punk and derided as being late to the anarchy party.

Lydon has really been shown up as a charlatan over the years. A Nigel Farage type who has no real principles or personal convictions, but instead will say and do whatever he thinks it is will get him the most attention and kudos. Being controversial more important than any message. And with the bonus of being able to write off anything as "a stunt" or "holding a mirror up to society".

Punk and the Sex Pistols chaos was guaranteed attention for him, so he rolled with it.

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119046487#Comment_119046487

part of being a visionary is hiring the right people, still doesn't change what i said

i'm a bass player and highly respect wobble

Rothko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119046327#Comment_119046327

AFAIK, Glen wrote the lyrics to that.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119046829#Comment_119046829

Yeah you are correct on that,

NewbridgeIR

In the real world, a lot of kids thought Friggin' In The Riggin' was the best Sex Pistols song, as it fitted most closely with the version of punk pushed by the tabloids - lots of swearing, guitars, offensive. The Great Rock 'n' Swindle was my introduction to the band and is preferred to Never Mind The Bollocks. Anyway IMHO, the best punk album by anyone is Give 'Em Enough Rope.

maccored

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119043211#Comment_119043211

'punk' was just a term that was being used - most of the bands at the time classed themselves as some form of hard rock. MC5, Stooges, Ramones etc werent really the same as early damned etc

Hoop66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119042891#Comment_119042891

I was at this gig. They smashed all their instruments in the first song.

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119121227#Comment_119121227

Yes punk was a term that was used. Punk rock is an American term. It was a term to discribe punk rock. This was several years before the sex pistols and the Dammed. So it was punk music. It changed when it hit the UK. It became more about the style and attitude rather than the music / lack of talent.

The beatles were a rock band. The stones were a rock band but didn't sound like the Beatles. Music evolves. It's not correct to say that the original punk music in the states wasn't punk. British Punk evolved from the original US punk music. As I say though it became a totally different animal in the UK. The Style itself became very important in the UK as did the attitude and the violence.

https://www.britannica.com/art/punk

maccored

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119121326#Comment_119121326

thought Caroline Coon invented the term in August 1976? 'punk' was a derogatory term in use in america, but it wasn't related to music. According to a friend of mine who was in the Damned at the time, the term 'punk' in regards music was literally never heard when they released New Rose

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119121366#Comment_119121366

He lied. The term punk music was used in the states in the early 70s. British punk was all about the style, clothes, attitude and violence. This is what the UK added to US punk rock as things evolved.

Its sort of trying to make out that bands like Nirvana invented Grunge when Neil Young was doing it decades earlier

maccored

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119121402#Comment_119121402

OK - I'll tell a person actively involved in the early punk movement that people were calling it 'punk music' in the UK in 1976, though he - as a person who was there - claims otherwise. I'll tell him some lad on the interweb told me 😉.

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119122366#Comment_119122366

No. I said it was called punk Rock in the US years before punk rock hit the UK. Tell your mate that he can't rewrite history.

You should do a little research yourself. There isn't a single documentary that the UK created punk rock. Every rock journalist in the world will tell you that punk rock started in the US several years before the Damned were a band. The term punk rock or punk music originated in the US. Don't take my word for it but don't take your mates word for it. Google it. Its difficult to miss the history of punk music

"The popular use of the word to describe a type of rock music dates from 1971, when US rock journalist Dave Marsh used it to describe - retrospectively - 1960s garage band ? and the Mysterians. Stylistically similar groups would include the Seeds and the Standells.

Less well-known is the use of the term 'Punk Music' to advertise early shows by the New York minimalist electronics-and-vocals duo Suicide. This was slightly earlier, in late 1970"

This is historical fact and easily checked. I suggest that your friend took too much drugs or headbutted too many people in the 70s because he's taking out his backside 😅

NewbridgeIR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119122434#Comment_119122434

This.

As Rhino Records said in their excellent No Thanks box set (2003), "Before there was punk (the genre), there was punk (the movement)"

Or if you go back 10 years to 1993 and their brilliant DIY series, the New York is anthologised well here - https://www.discogs.com/release/443547-Various-DIY-Blank-Generation-The-New-York-Scene-1975-78

I'm an avid fan of compilations and the 1990s was the golden era for decent anthologies that properly contextualised the past.

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119123172#Comment_119123172

Funny I would have said the opposite. We had punk rock music in the states. this evolved to UK punk. I would suggest the Punk the movement started in the UK & not the US.

There are a few decent tracks there that I have on my playlist

krusty411

This is a great documentary series for anyone whether they know nothing or everything about the genre.

IMDb: : Punk 

 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9419282/

Sleeper12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119123262#Comment_119123262

I saw it a while ago. Good documentary 👍

fryup

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119046541#Comment_119046541

Boyzone and the S P are worlds apart

At least the S P sang and wrote their own songs and played instruments, Boyzone on the other hand were just a glorified karaoke band

Bobblehats

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119138024#Comment_119138024

Boyzone and Pistols were quite similar climate dictates what sells, it’d be the times that are world apart. Pistols were very marketable for the time but you need a loveable rogue to reel in the less musically inclined and so Malcolm; the Louis Walsh of the era tapped up Sid as the “fat dancer” of the ensemble in that he was good looking, had personality in abundance and dressed smart.

Bobblehats

..as in this interview in which he demonstrated his finer traits:

https://youtu.be/dCVzciBB8j0

is_that_so

The Sex Pistols tick a lot of boxes. Timing , as some have already said, was key, along with a self-obsessed and outrageous lead singer and manager plus they fed a rage that matched the late 70s. Other bands were a whole lot better but without them might not have been as well known. Like Bill Haley way back they became the de-facto pioneers for a genre of music and trigger for a clear out of a lot of the self-indulgent dross that filled the mid-1970s.

Riddle101

As it happens, I've been reading about the Sex Pistols recently, more specifically about Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. Crazy to think they were only 21 and 20 when they died. They could probably be considered poster children for dysfunctional relationships.