Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols: The Musical Landmark of Rebellion and Authority 🎸

In the year 1977, things in music were about to change. While the world danced to disco music and was being introduced to a cosmological style of guitar playing by Eddie Van Halen, a new era in music would plunder its way into the ears of innocent teenagers and annoy the most authoritarian parents. It was called Punk Rock, and it carried a message. With loud, unpolished guitar sound, screeching vocals, and dark political messages of rebellion and anti-establishment, this new form of music would be (arguably) more influential than rock, pop, or any other form of music known to have existed. How does one draw such a confident conclusion? In everything that you see around you. Punk was an escape for the young, especially with those who did not wish to be placed under authority. What they wanted was a group of young adolescents, who barely reached adulthood themselves, to tell them that they did not have to choose to listen to anyone. Punk Rock was pure independence from everything that was normal and accepted. When The Sex Pistols released their first album, all hell broke loose! 

No one in music permeated the balance of contained freedom better than these four men from Great Britain. London had already been a sleazy hot scene of anti-authoritarian demonstration that was generated through music and obscene lyrical melodies that screamed rebellion and doom for the young, or so adults were convinced. With such colorful stage names for themselves as Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious, the complexity and social disturbance of the band was energized by the crowds who participated in their wild extravaganzas. With buzzing guitars that sound like damaged chainsaws and bass thumps that resemble a zombie induced with amphetamines, the noisy clash of tidal wave drums and cymbals show no resemblance at all to their founding fathers like The Who or The Rolling Stones. (I really think The Ramones got a huge kick from these guys!) This album climbed to the top all by itself by sheer energy and castigating oracles of revisionist prophets of a new wave of dynamics that music had never heard.

The fire alarm vocals of Johnny Rotten have no choice but to deliver the bad news; the glory of disco and funk days are over! A new government of the rebels is now the center of thinking for the young. In shocking increments of raw vocal and stolid instrument performance, The Sex Pistols will clash with the traditional appeasement of its elders; and it will incinerate any band or critic that attempts to smash its revolt. They make it known that the present state of governments and biased regulations must vanquish. In the song ‘God Save the Queen’, they make it certain that royalty and eloquence have been embroidered for the weak; what the young wish for now is orange hair, spikes with leather clothing, and an excellent perception of the social injustices of the times. This new and loud message of messianic algorithms will even clash with divine authority and win the souls of the rebellious young until the time of the end, for a limited time. But this album is much more than just about that. It is a testament to music itself; that is, it can be cultivated by anyone willing to take a stand, to exercise the God granted right on its young, to prove to the adult world that music is much more than just sound and singing. It can be highly energized into a living and breathing paradigm of representation and condemnation. Punk Rock fused the instincts of the young into disassociation with their past; there was a new road opening on an old trail. To shock, to pervert, to instigate, to mutilate the pall of innocence on the young was the primary objective of the theatrics of this work, to get you to think and change the course of your life on your accord. However, it must be said that these musicians are just that; they are not politicians or lawmakers; on the contrary, they are the water carriers of the ‘new generation’; they have crossed the waters of diversity and tradition by instilling bravery and conviction on its listeners. The music is not handsome, it is not regulated, it has a sense of duty to its purpose and does not ignore the outcome of its concerns. It’s promiscuous and seductive because it is so loud and fearsome. It shakes the foundations of traditional Rock N Roll to its knees to submit to its authority. But it will be short lived and that was, I think, the plan. 

Never Mind The Bollocks is an experiment in music, a loud and crazy one; it is complete with drugs, violence, murder and even death. The bass player, Sid Vicious, will surrender his will to addiction and commit suicide after shooting his girlfriend and killing her. The Sex Pistols ‘live out’ all the mean ingredients that they have mixed into their songs. For instance, ‘Bodies’ is a thunderous romp on abortion and mental illness; it is quite a disturbing mix of lyrical vulgarity and cult-like guitar riffs that transcend the band’s perception on issues that, at the time of this recording, did not venture into mainstream media; Sid Vicious’s behavior problems and drug addiction did not surface about him until after his death. With all of the chaos and violence suffocating their creativity and tainting their hard-acquired fame, the band put an end to itself and extinguished their authority over its masses. From there, they would continue, with only one album to their name, to develop an allegiant following that continues in the present. 

Never Mind The Bollocks is a noisy and promiscuous agreement that enraptures the youth in a quatrain of rage, nonconformity, insurrection, and uncertainty. This new form of music was shocking and outrageous to its new audience, but it was delicious medicine for their feelings and vulnerability. This questionably pragmatic experimentation with sound and obnoxiousness will convey a new energy and spirit inside the young. It will ferment and become a strong beverage of relaxation and bionic energy with theatrical effectiveness. It will motivate them to recognize and take an interest in the cultures and societies around them. It will also speak in musical tongues to those who will be influenced by its lavish darkness and braided ascendency. Lastly, this album is an iniquitous covenant to a holy caricaturist of tradition and landscape of times passed. That was the whole in the essence of the undertaking. (Punk is now a Spirit.)

© 2024, Mark Grago. All rights reserved.