Biography
"They left behind more stories than music."Hardly anyone can be more accurate and more concise than critic Groil Marcus, describe the effect of Sex Pistols on world culture. The British Punk Group existed for three years, recorded the only album with not the most brilliant vocal and at the same time determined the direction of the development of popular music for decades ahead.
Texts of songs, aggressive melodies, jungle of the manner of performance and the scandalous behavior of the participants of the group - all this was protest, which has long been speaking in circles, distant from the British establishment. The SEX Pistols radicalism was a phenomenon not so much cultural as social, and this scale provided the team world famous in the formally low-compound heritage.
The history of creation and composition
One way to tell the story of Sex Pistols is to start with London designer clothing store Let It Rock. In 1971, he opened his designer Malcolm Maclaren together with her friend and colleague Vivien Westwood. Employed with the ideas of situationalism, which was based on a demonstrative protest against capitalism, McLaren creates things for Teddy fighting, opposing themselves to traditional society. In the USSR, the analogue of this subculture was styles.
After a couple of years, the designers changed the range of biker and rocker things, and the legendary "Too Fast to Live, Tooo Youung to Die" appeared on the signboard. The renewed boutique turns into a place for the part of informal youth. Among the regular visitors are novice musicians Steve Jones and Paul Cook. They have already for the year as there is their own group The Strand, in which, besides them, playing and familiar to the school Walle PlaneNell.
Special success for these 365 days the team does not achieve, and in 1974, Jones takes over the promotion. Since McLaren's shop is one of those places where the group's target audience is collected, he turns to the owner of the boutique.
Seeing young musicians in the face of young musicians to realize the desire for provocations and protests, McLaren becomes the Strand manager, which will later be renamed to Sex Pistols.
With the assistance of a designer to the group joins the bassist Glen Mattle, who worked in the boutique, but received a specialized education in St. Martin's Art College. The nearest winter McLaren holds in the States. Returning to the Motherland in the spring of 1975, he inspired by the work with New York Dolls, decides to create an equally provocative team in London, and the Strand becomes the object for the experiment.
Maclaren provokes Nyintingale's departure, persuades Jones to take guitar parties on himself and begins to search for vocalist. After a variety of rejected candidates, the designer called for listening to the 19-year-old passerby, who met at the store. McLaren attracted an appearance: a torn T-shirt with the inscription "I hate Pink Floyd", green, combed up hair and a crazy look. John Lidon - so called the young man - called for audition in the pub.
Sang a challenger under the "accompaniment" of a music machine, who played one of the songs of Alice Cooper. Despite the fact that the newcomer felt fake, it was decided to take it into the group. So a vocalist Johnny Rotten appeared as part of the team. The pseudonym occurred from the nickname fisified for a new participant with Steve Jones due to Lidon's sick teeth (in English "Rotten" means "rotten").
The legendary name appeared in the fall of 1975. By that time, the McLaren boutique was already called Sex and specialized in the goods of fetish fashion. As the group manager noted later, he wanted the name of the team to meant and the danger, and attractiveness. On November 6, Sex Pistols gave the first concert in the college named after St. Martin, where the bass player Mattle was studied. This date is the reference point of the official biography of the punk group.
After a year and a half, during which the group became known in the UK and abroad, the quartet left the bass guitarist and co-author 10 of 12 songs from the only album Sex Pistols Glen Mattlock. Officially, McLaren announced that he got rid of the participant because of his preferences in music - supposedly Matlock was the "Beatles" fan.
The bassist himself insisted on the preview version on his own initiative. In the documentary film 2000 "Dirt and rage, which Giulian Temple took off, states that the cause was the tense relationship between Matlock and Rotten.
Rotten led to the freed place, Rotten brought a friend on the Art College of Hisney Side Vishez. The present name of the novice was John Simon Richie, but the SEX Pistols vocalist preferred him to call him a nickname. Vishez was already familiar with the rest of the team thanks to meetings in the Maklaren store, and Vivien Westwood even offered Malcolm to take his vocalist, and not Rotten.
In March 1977, Vishes began to rehearse with a group. Sex Pistols participants brought disappointment: the newcomer played frankly badly. But his actions, provocative appearance and hooligan manners fited perfectly in the image of the team. McLaren decided to leave bassist in the team, although in the record of the album Vishes participation practically did not accept.
In 1978, after the tour of the US cities, the group broke up. Later, the team was reunited several times for tour or large concerts. As part of the floor of Cook, Steve Jones, Johnny Rotten.
Music
To the first speech in college, where Matlock studied, the group had nothing but himself. The tools lent in the rock team, on the heating of which they performed; The repertoire was made up of the troughs on the rock and roll songs of the last decade. But only three were singing: the owners of the tools, seeing how desperately turn with them to the newcomers to the scene, turned off the electricity to interrupt the Vakhanalia.
Musicians Sex Pistols came to rage, but surrendered. During a couple of days, the team gave five more concerts in London's educational institutions. The first song of his own repertoire becomes "Pretty Vacant". Advertising materials are created for the group. Since 1976, a new team begins to perform in clubs, and the "club" 100 "becomes the main platform. The usual number of 50-60 guests with musicians increases to 600-700 visitors. No rotations on TV and radio Sex Pistols conquer recognition on the underground scene.
Success is interested in journalists. In the summer of 1976, the speech of the team with the legendary "Anarchy In The U.K." Translits one of the British canals. Buddy text, unleashing manner of execution, an empty view of musicians - all this is caught by the attention of the press to the sex pistols. Critics are written about them, the team inspires other groups, the punk team gives a concert in Paris and participates in the first punk festival, which suits the "club" 100 ".
On promising newcomers pay attention to and record companies. The victory goes to Emi Records: in the morning of October 8, the representative of the company meets McLaren, and in the evening he signs a contract. After a month and a half the label releases the single "Anarchy in the U.K.", and he debuts on 38 locations in the British hit parade. Now even those who are far from underground circles are known about Sex Pistols.
A song in which the British government is set in one row with extremist organizations, prohibit email to radio and TV. Faced with public indignation, EMI Records suspends printing copies, and soon the single disappears from the chart.
Stormy year completes no less turbulent performance on TV. Rockers are invited to Bill Grande show. The visit of Sex Pistols from the very first minutes turns into a rewinding between the guests and the lead, while the musicians are not shy in expressions, and Grandi insults a group and fans. The presenter was fired from the channel, and for Sex Pistols it turned out the abolition of concerts as part of the upcoming tour "Anarchy". If initially 24 cities were in the chart, then only 7 remained.
However, these scales were enough to support the image of violent anarchists. Pogroms in hotels became the last straw for EMI Records: At the end of January 1977, the company ruled early with such a term concluded contract. In March McLaren managed to be interested in a group of representatives A & M Records, a contract was signed, but the Americans had enough weeks and one visit to the participants of Sex Pistols to the office to change their mind.
Partner who agreed to help the punk team release the single "God Save the Queen", became Virgin Records - one of the firms of the famous British entrepreneur Richard Branson. Nevertheless, seeing the cover with the face of the queen, whose lips were detachable by pins, workers factories, who printed the single, refused to work. The situation corrected long negotiations.
The song was recognized as one of the most obscene in the history of British music. And if it refused to broadcast it in the Air Force, the independent stations themselves decided not to include the composition into rotation. In the number of copies sold, the single came in first place, but in the national chart always remained the second "for ethical considerations."
In October 1977, the group released the only album "Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols". He received the status of a platinum in the United States and the UK, and also became gold in Holland.
In December, concerts took place concerts in the homeland of musicians and in the Netherlands, and after the new year, Sex Pistols went to the States. Because of the unsuccessful promotional platform, they did not collect the necessary audience, the concerts failed, and in early 1978 it was announced the decay of the group.
In 1996, Rotten, Jones and Cook spent half a year in the world tour with the songs of the team. In the "zero" there were several concerts on which the reunited team was played. Last global tour was held in 2008.
Sex Pistols now
The reunification of the speech group no longer was conducted. Malcolm McLaren died in 2010. Glen Mattle works with the group The Faces. John Lidon lives with his wife in California, worked for a while on TV, in 2017 I published a book with verses, and in the summer of 2018 I started visiting the villain in the cartoon "Ninja Turtle: the uprising." The company was made up to John Sina and Lina Hidi. Paul Cook plays in the man-raze group. Steve Jones released autobiography.Discography
- 1977 - "NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS, HERE'S THE SEX PISTOLS"