Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols After a little over a year of being a band, Never Mind The Bollocks... was released on October 28, 1977 in the United Kingdom on Virgin Records (it was released on November 10, 1977 in the US on Warner Bros). It was the Sex Pistols' first and last studio album. This 12 track vinyl record became the soundtrack of many working class youths - a soundtrack of a generation. The album was met with a hail of controversy as soon as it was released. The first was its title. It was considered obscene due to the use of "bollocks" meaning "testicles" in British English.

More outrage was caused because of the choice of words singer Johnny Rotten used in the songs. His over-articulated, angry vocals and use of profanity and deliberately inflammatory language seemed downright shocking to the public.

Each song has its anger and meaningful lyrics.

Holidays in the Sun: "I'd be up on one of those stands at the wall giving two fingers up to the soldiers. The West Germans told me that they would shoot me and maybe cause an international incident. I would say, 'That's what I'm here for! To me, that's a holiday!'" The band tried getting away from London for a while in the island of Jersey. When they were thrown out, they headed to Berlin. The insanity and twenty four hours of chaotic "fun" inspired Rotten to write the song.

Bodies: For that time, it had an large amount of profanity - mainly the use of 'fuck'. The song was written by the entire band about a crazed fan by the name of Pauline. As the song states, she is from Birmingham, but traveled to London and had many abortions. What is known from Rotten's autobiography, Pauline would tell John how she'd get pregnant and have abortions in great detail. The other band members' experiences with her aren't spoken much.

No Feelings: To simplify it all - it's a song that's simply about how they didn't care about anyone but themselves. The lyrics

"No feeling
No feeling
No feeling
For anybody else
Except for myself..."
are repeated numerous times throughout the 2 minute 50 second song.

Liar: When you don't believe anyone anymore, a song like Liar is made. Listen close enough to the lyrics and one will feel the anger that is packed in the song. No one likes to be lied to, and eventually a person will just have had enough.

Problems: The title portrays exactly what the song is about - problems. The problems going on in the world, their lives... everything. There are always problems floating around.

God Save the Queen: The title was taken from British national anthem. It was viewed as a personal attack on Queen Elizabeth II. Rotten's explanation of the lyrics is, "You don't write a song like 'God Save The Queen' because you hate the English race. You write a song like that because you love them, and you're sick of seeing them mistreated." He was trying to put sympathy in people's eyes for the mistreated working class. The No future, no future aspect of the song was that if nothing changed, England would have no future. The song reached number 2 on the official UK Singles Chart, though there have been rumors - that it was actually the biggest-selling single in the UK at the time, and was kept off number 1 because it was felt that it might cause offense. The single was eventually banned from BBC and not stocked in some shops.

Seventeen: It is also known as Lazy Sod. The song was originally written by guitarist Steve Jones, but re-written by Rotten because he couldn't read Jones' handwriting. The song is about being young, having nothing to do and going through the typical emotions that every seventeen-year-old (even though Rotten has now mentioned he thought he was 17 when he re-wrote the song. He was really 20. Amphetamine had made the years run together) goes through.

Anarchy in the U.K.: This is the band's first single. The song had a nihilistic and violent concept of anarchy. The lyrics mention several political organizations prominent at the time, comparing them to the UK: the UDA, the MPLA and the IRA. They used the concept of anarchy for shock value - not because the believed in it. The single reached number 38 on the UK Singles Chart before EMI dropped the group on January 6, 1977, a month after the televised Bill Grundy incident. It is number 53 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.[1]

Submission: Manager Malcolm McLaren gave the band a list of words and ideas for songs. Rotten thought it was funny that one of the words was "submissive". As a joke the band turned it into "Submission" - a sub marine mission. This was the only song Rotten and Glen Matlock (the original bassist) got along with each other while making. It had a similar riff to The Door's "Hello I Love You", which both of them enjoyed.

Pretty Vacant: This song caused a bit on controversy when the chorus was sung - the emphasis on the final syllable of "vacant". To both critics and fans, it sounds like "va-cunt". Despite what was said, the band preformed the song on the show Top of the Pops. They thought it was just Rotten using an Irish accent, though later on he's stated he loves to play with words - hinting he did it on purpose.

New York: This song is how Rotten viewed New York City. He felt everything that came out of it was too artsy and and poetry-based. He hated being compared to the music scene there, because the Pistols had absolutely nothing to do with that scene. The only connection they had was through McLaren working over there.

EMI: Major label EMI dropped the Sex Pistols in 1976 - to the band - for no apparent reason. All they were trying to do was "destroy everything. According to Rotten, the record company was lousy and made a perfect subject for a song.

All songs on the album were recorded with the original line-up (Rotten, Jones, Cook and Matlock), expect for Bodies - which Sid Vicious plays the bass. Before the album was released, that was recorded over by Jones.

Never Mind The Bollocks... is considered on of the most influential albums of all time. It was #1 on the official UK album chart, and #106 in the USA upon initial release on the Billboard album chart. In 1987, Rolling Stone named it the second-most important album following The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In 2003, the same magazine named it the 41st greatest album of all time on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Last year, TIME Magazine chose it as one of the 100 best albums of all time. NME voted the album the 4th greatest British album of all time.

This month, Virgin Records is releasing a 30th anniversary edition of the album. The company is also releasing the four singles: Anarchy in the U.K., God Save the Queen, Pretty Vacant and Holidays in the Sun; hoping to get God Save the Queen at the #1 position that it should've had 30 years ago.

I think this album will be remembered longer than the Sex Pistols are even alive. They've made history with just one studio recorded album. They changed the way music is today - the way people even live. New fans are made every day. When I first heard this album years ago, it changed me. Honestly, if I would have never heard any of their songs, I wouldn't be who I am today. They lyrics are just so powerful and have an affect on anyone.

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