Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols

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Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols is a 1977 album recorded by the seminal British punk band, Sex Pistols. It is now regarded as a classic and influential rock and roll album by many fans and critics alike.

The album was released on October 28, 1977 on the Virgin Records label. It is the only "official" album recorded by the Sex Pistols in their short four year career, although the songs have appeared on many compilation albums (the group had effectively disbanded less than three months after its release). Additionally, many of the songs were featured in the film, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, a "mockumentary" loosely based on the Sex Pistols, but more about their infamous manager (and the film's mastermind), Malcolm McLaren and his stated goal of "making a million pounds".

Older versions of most of these songs also appear on a pirated album called Spunk, which consists of recordings the band had made for A&M Records before leaving that label.

1 Overview
2 Charting and influence
3 Track listing
4 Personnel
5 External links

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Overview

Never Mind the Bollocks was met by a hail of controversy in the U.K. upon its release. The first documented legal problems involved the allegedly 'obscene' name of the album, and the prosecution of the owner of a Nottingham record shop (and label owner Richard Branson) for having displayed it in a window. However, a guilty verdict was overturned when defending Queen's Counsel Sir John Mortimer produced expert witnesses who were able to prove that the word "bollocks" was actually a legitimate Old English term originally used to refer to a priest, and which, in the context of the title, meant "nonsense".

However, far more intense outrage was sparked by the lyrics of the songs God Save the Queen and Anarchy in the U.K., as well as Jamie Reid's cover art for the single of God Save the Queen. Both were perceived as musical assaults on the monarchy and capitalistic society. In particular, God Save the Queen was viewed as a direct personal attack on Queen Elizabeth II. Guitarist Steve Jones, and singer Johnny Rotten, have both insisted that it was not the Queen that the band directed their animus towards, but other members of the royal house and the British government in general. In either case, the notoriety did little to harm the record's sales in the U.K.

Rotten's bitten, over-articulated, angry vocals and his intentional avoidance of "good" singing were startlingly original in style, at that time, and his use of profanity and deliberately inflammatory language seemed downright shocking. He alternately screams and whines about corporate control, intellectual vacuity, and political hypocrisy, while guitarist Jones' multi-layered guitar tracks create a "wall of noise" to counter him. The solid rhythm section of bassist Glen Matlock and drummer Paul Cook provide an effective foil to Rotten's sneering, contemptuous delivery.

Producer Chris Thomas took a different approach to recording Never Mind the Bollocks than was to become the norm on most later punk albums. Instead of capturing a "raw" or "live" sound, Thomas achieved a very clear, broad, and layered sonic palette via multiple guitar overdubs, and extremely tight musicianship. He said: "Anarchy has something like a dozen guitars on it; I sort of orchestrated it, double-tracking some bits and separating the parts and adding them, et cetera … It was quite labored. The vocals were labored, as well." However, some, purists in particular, have argued that the album is over-produced, and that the impact of the songs is diminished by the refined sound quality. Some critics further contend that the Sex Pistols had lost their initial spark of energy and exuberance by the time Never Mind the Bollocks was recorded, and that any anger present in the songs sounds contrived. Nonetheless, the album's anger and energy are considered to have been trailblazing precedents for the then-nascent Punk Rock movement.

Another standard from the album, Pretty Vacant also earned the ire of the British music industry. In his delivery of the song's title in the chorus, Johnny Rotten heavily accents the second syllable of the word "vacant", and clips it very short in stark contrast to his drawn out delivery of the first syllable. Critics and fans alike have noted that it actually sounds like a vulgarity for the female genitalia. Some allege it was deliberate; opponents of this theory counter that it's actually Rotten's Irish brogue leading people to the misinterpretation. It does seem unlikely the sharp-witted Rotten would have failed to notice (and savor) the implicit wordplay.

Sid Vicious contributed little to Never Mind the Bollocks; an attempt was made to have him record a bass track for God Save the Queen, but in the final mix, this is subliminal at best. By the time the album was completed, he had practiced for several months, and most sources agree he plays on the last song recorded, Bodies. Bass duties were handled primarily by guitarist Steve Jones; original bassist Glen Matlock played on one song, Anarchy in the U.K., but left the group in February 1977, before the album was completed. Matlock's and Jones' bass contributions were kept secret at the time of the album's release, since Virgin had no right to reissue the recording made under the group's contract to EMI, and since Vicious was fast becoming the most popular member of the band.

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Charting and influence

Never Mind the Bollocks reached #1 on the official U.K. album chart, but, in the U.S., it peaked at just #106 on the Billboard album chart. Although the album's sales were slim outside Britain, the Sex Pistols established a wild and large reputation in the burgeoning punk scene; they were never able to capitalize on their celebrity, however, and the band broke up in 1978.

The years have been far kinder to the album, on the other hand. For example, in 1998, Q magazine readers voted Never Mind the Bollocks the 30th greatest album of all time, and the VH1 network placed it as the 17th greatest album of all time in 2003. And, in 1987 Rolling Stone magazine named it the second-most important album of the previous 20 years, behind only The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

In general, most critics and musicians consider Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols to have been a, and perhaps the, central formative influence on Punk Rock music.

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Track listing

All lyrics by Rotten except * by Jones and ** by Matlock.

"Holidays in the Sun" - 3:22
"Bodies" - 3:03
"No Feelings" - 2:51
"Liar" - 2:41
"God Save the Queen" - 3:20
"Problems" - 4:11
"Seventeen" - 2:02 *
"Anarchy in the U.K." - 3:31
"Submission" - 4:12
"Pretty Vacant" - 3:18 **
"New York" - 3:06
"EMI" - 3:10

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Personnel

Johnny Rotten - lead vocals
Steve Jones - guitar, bass, backing vocals
Glen Matlock - bass ([Anarchy in the UK])
Paul Cook - drums, backing vocals
Sid Vicious - bass ([Bodies]) and a subliminal bass part to ([God Save the Queen])
Chris Thomas - producer
Bill Price - producer, engineer
Jamie Reid - artwork