Sex Pistols

The Sex Pistols are definitely not the most talented band around. They have almost no harmonies and are very far from being polished performers. The music they produce is raw and uncut and illustrates a level of hatred. The difference between the Sex Pistols/other British punk bands and American punk bands is that the British punk bands are mad about something. They are protesting their society and bands like the Sex Pistols are just angered by political and economic disruptions. Basically what makes the Sex Pistols important in the scope of music history is that they were there at the right place at the right time. This band produced music that mirrored what the audiences wanted at the specific time. The Sex Pistols capture this youthful rebellious moment in British history. During this time, there was serious depression in Britain and the consumer empathized with this rebellious attitude.  The Sex Pistols created the sound of the poor and embodied the classic punk look and sound. They were not introspective and were obviously composed of pure hatred. Because of this, a lot of people connected with their message and music. While they only made one album, the Sex Pistols were successful and impactful at their time.

The Sex Pistols did not last long, however. After producing one album, they kind of went by the wayside as music forever transitioned to new material. Two of their major songs were “God Save the Queen” and “Anarchy in the U.K.” and these two songs, I think, are enough to get a general vibe of the type of music that they produced. 

“God Save the Queen” is an energizing classic rock/punk sound that is crazed and wild. I think the lack of control and insaneness that this song brings is what a lot of punk centered around. While some people may think this music sounds rather unorganized, I actually kind of liked it because it allowed me as a listener to somewhat cut loose in a fury of rebellion. In comparison to other music that preceded it, this song by the Sex Pistols makes a tune that is just made to rock out. They have no real underlying messages in their lyrics and their harmonies aren’t strong at all. Despite this, I actually find myself enjoying the music they produced.  They are able to match an intense rock sound with their very negative opinions and lyrics. While their lyrics are rather full of hatred, it’s not like I can even understand it anyway. The vocals are so impure that I think it takes away the depth that lyrics could even bring.

By their second song I’ve listened to, “Anarchy in the U.K.”, I decided that the vocals are pretty horrible, especially in this song. I find myself just trying to look past the vocals because they are so screechy and lack any sort of talent at all. While this embodies the individuality attitude of punk, I still don’t think it’s an excuse to produce bad vocals. That has definitely been a trend throughout this time period. I don’t know what happened to all the great vocalists after the 60s. Even though they are pretty bad at singing (and I feel that the lead is being strangled at time) they have that same greasy sound as the Ramones. This sound is derived from an insane guitar part that dominates and drives the song. I tend to enjoy the guitar so that is why I am able to tolerate such music of the time.

Even just looking at this band, you get a vibe of poverty. Their look embodied what the lower class of England was going through at the time and this is what made them so successful in the brief amount of time they performed. Compared to other punk bands such as the Clash or Elvis Costello, they take on the poorer end of the population. Bands like the Clash represented a more business, middle class, look. Although the Sex Pistols were a flash-in-the-pan band, they still made a great impact on the music scene. Overall, all these punk bands loved to just challenge the society they lived in and I think this enabled the great shaping of modern society. Artists like Elvis Costello directly copied specifics of the King of Rock, Elvis Presley, even before he was dead! The Residents also even directly parodied a Beatles old album cover. This poking fun of past music illustrates a changing of the music scene and a breaking away from past rock and moving on to other rebellious things. This is what made seemingly raw music such as the Sex Pistols appeal to the masses.