What's the best Sex Pistols tune?
- Thread starter bluestreak
- Start date
strummerville
vinyl lover
God Save the Queen, closely followed by I Wanna Be Me.
JohnnyOrange
All The World...
I'd go for 'Pretty Vacant' as the most tuneful song, 'God Save The Queen' as the most topical one and 'Bodies' as my favourite, just for the way he sings 'screaming fucking bloody mess.'
So, two pages in, it seems that not agreeing over the best song but discussing most of them shows that for one reason or another it's still a good album? Doesn't it?
So, two pages in, it seems that not agreeing over the best song but discussing most of them shows that for one reason or another it's still a good album? Doesn't it?
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
God save the queen
Jackobi
swallows anything
Seconded.
Dr. Furface
One small step for me
I can't decide what their best one is, but Holidays In The Sun did inspire me to go to Berlin not long after it's release, which was one of the best things I ever did. Going through Checkpoint Charlie and spending the day in East Berlin was an unforgettable experience, which I doubt I'd ever have done if it wasn't for that song.
ericjarvis
give a feck for the feckless
Only one of theirs that really stands up out of context is Pretty Vacant. Which, incidentally, works great as a sixties style folk song.
ouchmonkey
Singe Gainsbourg
This ^^^
although Holidays does run it close
eta - is there a devious poll double bluff going on here mr streak?
surely you are not referring to the Sid sung Eddie Cochran cover 'Something Else' and passing it off as the 'other' option are you?
chico enrico
No hair shows you care.
but , despite matlock obviously being a competent musician, his florid bass lines totally fucked up any of the pistols songs he ever recorded
chico enrico
No hair shows you care.
quid pro quo their 'worst song' as well.
the pistols shouldn't ever have been about 'tuneful songs' - that's like remembering Peter Sutcliffe for his facial hair stylings.
isvicthere?
a.k.a. floppybollocks
I think it's interesting to compare the views of people who were "there at the time" to the probably more impartial opinions of those who don't remember 1976/7. "Anarchy", "Queen" and "Vacant" plus B-sides were well known, and dominated the public domain for pretty much all of '77, whereas the rest of the tracks only became widely know upon the release of "Bollocks" on 28th October (no, I didn't have to look it up). This lent the album a sort of uneven quality when it came out, something younger listeners can cheerfully ignore.
johnnymarrsbars
www.friendrock.co.uk
the sex pistols influenced some of my favourite bands, but i can't fucking stand listening to their racket.
Actually they sound completely conventional to me now. Indistinguishable from heavy metal really.
ericjarvis
give a feck for the feckless
They always did. Great hype. Not particularly important musically. For me punk was The Damned and X Ray Spex. Followed by The Banshees, The Clash, Wire and all the "second wave" bands. The Pistols were never really part of it all, more like something tacked on to keep the press entertained.
You are taking the piss I presume. The Clash and the Banshees weren't "second wave" for a start. Unless you're saying that NYC was the first wave, which is true, but in that case the SPs themselves were second wave. And the Damned were crap.
I don't like either band to a huge extent, but I prefer the Pistols to the Clash by a mile. The Clash to me always sounded like Q's idea of a punk band.
savoloysam
Standing on the edge of the Hoover Dam
Submission 
savoloysam
Standing on the edge of the Hoover Dam
Not second wave but they were certainly bandwagon jumpers. Strummer was in a blues band when he heard the Pistols he saw £ signs and formed The Clash instead.
strummerville
vinyl lover
What a load of bollocks. Strummer was approached to join by Bernie Rhodes after him, Mick and Paul had checked him out a few times beforehand. He felt The Pistols blew the 101ers away when they supported them and had no choice but to join The Clash. Pound signs never really came with The Clash, until maybe the early 80's and even then, they never earned a fortune. Too busy releasing double and triple albums for the price of a single.
strummerville
vinyl lover
Isn't Bodies an anti abortion song. Lydon's Irish Catholic upbringing stirring up his anger about some mental fan who'd had 3 abortions?
ericjarvis
give a feck for the feckless
The Sex Pistols were gigging getting on for a year before any other UK punk band, so I count them along with the NYC bands as being the first wave. They were the bands we all copied.
However I still maintain that the Pistols really didn't do much to move things on musically. They had the image and the attitude. That's theirs, but musically they brought absolutely nothing new to the table other than Lydon's vocals.
Whatever you think of the Damned, they were the first off the mark. The first clearly punk single in the UK was New Rose. And, along with the Clash, they were pretty much all there was apart from the Pistols in the summer of 1976.
Up to that point there was barely a punk scene at all. Almost everyone into punk was either in a band or at art school with somebody in a band. It's autumn of 1976 when the explosion of new bands happened and when it started being possible to go to several punk gigs a week. By which stage the Sex Pistols were doing the EMI thing. Which is why I say they never seemed like part of it. They were simply doing completely different things.
And the Damned were brilliant. And crap. Crap but brilliant.
Another vote for "Pretty Vacant".
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