“We managed to offend all the people we were fucking fed up with.” - Johnny Rotten, The Filth And The Fury film, 2000.
Love them or loathe them, the impact that London's punk renegades the Sex Pistols had on the rock’n’roll universe is arguably one of a colossal magnitude. The initial configuration of the outfit began in the western suburb of London called Shepherds Bush in 1972. Friends Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Warwick Nightingale formed a band while sparingly attending high school. The instruments and required equipment for the members and their tremendous lack of musical knowledge or skill were sort out mostly by Jones by the way of burglary. Supposedly Steve had a stint in reform school in his youth and was mentored in thievery by his mother and stepfather.
The 1970s in Britain were arduous for a significant portion of the population. A major oil crisis after disagreements amid the Yom Kippur War provoked the eminent oil company Opec to terminate the exportation of oil to the West. This dilemma effectuated a myriad of economic issues; workers from numerous industries were let go, power cuts were frequent and unemployment was escalating immensely resulting in strikes and high inflation.
A rather historical escapade that occurred during this time of struggle and discontentment was when the city’s garbage collectors also went on strike; piles of trash accumulated on the streets reaching heights of 10 feet. As former vocalist for the Sex Pistols John Lyndon brazenly described:
“A grotty, wheezing, failing country of derelict tenements and grim blocks of flats, betrayed by a Labour government out of touch with what is going on in the country around them.”
Life was filled with hopelessness, despair, gloom, inequality, debilitating disadvantages, starvation, desperation, adversity – it was a dire time to exist in the UK if you were not part of the upper class. It was a period that incited anger, belligerence and riots; a perfect formula for PUNK ROCK.
“I don’t think you can explain how things happen, other than sometimes they just should. The Sex Pistols should have happened, and did.” – Johnny Rotten.
However, this was no leisurely walk in Hyde Park to form the Sex Pistols; in fact, their whole career was beyond littered with ‘Problems’. The group in its primitive era, were desperate for fashion clothing store owner and rock personality (of sorts) Malcom McLaren to manage them, knowing of his experience with US glam rock band The New York Dolls and often hanging out at his Let It Rock business (later renamed Sex). McLaren would only take on the ‘Pistols if founder Wally Nightingale was dismissed from his role. Johnny was chosen to audition for the outfit by his style alone and the process involved Mr. Rotten singing along to Alice Cooper’s ‘18’ in Malcom’s store; apparently the karaoke exhibition was delivered like The HunchBack of Notre Dame. Nevertheless, the vocalist was in place, Sex Pistols were ready to unleash ‘Anarchy In The UK’ and even, the globe.
Their first live outing was as support to Bazooka Joe (complete with Adam Ant) in November 1975 at St Martin's College. The power was disconnected after an extremely short set. A NOteworthy premiere, for fantastically fallacious reasons (the “NO” is intentional).
Remarkably the four-piece built a very committed following and harnessed a cultural influence of limitless capacity. “People that had no self-respect suddenly started to view themselves as beautiful in not being beautiful.” Mr Lyndon accurately asserted. Billy Idol, Pete Shelley and Siouxsie Sioux were all eager fans of the four-piece in their fundamental stages, and a very infamous television appearance by the ‘Pistols on Thames TV's Today Programme with a drunken Bill Grundy launched them into a scornful stardom; in partial thanks to Susan Janet Ballion’s presence.
It was onward and drunkard with: “Attack, attack, attack!” (Lyndon) as the motto. Unbelievably a record label bidding war occurred for rockin’ wrongdoers. On the 8th of October 1976 the Sex Pistols signed with EMI, three months later they were fired from the label. At this time the “pogo mosh move” inventor Sid Vicious joins the group having never played bass before. A&M Records sign the quartet in front of Buckingham Palace in March 1977; rumour has it the band members had a punch-up in the limo before arriving. There is evidence stating that the four-piece were fired from the label the very next day.
Virgin Records signed the punks and released their controversial single ‘God Saved The Queen’ in May 1977. It was banned from almost all TV promotion and radio stations and even major retailers withdrew the single from their sales listings. Famed musician and journalist Sean O’Hagan has described its social impact as: “Punk’s Crowning Glory”. The band were incredibly arrested after performing the song on a chartered boat navigating the River Thames as organised by Malcom McLaren.
The Sex Pistols only full-length Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols was released on October 28th 1977 and Rolling Stone described it as: “The most exciting rock & roll record of the Seventies".
The excitement was soon to become excruciation and then practical extinction in the two-and-a-half months that followed. Bassist Sid Vicious’ struggles with heroin became unbearable for the group due to the influence of girlfriend Nancy Spungen; during their disastrous tour of the USA, Vicious was so strung out that he was barely plugged in during their performances. The final Sex Pistols’ show took place January 14th, 1978 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco; the encore was shockingly The Stooges’ ‘No Fun’ and John Lyndon famously exclaimed: “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated? Good night.”
Fast-forward 28 years later and approximately 20 kilometres from the birthplace of this punk powerhouse or: “Antithesis of humankind” as described by Bernard Brooke Partridge, a member of the Greater London Council around the time of the ‘Pistols. A Wartford hardcore punk outfit by the name of Gallows unleashed their ferocious debut album entitled Orchestra Of Wolves via In At The Deep End Records that was produced by their mate Banks, in a house in the home counties, after an especially unforgiving recording process that nearly destroyed the project and the band itself.
The LP was critically acclaimed by British press; Gallows were described as "the best British punk band since The Clash" (Kerrang!). As well as having "one of the finest displays of sneering, snotty attitude since the Sex Pistols." (Total Guitar). That flawlessly envisioned “sneering, snotty attitude” was disgustingly-yet-delightfully delivered by the menace himself, the frantic frontman Frank Carter.
Louder Than War’s Jules Boyle conceivably described Mr Carter as: “Scrawny, ginger and with barely an inch of uninked flesh, the iconic frontman was a feral presence both onstage and on record” and in essence, this is just a “scrawny” part of his, and Gallows’ story.
Orchestra Of Wolves caught the attention of Epitaph Records head honcho Brett W. Gurewitz who released it in the US in July 2007. The Hertfordshire Hedgehogs then commenced their global assault touring through the USA on the Vans Warped Tour, South By Southwest Showcase, Download & Reading Festival appearances, and the Brits even made it to Australia as part of the Taste Of Chaos Tour.
However, Gallows’ were set to ‘Kill The Rhythm’ of the independent hardcore punk band lifestyle. They took on the world by launching their own friendly bomb by the name of Grey Britain, their sophomore LP released on the 2nd of May 2009 through Sire/Warner Bros. Records after signing a £1 million contract.
The full-length achieved rave reviews, but sold only 20,000 copies in the UK and 50,000 worldwide. In December 2009, the band were dropped by Warner Music.
"We are the British music industry's biggest mistake." Frank Carter told The Guardian’s Ben Myers – doesn’t this attitude and rebellion seem familiar to a scenario in the same country only decades prior?
Frank Carter left Gallows in July 2011 and reappeared in alternative rock two-piece Pure Love months later with The Hope Conspiracy’s Jim Carrol. A striking transformation from the member’s previous musical endeavours, the two-duo’s aptly titled ‘Anthems’ sole full-length was more aligned with Hot Rod Circuit than Have Heart, and it found its way into the hearts and souls of many new fans worldwide. The group disbanded in 2014. In March 2015 Frank Carter announced his new project Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes and their first single ‘Fangs’ premiered on Sunday’s Rock Show on BBC Radio 1 on the 29th of that month. The track featured a return to the abrasive hardcore punk direction for Mr. Carter and Planet Earth was more than ready to undertake the rockin’ and ‘Rolling With The Punches’ of rattling punk rock again.
This was to be the longest life span Frank would have with any group during his ‘Hurricane’ presences in all versions of musical performance. ‘The Rattlesnakes would go onto to release five studio albums: Blossom (2015), Modern Ruin (2017), End Of Suffering (2019), Sticky (2021) and finally Dark Rainbow (2024). The duo (quintet in live production format) would tour the world multiple times throughout their near-decade existence. They supported Foo Fighters on a European tour in 2019, they opened for Bring Me The Horizon through Australia, they won the esteemed Kerrang! Award for ‘Spirit Of Punk’; they were featured on the soundtrack of the multi-award winning TV series Peaky Blinders and more recently, delivered an unforgettable set at Download Festival 2024 where afterward Carter told the NME:
“It’s important for me to support grassroots venues, always,” he said. “Now though, it’s most prevalent because they’ve been so let down by the government. There is no funding for arts. No funding for the places where arts happen. Not only are those spaces important for entertainment, influencing younger musicians and giving a new generation of bands a place to go, but they’re also important for communities.” He continued: “For me, it’s very important to support grassroots venues […] because in those spaces are the younger generations of punk rock musicians. It’s a place for anyone who has something to say about how disenfranchised they are with the world.”
“Let down by the government.”
“Something to say about how disenfranchised they are with the world.”
Ringing any bells? No, that isn’t just the Big Ben.
In June 2024, the Sex Pistols announced their reunion for two shows playing Never Mind The Bollocks in full to help raise funds for their beloved Bush Hall music venue in London to stop it from ceasing hosting live music; Frank Carter was to be the vocalist. Frank himself had performed at this location with Pure Love as did Amy Winehouse, REM, The Killers, Nick Cave and a beyond impressive further list of acts that created history for themselves at this stunning venue.
The two nights in August 2024 were above the status of success, they were influential. As Mojo’s Pat Gilbert reported: “Gallows frontman is Rotten to the core in raucous punk reunion.”
This grew to an additional four UK shows, a European jaunt and now Australia and New Zealand have been announced for their overdue ‘Holidays In The Sun’.
“They’re trying to trivialise the whole show to get away with karaoke, but in the long term, I think you’ll see who has the value and who doesn’t.” Original vocalist John Lyndon described about the paramount events taking place without him, and for essentially saving a home and culture he formerly believed so strongly in (?).
But it isn’t truly the Sex Pistols without Johnny Rotten right?
John Lyndon: The Trump supporter, the same-sex marriage dissident, the criticiser of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, the man who now opposes “Anarchy” and even supported the Queen in his later years – that is the true vocalist of the Sex Pistols?
Bullocks to that. Now who is offended?
Written by Will Oakeshott @teenwolfwill
Essential viewing:
The Filth & The Fury
The Filth and the Fury (2000) | Film4 Trailer
Gallows ‘Grey Britain’ movie
Gallows - Grey Britain Teaser #1
Reunion with Frank Carter
Frank Carter & Sex Pistols - full show - The Forum, London - 26 Sep 2024
Pistol
FX's Pistol | Official Trailer | Disney+
Peaky Blinders
Peaky Blinders - Devil Inside Me
Sid and Nancy
Sid and Nancy Official Trailer
You can catch the Sex Pistols with Frank Carter playing the following shows around Australia this April. Tickets are on sale now
SEX PISTOLS (PAUL COOK, STEVE JONES, GLEN MATLOCK) FEATURING FRANK CARTER
2025 AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND TOUR with CIVIC
Saturday 5 April — Festival Hall, Melbourne
Sunday 6 April — Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide
Tuesday 8 April — Hordern Pavilion, Sydney
Wednesday 9 April — Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane
Friday 11 April — Fremantle Prison
Further reading
Deathcore Connoisseur Issue 3: Spicy Breakdowns From The New & Old
The Amity Affliction: A Compendium of Redux Memories, Nurturing Next-Gens & Support Act's AMTD
