Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (1977)
Sex Pistols
It could be argued that punk rock is the most important movement in rock music since the very birth of the genre itself. The Ramones fought to bring rock music back to its roots and away from the constant guitar "noodling" of contemporary arena rock bands, The Clash wanted to make powerful music that truly stood for something, and the Sex Pistols...well, they just wanted to shake things up a bit. They set out to create some chaos; start some fires, make some noise, get home at who-cares-when. Back in a time when Simon and Garfunkel were being billed as "rock," punk rock came screaming out of the underground to reclaim what they felt had been lost in the mass commercialization and pacification of the genre. The Clash, for one, completely abandoned anything pre-punk, declaring the punk era a musical Year 1. This was all in the name of reestablishing rock as the rebellious, youth-oriented racket that it originally was. But the Sex Pistols, they just wanted to tear it all down.
As their only record, Never Mind the Bollocks really says everything that could be said about the Sex Pistols. It's loud, angry, and vulgar, but at the same time it's incredibly well-crafted. "Anarchy in the U.K." features painstakingly-constructed layers of guitars and vocals that give a much cleaner and reverberant sound than one would expect out of such a group. The band is tight--Steve Jones' guitar-work is heavily rhythmic, relying on the momentum of aggressively down-stroked power-chords over any particularly showy lead-guitar demonstrations. Jones also performs bass on the record, a position that he ironically filled for Sid Vicious, the most infamous member of the group, who died of a heroin overdose in 1979. (Vicious does perform bass on "Bodies," however.) Paul Cook's drum-work is equally notable, and though he tends to throw the same fills in whenever he gets the chance, they're an exciting and fitting addition to every venom-spitting song.
And who does the venom-spitting? Well none other than Johnny Rotten, owner of possibly the greatest sneer in rock n' roll. Right of the bat, Rotten declares a "cheap holiday in other peoples misery" before rambling on like a hyperactive child about going "over, over the Berlin Wall" as the distortion rages like a hailstorm. In a surprisingly conservative number, "Bodies," Rotten both attacks abortion and drops enough F-bombs to turn away any sympathetic right-wingers. "No Feelings," "Liar," and "Problems," pretty much explain themselves right away in the title, but songs like "God Save the Queen" and "Anarchy in the U.K." are rousing anthems of anarchy and discord that do exactly what they set out to do. And back then, just the album's title was enough to rile people up.
It is in these moments that the Pistols truly shine. The instant that Rotten says "God save the Queen, the fascist regime," either you love it or you hate it. If they hadn't pissed you off yet, this is supposed to be the kicker. From the constant jabs at the Queen to the cries of "No future!" that bring the song to a close, "God Save the Queen" is the point on Never Mind the Bollocks where the Pistols are at their trouble-stirring best--noisy and rude all at the same time. And they hit this point often; Rotten's strain for a rhyme in "Anarchy in the U.K."--"I am an antichrist, I am an anarchist"--is not an endearing line by any means, but you get what they're shooting for.
That doesn't mean that the Sex Pistols are all authority-hating miscreants, their humor shows considerably in "Submission," a song that is unexpectedly about a submarine mission rather than a bondage session. (Well, unexpectedly by their standards.) Overall, the Pistols are operating on a different frequency here; the album is a fuzzy, distorted slice of a twisted dimension of sound. Either you turn it off or you keep it on to see what happens next.
Unfortunately, Never Mind the Bollocks is but a snapshot in time. However, it certainly has not lost its luster. The Sex Pistols' only record is just as aggressive and exciting as it was in its most relevant state. Even today, it stands as one of the great monoliths of punk and rock music in general. Its boundless energy is irresistible and uncontainable, and as negative as it can be, there's something truly exhilarating and fresh about it. Everyone should own this album, if only to remember why rock exists in the first place.
9.5/10
Stand-out Tracks:
"Holidays in the Sun"
"Bodies"
"No Feelings"
"Liar"
"Problems"
"God Save the Queen"
"Anarchy in the U.K."
"Submission"
"Pretty Vacant"
No comments:
Post a Comment