My wife gave me that album at Christmas right after it came out...it was the only album I played for the next three months...over and over and over again.
It was wise of them to do one album, because they doubtless wouldn't have been immune to "1st wave punk 2nd album syndrome", where a band's debut album is the most impossibly groundbreaking thing ever, and then on their subsequent albums, they sound like REO Speedwagon.
PS after scrolling through the comments on the various members of this great band, I would like to remember drummer Paul Cook, without whom none of this may have been possible.
I always hear, "they couldn't even play their instruments" on every documentary about these guys and I don't agree. First, I've played, toured and recorded over the past few decades. That said, I've always thought they played just fine on "Nevermind the Bollocks" and think that Steve's LP Custom sounded absolutely killer on that album. He still sounds fantastic.
I've never heard that. They played a lot of live gigs in the early days which wouldn't if worked out well if they couldn't unfortunately they brought Sid in to replace Glen because of his looks rather than his ability. Viscous invented 'unplugged' rock ( he just didn't know it😃)
Matlock is an original member and as much as I love Sid , Matlock was and is a far better bass player which keeps the rythem section tight and allows Steve to play freely.
Glenn Matlock, the original bass player who could actually play! They should have never sacked him for the "attitude looking" Sid V who couldn't play to save his life. The band was always way tighter with Glenn.
I don't care if Glen Matlock looks like he just got off work, he keeps this band together makes them rock. I listen with my ears, not my eyes. Try it some time. Btw, Bodies changed my life when I first heard it. I was just a kid in 77' and was like, "you can rock this hard AND express yourself honestly? "Fuck the and fuck that..." I was schooled by Rotten. Thank God!
***** Jones, Cook and Lydon have long regretted the booting of Glen. He wrote a lot of the songs. Glen is a gentleman, I have gigged with him . Lovely chap. McClaren hated that. He manipulated his departure. Sid bore the brunt
All that said, nobody in this media driven society(even back then) couldn't have cared less unless Sid was there. John has admitted as much. John Simon(Sid) was his tight mate. You can go revisionist history all you want, no one gave a fucking toss about Glen, he was a non entity. Sid couldn't play bass worth a shit, non of that mattered, and if you think it did, you're too young and stupid to get the the punk ethic at that time in England, or even America. Ironically, all those sloppy Southern state Americans got it right on that first and only fateful tour, and expected Sid to be there, and (with lack of a better term) got off on him. That is just the way it was, Sid played just enough bass to get by, plus threw his annoying self at them, and that was enough. You couldn't buy the notorious press Sid produced, and the way everything self destructed at the very end was just glorious. You people who are (and did)expect punk rock to be like KISS or the Bee Gees, or like Malcolm tried to make them, The Bay City Rollers, you couldn't be more wrong...
You will never, ever, see this on MTV again. It is sad That this was once a prime Network that played actual videos And concerts. Now, it's just reality shows that have nothing to do with bands or music. RIP=MTV
True. You can also see how much MTV influenced musicians when they dropped the ball. It has been very few new genres made since the late 90s. It`s like when MTV stopped focusing on new music, people did too and the retro wave began as a result of it. Now young people grow up without musicians creating new genres as my and the boomer generation was. But when thats said it would probably be impossible for MTV to compete with Myspace, RU-vid, Instagram, Facebook and internet in general. So as a financial strategy, it was the right move, but it really created a big void in the music world when it happened.
@@eltoro969 No, there are still new genres being created, they're just not mainstream stuff. Just look at how many metal subgenres have been created since the early 2000s.
MTV also used to be a half-hour clip show on Nickelodeon called Pop-Clips (the brainchild of former Monkee Mike Nesmith), but you don't hear anyone clamoring for that to come back.
I hear ya. I was so young but thankfully got to some good shows as a kid with my dad and uncle. Plant and Page were great, and others got to see a few I’m glad I did but got scoffed at by friends (stuff that wasn’t considered cool taste at the time). However the one I’ll never feel that about was when and saw with them one of the Velvet Underground ‘93-reunion gigs, I wasn’t even ten years old yet but my dad and uncle insisted I attend and by all things that are true and divine in this world, one of the greatest claims to a band my young ass was able to get to see live. Esp when it’s those bar or concert chats when it comes to “I got to see ____ live”. Also, my other big one was being able to go see at least once in concert each and all of the Beatles live that were alive when I was (Lennon had been killed before I was born) but yeah. Anyway I got all rambly lol. I’d happily pay 400 bucks to see the Sex Pistols live, not including merch and drinks lol
Same here and I don't give a shit if a gig was crap somewhere else in the world. All I know is that this gig would have been the opportunity of a lifetime.
A reunion tour where the band played the shit out of it! Great stuff -- With Glen Matlock on bass they are 100 times better. Songwriter for the Sex Pistols Glen Matlock. Incredible.
@@dukewellington3174 Matlock and Jones wrote some of the lyrics, Pretty Vacant was Matlock and Seventeen was Jones, but Lydon changed them a bit to suit him. The music was Jones, Matlock and Cook. Matlock definitely did Vacant, Submission and God Save the Queen, though Jones changed them around. In short they all had a hand in writing the songs and this argument is pointless.
This is the band that The Sex Pistols should have always been. They were truly a different band with Glen on bass. He cuts through the sound and just propels the band forward. It is so great to hear this. Too many of us never got to see them back in the 70s with Glen on bass.
Malcom McClaren brought in Sid V. even though he was a novice player. He thought the "punk" look was more important. I say BS to that, Glen was and is a world class rock bass player, and the band rocks to the fu**ing moon when he's on bass.
@@christopherdavison652 exactly, he even admitted that Glen wasn't punk enough and turned The Pistols into a circus act. Richard Branson cashed in on them being fired from EMI 😂
Well, that would require the dopey kids to get off their fucking cell phones and actually develop talent at a musical instrument. Okay, a little talent, anyway. Fortunately for authentic punk music, musical skill isn't the highest priority - HEART is.
Thank you and God bless you so much for sharing this with us. One of the bands I truly regret never having seen in concert. Thank God we have these various concerts on video.
I loved Sid, but the original Pistols was when Glen Matlock was with them! And you know that musically this is a thousand times better than the Winterland/last gig debacle. Having said that, the Winterland gig was great for entirely different reasons! I'm 57 years old now. 5 grandchildren... Still listen to Never Mind The Bollocks. In my opinion, one of the greatest albums ever made!!
They are extremely tight, WOW. Sid was a comic character, Glen is a musician. He, Jones and Cook are spot on. And they look like they're implying we own this stage!
@ Halloween Jack Yes mate you're right. His name was Bill Price. He was a record producer and audio engineer who worked with a lot of bands. Unfortunately he died in 2016
You know it’s Steve when ya listen to him and it’s not even possible to not instantly recognise his style and that’s what it’s all about really. Most musicians wanna be known for the their own style over just being good, anyone can be technically good if they put the practice in
this is fantastic!!!!hard to believe this was broadcast on MTV considering the state there in today.........how did all those f-bombs get past the censors cant wait for part two!!!!!
When this band came out it was if a breath of fresh air was released and most of us woke up. To give them credit would be like praising a doctor for bringing an old lost friend back to life. Now when we listen to them what most of us hear is some of the best hard rock ever made. NMB is like nonstop orgasim of the ears. 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
As a recent Punk convert-you can really tell the influence they had on bands like Green Day. I grew up as a Van Halen type rocker but finally realize the attitude and energy that the Pistols were famous for. Awesome performance here!
Johnny owning the audience, as usual. Musical skill: 3. Presence: 10+. The barometer for any band is the singer. If that person is on, the rest of the band will follow.
John has a hard time going from his Pistols voice which is raw and hard, to his PIL voice....but its so refreshing to hear when he becomes Johnny Rotten again.....:)
When I first heard Bodies in 77' I instantly thought, "Why aren't other bands rocking this hard?" Lyrics are are so right on. To this day no other song gets me that amped up! Pretty Vacant and Holiday in the Sun are good ones too. In 77' I was listening to The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Aerosmith and KISS. Not sure how KISS got in there but they were fairly irresistible for a young American kid in 1977.
matlock actually can play the bass & sing. they woulda been better off keepin him.prob woulda been around longer than 3 years & sid might still be alive.
Steve never liked him either and reckons all the stuff he wrote sounded like the Beatles the way he plays it. Steve is what made the sex pistols anything special like they were
People laugh at me and look at me in bewilderment when I tell them that THE SEX PISTOLS are the 3rd best Rock band in history. I saw and met GLEN MATLOCK at a small Sydney venue called The LANDSDOWNE HOTEL 16th November 2017. He and his band were incredibly brilliant, Glen played rhythm guitar. His vocals were fantastic. His banter with the crowd was clever and intelligent. Glen signed everything for everyone after the gig. Glen and myself were having a one on one chat outside when he was having a cigarette. He was too close to the front door when a 'security' guy asked him to move away with his cigarette. I quickly explained the new smoking laws....... Glen was in the middle of explaining the co-writing of " DID YOU NO WRONG " to me when he got 'swept' away by a 'swarm' of admirers who found us on the footpath. Glen was a 'way cool' guy. He was the music mastermind of the band that admitted to liking Paul McCartney and that didn't fit the Punk image so they sacked him. Sid could play just enough to scrape through, however, his image was perfect. Lemmy from MOTORHEAD said that SID was incapable of playing the most basic Bass riffs that he was trying to teach him. Glen Matlock tours the world playing in "Punk Supergroups' Sadly, Sid Vicious is dead.
Good one Richard!!! We all have our personal, subjective preferences, though when I think objectively, I would rank The Beatles at No.1 and Status Quo 2nd and The Sex Pistols 3rd. This was made after deep intellectual thought over many decades. It does pain me to place the GREATEST ROCK BAND OF ALL TIME at No.2 though!!!!! I haven't heard of a band called the Stone, I think they sunk without a trace. LOL!!! Spinal Tap come a close 4th.
I was against the barrier for this, right in front of lydon, half dead of heat stroke with my pal pretty much holding me up! In no fit state but I wasn't missing it for the world!
Being a Pistols fangirl from 70,s was great to finally see them live in 96 in St Kilda Melbourne,at The Palace.Was a really hot night, & being at the front of stage,we were lucky to be cooled down ,the security were splashing us with water.Great memories..fun night❤.
Roots of punk? Maybe listen to Peru's Los Saicos, The New York Dolls, The Ramones, The Saints (who were probably the next to follow after Los Saicos), Death, The Dictators.
These guys were assembled by Malcom McLaren after he destroyed the New York Dolls, and he heard what the Ramones, Heartbreakers and Voidoids were doing in New York.
Thanks for sharing this. I love Lydon, he's such a curmudgeon. I was able to see this tour when it hit my town, but I don't think I appreciated how lucky I was until years later.
That’s the band we heard on “ never mind”, great to see this brought to life, you’ve got to admit, their a fucking good band, gives you goosebumps at times 👏🙏😁
I’m 61 and the SexPistols music resonates now as it did in the 70,s. This is timeless. When are the next Pistol’s coming. Rock until I die. Thanks Pistol’s.
wow, what a difference between this and that shitshow at winterland. so this is what the sex pistols should have sounded like live all those years ago.
M Strut Yeah, this may very well be their best reunion performance. Lydon is acting like less of an asshole here than he normally does and is actually showing the music some respect. I think the crowd gets some props for that and he acknowledges it (in the second of these two vids) . . .
I was at this gig, definitely rate this in the top 3 I've ever seen, they were on fire that night and was a privilege to be there and witness one of Englands most historic bands.
i was there as well, i remember it being scorching hot all weekend, several typhoons around the site, and having to stop the coach 2 hours from the site due to traffic problems entering (a 1 way system) and having to walk 2 hours in the scorching heat to get there. Amazing line up though, i remember seeing bowie (wasnt good), the prodigy (stole it), massive attack, bjork, fun loving criminals.
I remember this well, it was a great thing to see and a privilege to be there for this historic performance of the best and originators of the real punk movement. English punk is the real punk!
@ Darrin Connor Matlock co wrote 10 of the 12 tracks on never mind the bollocks (Jones played bass when they recorded it) The band would not have been the same without his input. He may not have personified the pistols image as Sid did but he knew his shit when it came to music and could actually play bass....isn't that more important for a band? BTW F Venzor him and Lydon clashed a bit (a lot to do with McLaren being an asshole) he left of his own accord.......oh and quick question......were either of you alive in the late 70's let alone old enough to have rocked to the Pistols?
Matlock was asked to play bass on the album but he would only do so if he was payed up front which didn't happen so he didn't turn up....Steve Jones played the bass on the album
Actually Matlock co-wrote 9 of the 12 songs on NMTB except for EMI, Problems and Holidays in the Sun all 3 written after he had already left the band (also along with Belsen Was a Gas which is Sid's song)!
Seeing the MTV logo in the top right reminds me that they used to actually show music videos on that channel a long time ago, and not just a bunch of crap reality shows
Outstanding, powerful, ballsy and energetic. Bodies alone is fucking supercharged and i bet it blew the crowd`s collective heads right the fuck off. Ferociously relevant even aged 40 as they are here.
I can personally attest that they blew the fucking place apart with that opener. The crowd just went mental, it was like a war cry: we're here, and we're going to give you what you want and then some. Intense and magical. It was an honour to witness it!
I would love to see the Sex Pistols do some more shows before it's too late. It's like it took 20 years for them to come together, loving it. Glen should have always been in the band. I sure miss the late 70's.
Steve won't tour anymore and John is unhealthy....I on occasion watch my copy of the Brixton concerts (2007)because that was the last thing they ever did together and it was the absolute best they've ever done. Once more would be great though I agree. Yes, if Glenn was never fired they would've had a bigger repertoire, more of everything, and perhaps Sid & Nancy would still be alive......Glenn was and is a real musician.
