Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols

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Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
Music album Template: Infobox music album / maintenance / type undetectedof Sex Pistols
Cover

Publication
(s)

October 28, 1977

Label (s) Virgin Records

Format (s)

CD, LP, cassette

Genre (s)

punk

Title (number)

11, 12

running time

38:44 (12-track version)

34:32 (11-track version)

occupation

production

Chris Thomas , Bill Price

Studio (s)

Wessex Sound Studios, AIR Studios
( London )
(October 1976 / March to June 1977, August 1977)

chronology
- Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
(1979)
Single releases
November 26, 1976 Anarchy in the UK
May 27, 1977 God Save the Queen

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols is the only studio album by the British band Sex Pistols . It was released on 28 October 1977 at the music label Virgin Records in the UK and was released in the US on 10 November 1977th It is assigned to the punk genre and is considered to be formative for the punk scene of the late 1970s.

History of origin

The Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren invented the group name. At that time, he and his partner Vivienne Westwood had a fashion boutique called Sex, and so also provided the group with the eccentric clothes available there. McLaren sent out large numbers of demo tapes to get the group a record deal.

The first single Anarchy in the UK released EMI in November 1976. It was withdrawn. The reason for this was the media hype surrounding the appearance of the Sex Pistols on the Bill Grundy TV show Today . They stood in for Queen at the last minute . The moderator Grundy provoked her to say indecent words. Even if the radio stations didn't play the single, the programmatic piece was still a success. Then her first record label EMI separated from the band.

On May 15, 1976, they recorded Problems , No Feelings and Pretty Vacant at Majestic Studios . From July 13th to 30th, they recorded 9 tracks at Denmark Street Rehearsal Rooms and Riverside Studios. They were also at Lansdowne and Wessex Studios with producer Dave Goodman in October. After recordings in November and December, the Sex Pistols went to Wessex Sound Studios in January and February 1977 to record pieces with producer Chris Thomas and sound engineer Bill Price. It was about God Save the Queen , Pretty Vacant , and EMI. The new bassist Sid Vicious played on the track Bodies , but his skills weren't enough to record the entire album. Producer Thomas said he and Price "have given up trying to use Vicious' bass track". So the band asked their manager McLaren to convince former bassist Glen Matlock to play in the remaining sessions. Matlock agreed on the condition that he be paid beforehand. However, when the money did not arrive, he declined to attend. Then producer Thomas convinced guitarist Steve Jones to take over bass. He played so convincingly that Thomas hired him to do the bass tracks on all of the remaining songs. Four days after the recording was completed, the Sex Pistols signed a contract with A&M Records , but the label canceled it on March 16, and several thousand copies of the single God Save the Queen , which should have been released shortly, were destroyed.

While the Sex Pistols recorded parts of their first LP in London's Wessex Studios, the already experienced, successful band Queen was working on their album News of the World . There were various encounters and conversations between some band members, sometimes friendly, cooperative, sometimes provocative (Sid Vicious) and demarcating ( Freddy Mercury ).

Despite the setbacks, McLaren directed the Sex Pistols to continue work on the album. While he was still considering whether to sign an offer made by Virgin Records , he signed a contract with the French record company Barclay Records in early May 1977 . At the same time, the group resumed its work. Producer Thomas left the session temporarily and let Price produce five tracks on his own.

In the meantime, the Sex Pistols had been rejected by labels like CBS , Decca , Pye and Polydor , so that only the offer from Virgin remained. McLaren was still hoping to get signed to a major label. He only wanted to release a single on Virgin to increase the attractiveness of the band for larger record companies. The owner of Virgin, Richard Branson , refused, so the Sex Pistols finally signed a contract for the entire album with Virgin on May 18th. Two weeks later the label released God Save the Queen as a single at short notice . While promoting this single, Rotten stated that work on the album was still ongoing. On June 18, the band returned to the studio with Thomas and Price to record Holidays in the Sun , the first song they wrote without Matlock. The night after visiting a nearby pub, Rotten, Thomas and Price were attacked by a group of men, and the incident hit the headlines the following day. This month, eleven of the album's tracks were circulated that were the first to be reviewed by Fanzine 48 Thrills .

It was the year of the 25th jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II's throne . McLaren caused the associated scandal by publicly presenting the play on a rented excursion boat along the anniversary parade. The single came in at number 1 on the charts in terms of sales, although it was not allowed to be played on public radio. However, there was manipulation of the charts by the British Phonographic Institute , so that the charts were officially headed by Rod Stewart's I Don't Want to Talk About It .

publication

Advertising poster for the album in the USA

Never Mind the Bollocks was released in the UK on October 28, 1977 and in the US on November 10, 1977. The album title fueled the controversy as some found the word bollocks ( testicles ) offensive. Many record stores refused to sell the album. In some charts it was not listed, only shown a blank space instead. Even before the album was released, two competing albums were circulating: A bootleg called Spunk with recordings of Sex Pistols demos (Dave Goodman). It was released by a label called Blank . In the French pressing of Barclay, Submission was added to the song list; it was due a week before the Virgin issue. McLaren's separate trade with Barclay meant the French release couldn't be stopped. Knowing how easy it was to import into the UK, the Virgin boss accelerated production of the record to get it out a week ahead of schedule. Even so, the Barclay pressing was already available in the UK by the time Virgin had its version ready. Ten thousand copies of Virgins Pressung erroneously listed only eleven titles on the sleeve, but contained 12. Despite the availability of Spunk and the French publication, Here's the Sex Pistols was eagerly awaited in the UK. There were 125,000 pre-orders. Never Mind the Bollocks reached number one on the UK album charts the week after its release. A ban on the album by major retailers resulted in the record selling well from independent sellers instead.

The title, censorship and proceedings for alleged profanity

Originally the album was supposed to be called God Save Sex Pistols . Jamie Reid's cover concept did not include a picture of the group. He designed it in neon red and yellow with cut-out letters in a finish that resembles rough screen printing and alludes to the typography of a ransom note. Reid had already designed the cover of the single God Save the Queen in a similar way. In mid-1977 the title of the album was changed. The new one is based on a sentence contributed by Steve Jones: He says he picked up the sentence "Never mind the bollocks" from two fans who kept repeating it to each other. Johnny Rotten explained its importance as a working class expression of "stop talking rubbish". The title can best be translated as "No more shit, here are the Sex Pistols" and underlines the already provocative band name. Another possible translation is: "Fuck the balls, here are the sex pistols!"

In the UK, the album was subject to what the author Heylin referred to as "gross acts of media and retail censorship". London police visited Virgin Record stores in the city and informed those responsible that they would be prosecuted for indecency if they continued to display album cover posters in their windows. So it is prescribed by a law of 1899. The decorations were then either toned down or removed. On November 9, 1977, however, the London Evening Standard announced in its headline Police Move in Punk Disc Shops and reported that a Virgin Records shop manager in Nottingham had been arrested for displaying the album cover. He had n't covered up the word Bollocks . Chris Seale, the store's manager, appeared willingly to have made himself available as a target. He said he had been visited four times by the police and had copies of the album on display each time after she left. After Seale's arrest, Branson announced that he would pay the manager's legal costs and appoint Crown Attorney John Mortimer as defense attorney . In the meantime, attempts have been made to politicize the issue with advertisements for Never Mind the Bollocks in music newspapers. They made headlines in the newspaper about the Sex Pistols controversy, in the sense of “The album will stay. The envelope design is not ”.

Seale's obscenity trial took place in Nottingham County Court on November 24th. Mortimer presented the case as discrimination by the police. During his cross-examination with Seale, he asked why The Guardian and Evening Standard papers (which had referred to the album name) had not been charged with the same crime. When the Chief Justice raised his issue, Mortimer stated that there was obviously a double standard in play and that bollocks would only be viewed as obscene if they appeared on the title of a Sex Pistols album. Mortimer cited an expert witness, Professor James Kinsley, the director of the School of English at the University of Nottingham. He argued that the word Bollocks was not obscene and was a legitimate term in the ancient English language that used to refer to a priest, which in connection with it meant nonsense . Attorney Geoffrey Robertson, who appeared with Mortimer, pointed to the professor who said earlier English translations of the Bible used bollocks to refer to testicles. This has been replaced with the word stones in the King James Version of the Bible . Rotten handed Robertson a slip of paper that read, "Don't worry, if we lose the case, we'll rename the album Never Mind the Stones, Here's the Sex Pistols ."

The Chairman's Closing Words: “As much as my colleagues and I deeply deplore the vulgar exploitation of mankind's lowest instincts for commercial gain from both you and your company, we must grudgingly hear you from each of them find four counts not guilty. "

Track list

11 track version

Side one

No. title composed by length
01 Holidays in the Sun Cook / Jones / Rotten / Vicious 3:22
02 Liar Cook / Jones / Matlock / Rotten 2:41
03 No feelings Cook / Jones / Matlock / Rotten 2:53
04th God Save the Queen Cook / Jones / Matlock / Rotten 3:20
05 Problem Cook / Jones / Matlock / Rotten 0:50

Side two

No. title composed by length
06th Seventeen Cook / Jones / Matlock / Rotten 2:02
07th Anarchy in the UK Cook / Jones / Matlock / Rotten 3:32
08th Bodies Cook / Jones / Rotten / Vicious 3:03
09 Pretty Vacant Cook / Jones / Matlock / Rotten 3:18
010 new York Cook / Jones / Matlock / Rotten 3:07
011 EMI Cook / Jones / Matlock / Rotten 3:10

12-track version (UK Edition)

Side one

No. title
01 Holidays in the Sun
02 Bodies
03 No feelings
04th Liar
05 God Save the Queen
06th Problem

Side two

No. title
07th Seventeen
08th Anarchy in the UK
09 Submission
010 Pretty Vacant
011 new York
012 EMI

content

Cover of the album; the CD reissue was given a green border

In addition to the two pre-released singles Anarchy in the U. K. and God Save the Queen , the album contains songs on such unusual and shocking topics as abortion / miscarriage ( bodies ) and submission ( submission ). The latter ironizes the topic. Seventeen shows a social antithesis. EMI is a musical settlement with the previous label partner and Pretty Vacant the description of an alternative view of life. The tracks on the album are part of the band's live repertoire at the time. They are rough, aggressive rock with the signature anti-singing of John Lydon. What doesn't seem particularly unusual today was a radical break with the previously predominant progressive rock . It was an alternative to its sprawling solos and arrangements. With their album, the Sex Pistols served the burgeoning punk and new wave movement and offered aggressive, simple and pithy pieces freed from bombast.

effect

Parody of the cover of Die Toten Hosen

Never Mind the Bollocks remained the only official album release of the band, which broke up in early 1978. The developing punk soon sounded completely different and, above all, got faster. In addition to the music, the optical iconography that the Sex Pistols and Malcolm McLaren created with the selection of the album cover and their clothing style at the time is new. The attitude of the musicians in their public appearances also contributes to this. The eye-catching album marks the commercial breakthrough of the punk movement in the second half of the 1970s.

In the early 1980s, The Bollock Brothers mimicked the album in a new wave style. Die Toten Hosen received later than the red roses album title and album cover for their album Never Mind The Hosen - Here's The Red Roses for.

The music magazine Rolling Stone says:
Musically, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols is just about the most exciting rock & roll record of the Seventies.
German: "Musically, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols is pretty much the most exciting rock & roll record of the seventies."

In 2012, the German edition of Rolling Stone magazine voted Never Mind the Bollocks the sixth best album of all time .

Chart successes

year Charts position
2012 German charts 77
1977 UK albums chart 1
1978 US Billboard 200 106
2015 UK The Top 40 Vinyl Album 7th

Awards

organization Award date
BPI - UK gold 17th November 1977
BPI - UK platinum January 15, 1988
RIAA - US gold 2nd December 1987
RIAA - US platinum March 26, 1992
NVPI - Netherlands gold 1990

Cover versions

Alberto Y Lost Paranoias released their album Skite in 1978 with their version of Anarchy in the UK . In 1983 The Bollock Brothers released a title-by-title cover version of the album called Never Mind the Bollocks in 1983 . The thrash metal band- Megadeth brought in 1988 their third album out, So Far, So Good ... So What! with a cover version of Anarchy in the UK . Megadeth also recorded a cover version of Problems for the Hidden Treasures EP . The glam metal band Motley Crue coverte 1991 Anarchy in the UK for their compilation, Decade of Decadence 81-91 . The South Korean band No Brain released a title-by-title cover version of the album entitled Never Mind The Sex Pistols, Here's The No Brain, on the Cujo Entertainment label in 2001 . In 2005, Galaxie 500 released a cover version of Submission on their album Peel Sessions , which was recorded in 1989 and 1990. A purely acoustic track-by-track cover version of the album was released by Artichoke in 2006. The Irish folk-punk band Mr. Irish Bastard recorded a cover version of the entire album in 2011 and named it Never Mind the Bastards, Here's Mr. Irish Bollocks .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 40 years ago: Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols. In: loudwire. loudwire.com, accessed November 3, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols. In: discogs. discogs.com, accessed October 31, 2018 .
  3. ↑ laut.de-biography The Sex Pistols. In: loud. laut.de, accessed on January 6, 2019 .
  4. ↑ John Lydon: Anger Is an Energy - my life uncensored . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, in the Random House GmbH publishing group, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-453-26977-4 , p. 143-144 .
  5. ↑ Sex Pistols - Bill Grundy Interview 1.12.76. In: youtube. youtube.com, December 1, 1976, accessed November 6, 2018 .
  6. ^ Transcript: Sex Pistols v Bill Grundy. In: theguardian. theguardian.com, February 4, 2004, accessed November 6, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Jon Bennett: Queen's 'News of the World': 10 Things You Didn't Know. In: loudersound. loudersound.com, December 2, 2016, accessed November 6, 2018 .
  8. ^ A b Phil Singleton: Studio Recording Sessions, The Complete Guide, Part One: 1976. In: philjens. philjens.plus.com, accessed November 25, 2018 .
  9. ^ Phil Singleton: Studio Recording Sessions, The Complete Guide, Part Two: 1977. In: philjens. philjens.plus.com, accessed on November 11, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Sex Pistols: God Save the Queen. In: lyrics. songtexte.com, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Sex Pistols: Pretty Vacant. In: lyrics. songtexte.com, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  12. ↑ a b Classic Albums - Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks [DVD]. Isis Productions, 2002.
  13. ↑ Sex Pistols, among others: Never Mind the Bollocks. Cherry Lane Music, 2007, ISBN 978-1-57560-943-0 , p. 64.
  14. ^ Clinton Heylin, Nina Antonia: Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks . Cherry Lane Music, ISBN 978-1-57560-943-0 , pp. 66 (English).
  15. ^ Clinton Heylin, Nina Antonia: Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks . Cherry Lane Music, ISBN 978-1-57560-943-0 , pp. 70 (English).
  16. ^ Dan Epstein: Queen's 'News of the World': 10 Things You Didn't Know. In: rollingstone. rollingstone.com, October 28, 2017, accessed February 2, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Mark Blake: Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic. In: Omnibus Press. Kindle Edition, September 12, 2016, accessed December 9, 2018 .
  18. ^ Clinton Heylin, Nina Antonia: Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks . Cherry Lane Music, ISBN 978-1-57560-943-0 , pp. 72 (English).
  19. ^ Clinton Heylin, Nina Antonia: Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks . Cherry Lane Music, ISBN 978-1-57560-943-0 , pp. 78 (English).
  20. ^ Clinton Heylin, Nina Antonia: Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks . Cherry Lane Music, ISBN 978-1-57560-943-0 , pp. 81-82 (English).
  21. ^ Clinton Heylin, Nina Antonia: Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks . Cherry Lane Music, ISBN 978-1-57560-943-0 , pp. 87-90 (English).
  22. ↑ Vivienne Westwood, Ian Kelly: Vivienne Westwood . Bastei Lübbe AG, Cologne, ISBN 978-3-8479-0571-4 , p. 64 .
  23. ^ A b Clinton Heylin, Nina Antonia: Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks . Cherry Lane Music, ISBN 978-1-57560-943-0 , pp. 98 (English).
  24. ↑ David Raposa: Sex Pistols Spunk. In: pitchfork. pitchfork.com, June 6, 2006, accessed November 27, 2018 .
  25. ^ Clinton Heylin, Nina Antonia: Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks . Cherry Lane Music, ISBN 978-1-57560-943-0 , pp. 105 (English).
  26. ^ Clinton Heylin, Nina Antonia: Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks . Cherry Lane Music, ISBN 978-1-57560-943-0 , pp. 109 (English).
  27. ↑ Jamie Reid: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. In: Virgin. superseventies.com, 1977, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  28. ↑ Jon Savage : England's Dreaming - Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock . Edition Tiamat from Verlag Klaus Bittermann, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89320-045-2 , p. 409 .
  29. ^ Clinton Heylin, Nina Antonia: Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks . Cherry Lane Music, ISBN 978-1-57560-943-0 , pp. 112 (English).
  30. ^ Clinton Heylin, Nina Antonia: Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks . Cherry Lane Music, ISBN 978-1-57560-943-0 , pp. 113 (English).
  31. ^ Clinton Heylin, Nina Antonia: Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks . Cherry Lane Music, ISBN 978-1-57560-943-0 , pp. 113 (English).
  32. ↑ nottingham.ac.uk
  33. ↑ Richard Branson: Life at 30,000 feet TED interview (Mar 2007, posted in Oct 2007), in which Richard Branson discusses the Never mind the Bollocks ... court case (at 18:30 minutes). Accessed November 4, 2018 .
  34. ^ Geoffrey Robertson: The Justice Game . Random House, 2011.
  35. ^ Never mind the Sex Pistols, here's to 30 years of bollocks. In: heraldscotland. heraldscotland.com, October 27, 2007, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  36. ↑ Sex Pistols: Never mind the pants here's the red roses. In: dietotenhosen. dietotenhosen.de, July 13, 1987, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  37. ↑ Paul Nelson: Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols. In: rollingstone. rollingstone.com, February 23, 1978, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  38. ↑ The Top 40 Vinyl Album Chart. XFM, April 29, 2015, archived from the original on May 3, 2015 ; accessed on November 5, 2018 .
  39. ↑ a b RIAA - Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - October 6, 2012. In: riaa.com. Retrieved October 7, 2012 .
  40. ↑ discogs: Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias - Skite. In: discogs. discogs.com, 1978, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  41. ↑ No Brain: Never Mind The Sex Pistols, Here's The No Brain. In: discogs. discogs.com, 2001, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  42. ^ Artichoke: Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols By Artichoke. In: discogs. discogs.com, 2006, accessed November 4, 2018 .
  43. ↑ Dominik Heinrichs: Mr. Irish Bastard: Bowing to the Sex Pistols . In: Zillo Medieval . No. 2 , 2012, p. 37 .