1. Holidays in the Sun
2. Bodies
3. No Feelings
4. Liar
5. God Save The Queen
6. Problems
7. Seventeen
8. Anarchy in the UK
9. Submission
10. Pretty Vacant
11. New York
12. EMI
Best Track: Anarchy in the UK
Attitude over music? Not in my books lads
The Sex Pistols are given the crown of the best punk band (at least for the class of '77 bands) more by historical influence then for anything that they actually made. The Clash, undersevedly receive the second spot despite them being more eclectic and political, The Jam had a better songwriter in Paul Weller and a much greater respect for their forefathers, The Buzzcocks effectively invented pop-punk, The Damned had a much better vocalist and The Ramones melodically easily trumped the Pistols. So really what made them so special to receive the "greatest" tag? Perhaps one would say their only studio LP, Never Mind The Bollocks..., would answer this question. And well, in my eyes without doubt it did answer it at the very least.
Holidays in The Sun kicks us off, with a riff that sounds eerily similar to The Jam's In The City. It isn't the worst riff to copy but it immediately gives off the odour of these guys having not much creative ability. Lydon's vocals come across in a whiny tone that isn't used strongly here. Bodies uses his cockney whine to better effect, with the all out agression marrying nicely with his remarkably descriptive tales of abortion and saying fuck over 6 times. The opening line (She was a girl from Birmingham/She just had an abortion) sets the scene with perfect clarity for those who were confused about the Pistols were! No Feelings has quite a bland guitar line, but the No Feeling hook is gripping and yet again Lydon whines along with the overall pace of the rhythm section quite energetically. So the vocals so far haven't been bad, if anything they are very appropriate with the style and attitude of punk.
I can't say that for the guitarwork though, which is really a major problem for the whole record. Take the track Liar for example. The problem isn't with the solo, which is interesting enough in a pacy snappy kind of way, it's with the main riffs of the songs. The're all very samey, straight forward and lacking any real attraction melodically. And with a rhythm section that is only half decent (with the decent bit being Cook's steady drumming, certainly not Sid Vicious' bass playing, if you can call it playing), this means that there is really puts a lot of pressure on Lydon to do a good vocal job, otherwise it'll all fall to shit. The rant against the Royals being God Save The Queen straddles this line between half decent punk and amateurish bollocks, with a somewhat effective riff having a showdown with Lydons shrieks. But the middle section is simply noise and unintelligible Lydon aristocracy bashing, before an ok (yes only ok) outgoing hook of "No Future....for you" leading out the song. Problems has a decent riff, which is only really enhanced by some surpisingly nimble drumming from Cook. The real problem here is that Lydon completely messes up the main hook of the song, turning it into an ugly slur that could only be memorable to perhaps some inebriates, which was the main punk audience really.
Seventeen is an unmemorable run-of-the-mill gritty punk rush, but then we get the Pistol's calling card Anarchy in the UK. Well for once Jones delivers a strong riff that pushs the song along with energy, whilst Lydon's vibrating wailing really hits, especially when he goes on about the MPLA and IRA. And of course who can not be perked up by the outgoing cry of "I wanna beeee innnn anarchyyyyy..."? This is perhaps the best this band ever got working as a band, rather then as individuals. If someone wanted a song that perhaps defined the Pistols best than this would fit in nicely.
Submission gets points for being a bit weird, with all the rubbery sound making that jars nicely with perhaps Sid's only decent bassline. (Or was this one of the songs that Matlock played on? If so then Mr Vicious did shit-fucking all musically!) The riffing is perhaps at it's best with guitar hero favourite Pretty Vacant, which is solid enough in the vocals department as well. New York is another example though of the bland riffing I mentioned before, and with little else to latch on to how can I really like this song? Lydon raging about porno-faggots? Nope. My reaction is exactly the same for EMI.
So what do I say? Pretty bollocks would be apt, but there is enough mildly interesting material here and certainly this album doesn't lack in attitude. A second album woud've been interesting; simply to see if the band would progress or stick to their classic "destroy everything" punk schtick. Or maybe they would've drifted down more into a post-punk/noise rock path like Lydon's next band Public Image Limited, which in my eyes is significantly superior to the Pistols. But anyway the fact is the Pistols had their brief moment in the sun, and they did have influence for many punk bands that came after. Despite this I can only really give this record a weak 7.
7/15
