The heydey of the Sex Pistols was a confused period. Punk was anti-establishment and anti-wealth, but also anti-popularity. The bigger it became, the more the self-styled founders could not recognise it. So perhaps its fitting that Sid Vicious didn't live to see it become just another part of the mainstream (David Cameron famously claims he listened to them) and Johnny Rotten left just as they were at their most popular. Its odd to think that in their most celebrated form, they only existed from 1975 - 1978. However, the destructive heroin vice that Sid started and Nancy, his prostitute girlfriend encouraged, clearly hurts Johnny to this day. While most of the world thought it was always going to go wrong, Rotten thinks that if he had just been a little less self obsessed that he could have saved his friend. That is the emotional core that brings this film together and with the rare participation of most of the rest of the main figures (most shielding their faces for some reason I couldn't figure out), this film may be the best "authorised" documentary history of the period.
Formed from a group of kids who regularly hung around a fetish clothing shop called SEX on the King's Road, the Pistols' style was both apparently completely random, and somehow consistent. Leather jackets came later as the earliest punks couldn't have afforded them, but shared hate and anger led to clothing and sneers themed on fairly consistent destruction. Much of that was driven by the perceived persecution of the working class, which also led to Rotten replacing band member Matlock, who was just too middle class. Though Matlock's recollection was that their manager, McLaren had sowed the seeds of discontent.
In fact, the conflicting stories of the fall outs and interband fighting has a very "This is Spinal Tap" feel to it. The manipulative, narcissistic manager McLaren and the interfering girlfriend Nancy Spungen preside over the decline. Various labels sign them and kick them out. Interview and newspaper scandals follow but the music is good. "God Save the Queen" becomes the anti-establishment anthem and their popularity rises.
Their US tour is the end of the line. Infighting, Sid's drug use, and some very hostile redneck gigs bring the whole thing crashing down. The animosity felt between the band and the crowd is evident from the film footage. This pushed the "don't care" attitudes of those on stage to the very limit and raises very real questions about what the point is. Its clear that they are in some physical danger here, clashing against a culture that presumably admires their music but might have different interpretation of who the enemy is. Vicious in particular develops a stream of headline grabbing actions, most of which are clearly in response to the reception he gets.
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In Texas he calls the crowd a "bunch of faggots" and hits someone with his bass guitar. Later, bleeding from his mouth after being hit by a bottle from the crowd he spits blood at a woman who has climbed onstage. Given he is an intravenous drug user who also lives in his own filth, thats quite an attack. But whether the escalation could have happened without the confrontational crowd is another question. Maclaren later admitted purposely creating hostile situations, presumably in a misguided attempt to generate publicity.
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Rotten is done by San Francisco, playing one song, the appropriate "No Fun" and storming off saying "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" He didn't play with the Sex Pistols again until 1996. Sid and Nancy have their own terrible ends in the following years. Nancy tied of a stab wound to the chest, Sid the only suspect for her murder. A few months later while on bail Sid OD'd on heroin with friends from his first hit following his detox in jail at Rikers Island.
The Sex Pistols only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, is widely regarded as one of the best and most influential albums ever. However, by 2012 (12 years after this documentary), "God Save the Queen" became a part of the Olympics opening ceremony, an event opened and attended by the Queen herself. Rotten is proud of the impact the Sex Pistols had, and other than the loss of his friend he seems to have a stoic interpretation of his past with the band. But time has diluted the outrage of their behaviour and allowed it all to have been absorbed into the culture that they despised.
7 / 10
Formed from a group of kids who regularly hung around a fetish clothing shop called SEX on the King's Road, the Pistols' style was both apparently completely random, and somehow consistent. Leather jackets came later as the earliest punks couldn't have afforded them, but shared hate and anger led to clothing and sneers themed on fairly consistent destruction. Much of that was driven by the perceived persecution of the working class, which also led to Rotten replacing band member Matlock, who was just too middle class. Though Matlock's recollection was that their manager, McLaren had sowed the seeds of discontent.
In fact, the conflicting stories of the fall outs and interband fighting has a very "This is Spinal Tap" feel to it. The manipulative, narcissistic manager McLaren and the interfering girlfriend Nancy Spungen preside over the decline. Various labels sign them and kick them out. Interview and newspaper scandals follow but the music is good. "God Save the Queen" becomes the anti-establishment anthem and their popularity rises.
Their US tour is the end of the line. Infighting, Sid's drug use, and some very hostile redneck gigs bring the whole thing crashing down. The animosity felt between the band and the crowd is evident from the film footage. This pushed the "don't care" attitudes of those on stage to the very limit and raises very real questions about what the point is. Its clear that they are in some physical danger here, clashing against a culture that presumably admires their music but might have different interpretation of who the enemy is. Vicious in particular develops a stream of headline grabbing actions, most of which are clearly in response to the reception he gets.
The Sex Pistols only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, is widely regarded as one of the best and most influential albums ever. However, by 2012 (12 years after this documentary), "God Save the Queen" became a part of the Olympics opening ceremony, an event opened and attended by the Queen herself. Rotten is proud of the impact the Sex Pistols had, and other than the loss of his friend he seems to have a stoic interpretation of his past with the band. But time has diluted the outrage of their behaviour and allowed it all to have been absorbed into the culture that they despised.
7 / 10