Sex Pistols

The Sex Pistols. Now, I should say — I'm not one for the swearin' in songs. Never have been. But the Sex Pistols are important. You can't tell the story of British music without 'em. One studio album. A handful of singles. A chaotic eighteen months at the centre of British culture. But in that brief explosive moment, they changed everythin'. Before the Pistols, British rock was bloated, professional, distant. After 'em, anyone with three chords and an attitude could start a band. They were the match that lit the punk fire.

Formed in London in 75, brought together by manager Malcolm McLaren who ran a clothin' boutique called Sex on the King's Road. The original line-up — Johnny Rotten on vocals, Steve Jones on guitar, Glen Matlock on bass, Paul Cook on drums — was rough, confrontational, deliberately provocative. Matlock, considered too musically proficient, was replaced by Sid Vicious in early 77. Vicious could barely play, but he embodied punk's nihilism like no one else.

Their first single, Anarchy in the UK (76), was a declaration of war. Rotten's sneerin' vocal and Jones's raw distorted guitar created a sound violent, thrilling, utterly new. A notorious television interview with Bill Grundy — the band swore on live television — turned 'em into national villains and overnight sensations. The tabloid hysteria that followed was unprecedented.

77 was their year. In Jubilee year, they released God Save the Queen — a venomous attack on monarchy and establishment. Banned by the BBC and most radio stations, yet reached number two on the UK singles chart — widely believed to have been kept from the top by chart-riggin'. The cover, a defaced portrait of the Queen with a safety pin through her lip, became one of the most iconic images in pop culture. Pretty Vacant and Holidays in the Sun followed.

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (77) is the only studio album, and it remains one of the most important in British music history. Eleven tracks of raw furious brilliantly crafted punk rock. Number one in the UK.

The band imploded on their disastrous US tour in early 78. Rotten left mid-performance, famously sayin' 'Ever get the feelin' you've been cheated?' Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in 79. The Sex Pistols were finished. But their influence was immeasurable. They inspired hundreds of punk bands, changed the way music was made and marketed, proved that anger and intelligence could be a creative force. The benchmark for British rock rebellion — a band that mattered not despite their flaws, but because of 'em.