Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols Song by Song Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Zoot Marimba, Feb 26, 2018.

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  1. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
    First time I listened to Anarchy In The UK it was the "quotation" version in The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle. I just loved the song. When I later listened to the Bollocks version I thought it was weaker and I was disappointed. Now I love both but I still prefer the "quotation" version.
     
  2. Standoffish

    Standoffish Smarter than a turkey

    Location:
    North Carolina
    Seventeen

    Just good old-fashioned punk rock. I can hear the influence on the 80s punk bands I listened to, especially Minor Threat.

    Anarchy in the UK

    We can argue about where punk rock originated (The Who, Iggy, MC5?), but there's no arguing that this is the punk rock anthem.

    Johnny is in full "snarl mode" here. The dude is angry. Cookie Monster is driving the song, with some good rhythm guitar and bass. As Musicman mentioned, this is a good mix. Johnny's vocals are placed in the front of the mix, because they're the highlight. The drums are featured, but don't impede the vocals. The guitar is emphasized as necessary.

    This song is iconic, and deservedly so.
     
  3. TheLoveDrags

    TheLoveDrags Forum Resident

    I really enjoy how the guitars are spread out left and right on "Anarchy" as opposed to the near mono of the other tracks...
    This track def. stands outs from the others, production wise, to my ears anyway...
    Not that I think that makes it better or worse, the whole album is damn near flawless...
     
  4. PaperbackBroadstreet

    PaperbackBroadstreet Forum Resident

    RIGHT NOW!!!!!

    This is the strongest song on the album. If there were only one track to show what this band was about, this is it.

    If there’s a walking dead zombie apocalypse, I want this song blaring.

    The absolute power in the lyrics and the playing.

    Don’t know what I want but I know how to get it!

    Really I can’t describe enough great things here. It grabs you by the soul and shakes you. I’m gen x and can only imagine hearing this back then. I was hoping to hear this at the 2012 games being broadcast.

    This song seems to sum up what was happening then and now. It is timeless.

    Snarling, brooding with an attitude that won’t quit.

    This is a major reason why music matters.
     
  5. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group Thread Starter

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    Live in 1976:
     
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  6. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group Thread Starter

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    Live in the Reunion Era:
     
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  7. Veni Vidi Vici

    Veni Vidi Vici Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    McLaren thought they would be arrested before getting out of the building.

    While it takes a keen interest in situationism and haberdashery to post hoc theorize about it, it takes a long criminal record and some proletarian couldn’t-give-a-monkeys to actually make it happen...
     
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  8. Veni Vidi Vici

    Veni Vidi Vici Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    A pivotal moment for not just the history of rock’n’roll but for modern Britain, and it only happened because Queen decided to bail on the TV spot at the last minute and the Pistols were available to fill in. Imagine if Freddie hadn’t been washing his hair that evening...
     
  9. jimod99

    jimod99 Daddy or chips?

    Location:
    Ottawa, ON
    [​IMG]

    The two EMI pressings and the French Barclay 7” which was heavily imported into the UK after the EMI was withdrawn and sold thousands, probably more than the 30,000 rumoured copies of the EMI’s that were pressed (5000 in black sleeves)
     
  10. nodeerforamonth

    nodeerforamonth Consistently misunderstood

    Location:
    San Diego,CA USA
    Anarchy In The UK: 9.1/10
     
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  11. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group Thread Starter

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    Here’s Megadeth’s cover w Steve on guitar:

    Steve is on it, and even that can’t save it. And this is not the worst cover of this song I have heard.
     
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  12. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group Thread Starter

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    This is.....
     
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  13. Veni Vidi Vici

    Veni Vidi Vici Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    I reckon Jonesey must have told Mustaine the totally-clueless lyrics for a wind up. For all their heavy metal chops, the guitars on both covers are anaemic in comparison to the original, and the vocals prove that "we mean it, maaaan" was more than just a throwaway line.
     
  14. Randoms

    Randoms Aerie Faerie Nonsense

    Location:
    UK
    I certainly know who bought one of those French Barclays!
     
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  15. Randoms

    Randoms Aerie Faerie Nonsense

    Location:
    UK
    I think he went to the dentist! :D
     
  16. vamborules

    vamborules Forum Resident

    Location:
    CT
    One of the main things these covers never get right is the tempo. They always play it way too fast and it loses so much of the power.
     
  17. Randoms

    Randoms Aerie Faerie Nonsense

    Location:
    UK
    So many powerful songs are actually fairly slow, and sound better slow. I've seen numerous bands killing songs such as Rocking In The Free World, and, Smells Like Teen Spirit by playing too fast.

    The Sex Pistols were never fast, but often powerful.
     
  18. jtsjc1

    jtsjc1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    helmetta, nj usa
    Exactly the Pistols never really played fast. I think their best stuff is slower tempo. You want fast then turn on the DKs.
     
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  19. Ethan B

    Ethan B Forum Resident

    Location:
    san diego
    At the time of release the album was weakened by having all the singles on it. You were already familiar with them
     
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  20. yarbles

    yarbles Too sick to pray

    Anarchy: after seeing them play it live on So It Goes, it was amusing to hear they'd signed to EMI, the UK's most staid label and home of geriatrics' music like Cliff Richard and The Beatles. Although it was only a couple of months, the wait for a single release seemed to last forever, but when I finally got it in my hands after school on a dark, cold & wet November evening, although the plain black sleeve was a little disappointing, it felt like I was handling a sacred tract. The music itself was unexpectedly smooth, surprisingly trad, nothing like I remembered from the TV appearance. I think I even preferred the rawer B-side that first day...still, I played it around 15 times on repeat, and memorised the lyrics in time for school the next day. A couple of days later, I took it into music class, and to his credit the teacher played the whole thing without flinching. Most of the kids hated it!

    Strangely, I've never enjoyed hearing it on the album. Maybe it's wrongly sequenced, but I just don't look forward to hearing it, never have. Often skip it.

    As for those covers, I used to think Crue's was the better of the two, but hearing it again now, it sucks. Megadeth's is marginally better musically, but can't take it seriously with those lyrics. They also did a similarly inept version of Problems:

     
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  21. yarbles

    yarbles Too sick to pray

    It didn't bother me with Holidays as that was quite recent, and GSTQ was perfectly sequenced, on the UK version at least. But as I've said above, I've never enjoyed Anarchy on the album, and although PV is always welcome, its effect is somewhat diluted on the album, IMO.
     
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  22. Blueshirt

    Blueshirt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ireland
    I see your French Barclay, and raise you with an EMI German! :)

    [​IMG]
     
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  23. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group Thread Starter

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    Sub-Mission:

    Now we arrive at Sub Mission, which was written when Malcolm wanted a song about S&M, having owned the fetish Shop SEX, and John, having enough of Malcolm, instead wrote the song about an underwater vessel.
    Steve slashes through the song while Cookie accompanies him on the cymbal before laying down such a stellar pocket, and the two lock into a fantastic groove, while John snarls his way through the vocals, snidely confessing his being fed up with his partner, and God do I love everybody on here, it moves and flows so excellently and never loses that attitude or conviction. I also like the little sonic touches here and there as well. This is such an awesome song and....
    MY FAVORITE on the album, it is so excellent and kicks much ass.
     
  24. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
    Never heard this one and intend to remain like that
     
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  25. jimod99

    jimod99 Daddy or chips?

    Location:
    Ottawa, ON
    To add a little bit, it was of course initially omitted from the album, around 10,000 copies of a one sided 7” single were pressed by Virgin and added to the 11 track version, around 100o copies of the album had already been shipped to North America by the time this happened however!

    In France and Belgium the 11 track album on Barclay remained without the additional single and Submission was subsequently issued as a single in France with New York on the B side. However 12 track copies on Barclay had Submission added as track 6 on side 1.

    The 11 track Japanese copies on Columbia also did not receive Submission as an extra.
     
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