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. Zoot Marimba

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

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    Smart man.
     
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  2. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
    Sub-Mission has the same chords as The Doors' Hello I Love You, but doesn't sound alike at all.

    The demo version from July 1976 is also splendid.

    Worth listening to the outtakes that appear at the "Pretty Vacant" Virgin release from 1992, and in the 35th / 40th anniversary packs. Legend goes it's Sid in some of those.
     
  3. Sandinista

    Sandinista Forum Resident

    I've long thought that the opening one-two punch of Holidays into Bodies was among the most devastating of any of the albums I've heard.

    Holidays is a kick ass slab and it's very much to like frying pan into the fire because Bodies is just shattering.

    Much like the first song, I didn't grab but thin grasp of the song REALLY lyric-wise but I immediately understood the emotional scream, scorn, and venom.

    As years went on and I grew up, I obviously understood the different lyrical angles that Bodies embodies (forgive me) and I just found it be that much more brutal and smart.

    I see it now as a tour de force for Johnny lyrically in the sense there is simply no way to be ambivalent about what he's saying much less how he's saying it.

    And, and this is the real genius that drives it imo, there is no way to feel comfortable about Johnyy's different POV lyrically regardless of what your views on the subject matter. Whether you are for it or against it, there is something there lyrically to fill you with dread and revulsion.

    I think there's an argument to made it's the Pistols most courageous song and is only not written about more because journalists didn't know how to write about it. Or perhaps it was/is just to combustible a topic to dig down into in a record review. I have zero proof it was avoided on those grounds of course - it's just something I've wondered.
     
  4. Zoot Marimba

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

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    Great to have you here! Can’t wait to read your other reviews!
     
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  5. Sandinista

    Sandinista Forum Resident

    Went of on such a Johnny tangent, I was remiss to not throw props to Steve and Paul for the absolute pounding they give Bodies.

    That certainly gives all the weight to Johnny's delivery and that pause... my god... that pause right before the "f(*& this..." bridge... when I was a kid the overall attack that came after that pause.... well, the pause always filled my 10 yr old brain with a mixture of excitement and dread.

    And it still gets me.

    Really just a powerhouse performance all the way around.
    And, like many others have posted so I won't go on at length about, but... the loping pace of Bodies (a lot of the album really) allows the band to lean all the way into it. Thank the empty sky they didn't speed it up.
     
  6. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
    Many years ago I bought the German edition of the Anarchy single at Amoeba Records for about 4 dollars. I thought I was so lucky. Then recently I found out it is a counterfeit. Still have it though.
     
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  7. jimod99

    jimod99 Daddy or chips?

    Location:
    Ottawa, ON
    I have the counterfeit copy too, I did know that when I bought it though.
     
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  8. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
    So well done that it worth it.
     
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  9. Standoffish

    Standoffish Smarter than a turkey

    Location:
    North Carolina
    Sub-Mission

    This sounds like a punk version of early Black Sabbath. I really like the guitar tone throughout, and the pacing. Good track.

    Wow, I re-listened and you're right! Pretty cool that they took that same chord progression and made it into a new song.
     
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  10. Zoot Marimba

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

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    Live in 1977:
     
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  11. 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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  12. PaperbackBroadstreet

    PaperbackBroadstreet Forum Resident

    See that’s funny as I feel it’s the weakest track of the album.

    Not saying it’s a horrible song.

    Just relatively speaking it’s weaker than the others here.

    Now that I see the above note I can see why.

    Feels more like a b side track. Sure, fun in it’s own way but not essential.

    Your mileage may vary.
     
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  13. Zoot Marimba

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

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
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  14. Veni Vidi Vici

    Veni Vidi Vici Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    I hope we can bend the rules a bit and include the b-sides in this most excellent thread. If there’s one track there which can stand in the company of the best of Bollocks, it’s “Satellite”, a recording which demands homage, I tell you, it DEMANDS it.
     
  15. Zoot Marimba

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

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
  16. Zoot Marimba

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

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    I am doing B-Sides once the album proper finishes.
     
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  17. Veni Vidi Vici

    Veni Vidi Vici Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    The “sonic touches” always remind me of the silly noises kids used to make in class when they were bored and the teacher had his back to them. One of those noises in particular sounds very much like it was made with a sweaty armpit. Mercifully my advancing years means I cannot remember how to make it, but the sound will be with me always. Utterly evocative of obnoxious yobbos taking the p*ss, which is how McLaren inspired it - and a brilliant tic, production-wise. I can’t think of any other song like it.
     
  18. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
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  19. BadJack

    BadJack doorman who always high-fives children of divorce

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    That little blast of noise after Lydon sings "watery love" in the last verse is possibly my favorite moment in their entire catalog. I can't explain it.
     
  20. flaxton

    flaxton Forum Resident

    Location:
    Uk
    I agree bad jack. I always listen out for it. I think it’s a guitar.
     
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  21. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    This exactly why I like this song so much. It’s a got a great groove to it. I can see why a lot of fans think it’s a “lesser” song. It’s less driving and more of a conventional, mid paced rocker.
     
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  22. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    Submission is sort of an oddity in the Pistols canon for me; with the rest of their songs, I almost always have a definite preference for one version or another, but with Submission, I think there are three equally great versions: NMTB, Spunk, and the alternate on This Is Crap (supposedly with Sid on bass).
     
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  23. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
    Just for fun I dug out my Never Mind The Bollocks Alternative Takes 7" box set and put it to play. First 7" is Holidays / Bodies.

    John's singing improved a lot from these to the final versions.
     
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  24. Zoot Marimba

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

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    Pretty Vacant:

    And now we come to the third single prior to this album, which came about from Glen fiddling with the riff to SOS by ABBA. The song gained notoriety due to John’s pronunciation of Vacant as va-C*NT, Which fans enjoyed singing at concerts.
    That very riff kicks off the song, backed by Cookie’s drumming, and it does have a slight pop bent that wouldn’t be too Out Of Place in the later new wave era. Of course, John comes roaring in with that classic snarl. I don’t have as much to say, but this is a fun tune, catchy, head bopping, of course everyone is great as always, this is a cool song, I love it, even though it isn’t a favorite of mine, definitely my least favorite of the four singles.
     
  25. Zoot Marimba

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

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    Live in 1976-77:
     
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