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
    Epic. Someone behind me threw something at John but missed. He thought it was me, he was furious, looked directly into my eyes and called me a "WANKER". Then immediately forgot about it and looked somewhere else.

    Very few times in my life I had been so terrified. I almost **** my pants.

    But now it's cool to remember.
     
  2. BadJack

    BadJack doorman who always high-fives children of divorce

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    He had an issue with a spitter at my show. Wasn't me, I was in the cheap seats!
     
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  3. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
    He got a bottle in his forehead in Chile recently. There are videos on YouTube. A strong guy tried to fight the bottle thrower but it seems like he was able to run away.
    Ok, some people might hate him, I can live with that. But to throw a glass bottle at a sexagenarian's head is unacceptable.
     
  4. BadJack

    BadJack doorman who always high-fives children of divorce

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    I've never really had much of an urge to throw anything at anyone onstage. I think Lydon's words to the guy trying to spit on him were along the lines of, "I don't know what you think you're doing, but you've got it wrong."

    It's funny to me now that I'm old and decrepit myself that the "geezers" I saw live in 1996 were all 40.
     
  5. DTK

    DTK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Europe
    Bodies is my favorite Pistols album track.
    The opening riff is menacing, and it just builds from there. It sounds like John is shocked and disgusted by the whole thing, and who wouldn't be. Lunatics at your doorstep, the price of notoriety?
     
  6. PaperbackBroadstreet

    PaperbackBroadstreet Forum Resident

    I’m not an animal an animal an animal! I ain’t no animal!

    Really great 1 2 punch.

    I don’t think that John preaches anti or pro abortion in the song (without getting into politics here either way).

    I know his quote towards anyone who labels his views one way or the other were labeled a sausage (specific type of sausage that I cannot say here).

    I enjoy how the song sort of pauses before the guitars ramp up again.

    His vocals match the guitar speed very well. Really note for note.

    Definitely food for thought in the lyrics.
     
  7. PaperbackBroadstreet

    PaperbackBroadstreet Forum Resident

    I would lose all bodily functions now if the same situation happened with me and John. He is fierce when mad.

    I never understood throwing anything at a performer. That is wanker behavior in every case.

    I realize it wasn’t you who did it. :D
     
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  8. Tommy Jay

    Tommy Jay Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    Thank You for a song by song thread on one of the greatest and most influential records ever released.

    I had bought every single up to the point of the album release and bought the album the week it came out. I can honestly say the Sex Pistols (and the Ramones and Iggy) changed my life as I turned from a CSNY type musician into a punk rocker almost overnight. No regrets!

    Today, I don't play it nearly as often as I used to, but it still holds up as well as anything in the punk canon. "Holidays" and "Bodies"...what a one- two punch. The vitriol is palpable and you can almost feel the spittle as Johnny snarls out the lyrics to Bodies. Steve Jones is always on my list of underrated guitarists. I was able to tell him so after one of his solo gigs touring for his Fire & Gasoline record. He was backing the Hunter Ronson Band at a club that held 2,000 people. There were about 50 people in attendance. Ridiculous. I walked up to the stage after his set, handed him a Heineken and gave him the compliment. He chugged about half of it down, bent over, shook my hand, and said "Thanks, mate!"
    Ah, memories!
     
  9. Smokin Chains

    Smokin Chains Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashua, NH
    When I first heard the album (I maybe 15 in 1986) I remember being very disappointed about how good they were. All I ever read about in Rolling Stone is that they could barely play. I did end up liking the album a ton. I was already into stuff like Black Flag so maybe that had something to do with it, I was expecting something much more raw.
     
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  10. Standoffish

    Standoffish Smarter than a turkey

    Location:
    North Carolina
    Bodies

    Whoa, these are some dark lyrics. I'm skeptical that some woman actually showed up with an aborted fetus at Johnny's door, but I'll leave that discussion there.

    Paul Cook stays strong in the pocket, and drives the song while throwing some fills.

    There's definitely a chordal similarity to "Anarchy" in this, but it's a good song in its own right.
     
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  11. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
    Something interesting in the drumming on both these songs (and, sorry for breaking the rules, also in the next one).

    First, the mix. It follows a traditional pattern with kick drum, snare drum and hi-hat in the center, other cymbals and toms panned to the left and to the right. These cymbals and toms sound like if you're looking at Paul: the crash cymbal he used at his left is on the right channel, the crash cymbal he used at his right is on the left channel. So they're in the correct side if you're looking at him in front of the drumkit. Same to tomtoms. The tom he has on his left is on the right channel, the floor tom on his right is in the left channel. Close your eyes and imagine the drumkit, you will see Paul playing in the space while you listen to it. Very nice!

    Second, the pattern. Both songs have a very similar four on the floor pattern like this: _ K K S _ K K S _ K K S ["K" for kick drum, "S" for snare, "_" for none of them]. This pattern puts the song forwards, like if the song is already up but going even higher every time. This pattern will be used again in the next song making the first three songs something that pulls you ahead. Paul is partially responsible for this feeling of being always going up, forward and stronger in the beginning of the record.

    About Bodies, also, the breaks after the chorus before the verse are very important, they sound like if you are running fast than suspend it to change the gear to accelerate even more. This break is longer after the second chorus, giving an even stronger feeling of recovering the breath to run faster and then, when plenty recovered and ready to restart, Lydon screams and spits **** this and **** that...

    Remarkable.
     
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2018
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  12. Zoot Marimba

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

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    No Feelings:

    We now arrive at Track Three, the first track co-written by original bassist Glen Matlock, who is credited on all but two songs, Holliday and Bodies, on this record. John wrote this song from the viewpoint of a narcissist who has no care for his fellow man.
    I love the way this track begins with a weird static before the killer riff kicks in, again, Steve and Paul lock in so excellently, really setting John up for success, and succeed he does, spitting out the lyrics and conveying someone who is not only narcissistic, but rebelling in said narcissism. It's also notable than he does about 16-18 lines where he never takes a breath, and he does pretty damn good for a guy not known for being a great singer. The band is fantastic on this track, and before we finish, let's talk about Cookie, possibly the unsung hero of the Sex Pistols. John and Sid are the faces, Steve gets his kudos, Glen gets his kudos, but people don't talk as much about Cookie, the dude is like a punk rock Phil Rudd, such a tight drummer, impeccable pocket drummer.
    This song rules, wow, a true 1-2-3 punch. This album is excellent so far.
     
  13. BadJack

    BadJack doorman who always high-fives children of divorce

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    Cook is great, and the Phil Rudd comparison makes a lot of sense. A complaint I heard often was "Topper's better!", and Topper Headon truly is an excellent drummer with perhaps more stylistic range, but it's kind of an apples and oranges deal for me. Paul Cook grounds these songs and gives them groove, and he's a huge part of the band's sound.
     
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  14. Zoot Marimba

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

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    Thank you. Just curious, who would you compare Topper to if you had to? Again, I see Cook as Phil Rudd, Tommy and Marky as kind of Charlie Watts. And it's not always easy to sound that simple, and I know Marky had to get help from Tommy to perfect it, and other drummers would complain about their wrists cramping when they tried doing what Marky did.
     
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  15. BadJack

    BadJack doorman who always high-fives children of divorce

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    I guess I never really thought about it. He kind of had his own thing going on.
     
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  16. KeninDC

    KeninDC Hazy Cosmic Jive

    Location:
    Virginia, USA
    Killer album. I first heard it in the summer of '78. Some kid with a wrinkled overcoat and spiky hair played it for me at his house after an afternoon driving through cornfields and drinking that Carlsberg Elephant Beer, playing drunken mini golf with two other miscreants. I still have my original US LP pressing. With references to the "Berlin Wall" and politics, there was something "smart" about this rock & roll that made me want to listen. I'd heard enough songs about making love. The Clash would soon write lyrics that looked as if they were lifted from grad school papers, but the Pistols walked that fine line between clever and stupid.

    "No Feelings" is almost all anger and rhythm. It cleanses the brain.
     
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  17. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
    No Feelings was among the first songs the Sex Pistols wrote. They probably played it for the first time April 3rd, 1976, at the Nashville Rooms in London. If not, then a few days before, March 30th, 1976, at the 100 Club (I don't know the set list for this show).

    Before Never Mind The Bollocks, the song was recorded three times. First, May 15th, 1976, at the Majestic Studios, recorded by Chris Spedding. Second, July 1976 with Dave Goodman. There is a third version from the Mike Thorne sessions in December 1977 but with no vocals.

    The second version was named "No Feeling" and included as the B-Side in the famous God Save The Queen single on A&M Records, today among the 10 most expensive records in the world.

    While the first version is more fun (I'd say) and the second is more punk, the album version is the best in my opinion. You can't get better than the drums, vocals and guitar sounds of Never Mind The Bollocks. Even so, it's very nice to have the early versions mostly because of the bass lines by Matlock, very different from the final version with Steve.

    No Feelings is also the fastest song in the record. Drum pattern is the same as the previous songs but faster. I'll have to do a little research but I believe it's the fastest Sex Pistols' song ever. This is very interesting since it's not a real fast song at all, if you compare it for example with the Ramones. The Sex Pistols never played fast, more of a mid-tempo. Lesson 1: you don't have to play fast to do great punk rock.

    Concerning the lyrics, once Tony Brandenburg, the Adolescents' long time lead vocalist, told me about the impact of this record in 1977. According to him, a full record of aggressive music with subjects like Berlin Wall, abortion, anarchy, lies, no feelings, royal family etc. would pass unnoticed today but not in 1977.
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2018
  18. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
    Holidays In The Sun > Bodies > No Feelings.
    How many records begin with three great and perfectly connected songs like this? Very few I'd say.
    Down On The Street > Loose > TV Eye is a very good competitor. Not many others.
     
  19. Alf.

    Alf. Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    I like this almost as much as the original; love the "All things bright and beautiful" whistling!

     
  20. SurrealCereal

    SurrealCereal Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    Bodies
    This was one of the songs that originally made me not like the album. The violent lyrics were too much for me at the time. They don’t bother me much anymore, but the song is nothing special to me in the grand scheme of the album

    No Feelings
    I like “No Feelings” and think it’s more memorable than most songs on the album. It’s pretty much a typical Sex Pistols song, except that Johnny Rotten seems to be in even more of a frenzy than usual.
     
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  21. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member

    Location:
    Michigan
    Fired or not, they should
    have had Glen play on the
    whole album!
     
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  22. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
    They tried but Glen didn't want to.
     
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  23. punkmusick

    punkmusick Amateur drummer

    Location:
    Brazil
    December 1976, of course.
     
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  24. Standoffish

    Standoffish Smarter than a turkey

    Location:
    North Carolina
    No Feelings

    Cookie! I like that nickname. The Phil Rudd comparison is a good one. Both sit strong in the pocket, but - only 3 songs in, mind you - I'm more impressed by Cookie's overall drumming. Punk rock gets a bad rap for having guys that can barely play their instruments, but there are a lot of talented musicians in the genre.

    Anyways, we're 3 for 3 so far on this album. I think I may be changing my mind on Johnny Rotten, but I'll save that til the end of the album.

    Edit: Green Day must have stolen their riff for "Basket Case" from the opening of this song.
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2018
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  25. PaperbackBroadstreet

    PaperbackBroadstreet Forum Resident

    I’m watching all the rubbish and wasting my time!

    Definitely a great commentary on narcissism.

    How some people just seem to have no problem taking advantage of others.

    Although not the fastest song, this is still top shelf stuff on the album.

    I kick you in the head you got nothing to say.

    I also enjoy the out of left field sort of “jazz hands” vibe of the last line in the song.
     
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