Sex Pistols

The Sex Pistols were, despite their short existence, one of the most influential English punk bands. While The Clash were both more articulate and politically motivated, and Buzzcocks had more astute pop sensibilities, no other band so strongly exemplified the British punk movement's spirit and inherent contradictions or made such a lasting impression on British popular culture.

Last UK gig and 1978 US Tour

The Sex Pistols' final UK performance was at Ivanhoe's in Huddersfield on Christmas Day 1977, a benefit for the families of striking firemen. Despite the band's state of disintegration by this time, the gig was considered by some as a vindication of their anti-establishment stance when they were, for once, united with what might be viewed as their true constituency, the dispossessed English working class. They played two shows, a matinee and an evening show. Tickets for the latter were furtively sold for a secret venue, announced shortly before the gig as a tactic to avoid the attentions of local councillors and the like, who had cancelled many of the Pistols' other shows. Those waiting outside for the second show were given turkey sandwiches from the remains of the meal laid on for the strikers' families. The atmosphere in the evening show was counter to the negative publicity that had been generated towards the band by the tabloid press; before the show, Johnny Rotten mingled with the crowd wearing his pith helmet, and the good humour of the matinee (which was a benefit played for free) lingered on. Years later the promoter of the evening show confessed that the Pistols never cashed his cheque.

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Early in 1978 an American tour was booked by McLaren. Originally they were scheduled to begin the tour in December 1977, beginning with a performance on Saturday Night Live, but due to the members' minor scrapes with the law, they were unable to receive passports in time. (Elvis Costello and the Attractions went on instead). The two-week American jaunt was an exhausting, badly-planned, dispiriting experience for all concerned (Vicious was beaten by the bodyguards hired to protect him, Rotten had a fierce head cold, and the band's performances were plagued by bad sound and physically hostile audiences, mainly at unlikely venues in the South), and on the final date at Winterland in San Francisco on January 14, the disillusioned Rotten quit, famously asking "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" from the stage before walking off. On January 17, 1978, Rotten announced the break-up of the Sex Pistols. He later claimed to have been bluffing, but McLaren, Cook and Jones left for a working vacation in Brazil, and Vicious left for New York, leaving Rotten stranded without airfare in America. Warner Brothers paid his passage back to London, courting him as a solo artist.

Related Topics:
1978 - Saturday Night Live - Elvis Costello - The Attractions - Winterland - San Francisco - January 14

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In the summer of 1978, Cook and Jones helped McLaren make The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle movie and soundtrack. The movie was McLaren's fictionalized account on the band's history, claiming he controlled and manipulated the band. The soundtrack, with Jones, occasionally Cook or Vicious, and sometimes Edward Tudor-Pole, trading on their vocals and engaging in McLaren-concocted gimmicks -- such as recording two songs on the album with notorious British criminal Ronnie Biggs.

Related Topics:
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle - Edward Tudor-Pole - Ronnie Biggs

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