47 - God Save the Queen: The Sex Pistols

Prisoners of Rock and Roll

The Sex Pistols were one of the pioneers of the music, fashion, and attitude of the punk rock movement. They were only together for about 2 ½ a half years and released just one album. But over that period, they were just as famous (or infamous) for their behavior as they were as for their music. They didn’t care what you, the music industry, or society thought about them.

Led by frontman Johnny Rotten and an illiterate guitar player named Steve Jones who stole one of his first axes from David Bowie, they took a scorched Earth, double middle finger, bugger off attitude toward everything.

Over their short career, they were kicked off of two record labels, banned from British television, caused dozens of fights, and became the embodiment of punk rock anarchy. Then there’s the tragedy of Sid Viscious, who became an icon of the nihilistic live fast / die young attitude up when he died of a heroin overdose while out on bail for allegedly murdering his girlfriend.

In this episode of Prisoners of Rock and Roll, we’re taking a close look at the Sex Pistols. Including their chaotic manager Malcolm McClaren, the fights, the censorship, a Christmas party they threw for working class kids, and that one frigging amazing album that changed music forever.

Our show is sponsored by our home base of McCusker's Tavern at 17th and Shunk Streets in Philadelphia. We are proud supporters of our friends at Boldfoot Socks. We are just one of the dozens of awesome shows on the Pantheon Podcast Network.

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