The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most culturally influential acts in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspired many later punk, post-punk and alternative rock musicians, while their clothing and hairstyles were a significant influence on punk image.
Simon John Ritchie, better known by his stage name Sid Vicious, was an English musician, best known as the bassist for the punk rock band Sex Pistols. Despite dying in 1979 at age 21, he remains an icon of the punk subculture; one of his friends noted that he embodied "everything in punk that was dark, decadent and nihilistic."
The Flowers of Romance was an early punk band, formed in mid-1976 by Jo Faull and Sarah Hall, girlfriends at the time of Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols. The band did not release any recordings and, like London SS and Masters of the Backside, are more famed for the number of band members that later became well known, including: Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, Keith Levene, and Palmolive and Viv Albertine of The Slits. Despite never playing live, they were interviewed by SKUM fanzine in which Sid Vicious proclaimed "I'll just be the yob that I am now".
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols is the only studio album by English punk rock band the Sex Pistols, released on 28 October 1977 by Virgin Records in the UK and on 11 November 1977 by Warner Bros. Records in the US. The album has influenced many bands and musicians, and the industry in general. In particular, the album's raw energy, and Johnny Rotten's sneering delivery and "half-singing", are often considered game-changing. It is frequently listed as the most influential punk album, and one of the greatest and most important albums of all time.
Stephen Philip Jones is an English guitarist, best known as a member of the rock band Sex Pistols. Following the split of the Sex Pistols, he formed the Professionals with former bandmate Paul Cook. He has released two solo albums, and worked with Johnny Thunders, Iggy Pop, Cheap Trick, Bob Dylan and Thin Lizzy. In 1995, he formed the short-lived supergroup Neurotic Outsiders with members of Guns N' Roses and Duran Duran. Jones was ranked #97 in Rolling Stone's 2015 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle is a 1980 British mockumentary film directed by Julien Temple and produced by Don Boyd and Jeremy Thomas. It centres on the British punk rock band Sex Pistols and, most prominently, their manager Malcolm McLaren.
Flogging a Dead Horse is a compilation album of singles by Sex Pistols, released after their break-up, and includes the four songs issued as singles A-sides that were included on Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, three of their B-sides, and the six A-sides taken from The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle and one B-side, "My Way".
"Holidays in the Sun" is a song by the English group Sex Pistols. It was released on 14 October 1977 as the band's fourth single, as well as the advance single from their only album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. A #8 chart hit in the UK, the single proved to be the last with singer John Lydon for 30 years. Steve Jones and Paul Cook recorded one more single, "No One Is Innocent" with Ronnie Biggs, as the band imploded, and Sid Vicious recorded solo covers of "My Way" and "Somethin' Else" under the Pistols name. Rolling Stone ranked the song #43 of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.
"Somethin' Else" is a song by the rockabilly musician Eddie Cochran, co-written by his girlfriend Sharon Sheeley and his elder brother Bob Cochran, and released in 1959. It has been covered by a wide range of artists, including Johnny Hallyday, Led Zeppelin, and the Sex Pistols.
"No One Is Innocent" was the fifth single by the British punk rock band the Sex Pistols. It was released on 30 June 1978. The Pistols had split up early in 1978, losing bassist Sid Vicious and original lead vocalist Johnny Rotten. "No One Is Innocent" was recorded by remaining members Paul Cook and Steve Jones, with vocals performed by Ronnie Biggs, a British criminal notorious for his part in the Great Train Robbery of 1963. At the time of "No One Is Innocent" Biggs was living in Brazil, still wanted by the British authorities, but immune from extradition. The song was credited to Cook, Jones and Biggs.
"Belsen Was a Gas" is a song by the English punk rock band the Sex Pistols. The song is about one of the Nazi concentration camps in Nazi Germany, Bergen-Belsen, which was liberated by British troops in 1945.
Gerard Nolan was an American rock drummer, best known for his work with the New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers.
Vicious White Kids were an English punk rock band from London that formed for only one concert on 15 August 1978, staged at the Electric Ballroom in London. The former bassist of Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious, was the lead singer. It was his final concert in England, as he died of a heroin overdose the following February.
Live at Max's Kansas City is a live album by The Heartbreakers. Recorded at a "reunion"/"farewell" show on September 16, 1978 at the famous Max's Kansas City nightclub, the album's performance — loud, sloppy, and laden with bawdy introductions and/or lyric changes to many of the familiar songs from their only studio album, L.A.M.F. — further cemented the band's live reputation. A classic of early punk rock, the album has been called "probably the best official document of any New York band of the era."
"Bodies" is a song by the Sex Pistols, from their 1977 album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The song tackles the subject of abortion with lyrics described as "some of the most uncompromising, gut-wrenching lyrics imaginable".
Sex Pistols is a box set anthology of the career of the punk band The Sex Pistols with singer Johnny Rotten. It was released on 3 June 2002. The set comprises three themed CDs and an 80-page booklet.
Live at Winterland 1978 is a live album by Sex Pistols, first released in its entirety in 2001. The last two songs were released by Warner Bros Records on their two-disc 1980 Loss-Leader sampler, Troublemakers, bookending the compilation.
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle is the soundtrack album of the film of the same name by the Sex Pistols.
The Idols with Sid Vicious is a concert album of former Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious performing with The Idols; though recorded in September 1978, it wasn't released until 1993. Steve Dior provided a recording of this performance to the New Rose record label. It was originally released by the Fan Club division of New Rose. It was also released in Japan by Teichiku Records, under license from New Rose.
"Silly Thing" is a song by the Sex Pistols that was released in 1979. It was the 3rd single released in promotion of the film The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. It was written by drummer Paul Cook and guitarist Steve Jones, and recorded after the band's original lead singer, Johnny Rotten, left the band. Typically, Jones also played bass in the studio, rather than suffer the ineptitude of the band's official bassist, Sid Vicious.
