In the winter of 1977 GOD SAVE THE QUEEN hit the jukebox of CBGB’s. Punk had gone international. The song was #1 on the UK charts without getting airplay and the Sex Pistols further immortalized the hit by playing the nihilistic anthem on a Thames River cruise. The band never performed in New York, but the words to ANARCHY IN THE UK were an anthem for us all.
“I wanna be anarchy.”
31 years later Johnny Rotten came out of seclusion to call Sting a “soggy old dead carcass”.
This on-the-mark outburst came as the Sex Pistols prepared for a one-off gig to mark the 30th anniversary of their album NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS and he continued to lambastE Sting as saying: “You know listening to Stink try to squeak through Roxanne one more time, that’s not fun. It’s like letting air out of a balloon.”
Johnny ‘Old’ Rotten also commented that drug-taking was “a bit old fart”.
I had snorted a line of blow with him and Judy Nylon at the Mudd Club.
One line.
Not an old fart then, because in 1980 cocaine was cocaine and not the industrial powder of today.
From his approaching senior citizenship perch Johnny Lydon also commented of Amy Winehouse’s and Pete Doherty’s drug problems, he said: “You know you can use drugs for entertainment, but you should be quiet about it. That shouldn’t be your centre showpiece. There’s not much going on in their head with them. They’re not thinking. They’re not doing this for the right reasons. They obviously don’t enjoy what they’re doing. And that’s why you turn to drugs. And that’s what happened with Sid Vicious, he wasn’t happy about what he couldn’t do.”
A lot of people say that Johnny abandoned Sid, but the movie THE FILTH AND THE FURY reveals the friendship and love between the two band members. The Sex Pistols existed for a short time, but their influence can be measured by how many Thai kids wear Sid tee-shirts and it’s only because they’re black. They know exactly who he was.
To hear the Sex Pistols – God Save the Queen – YouTube, please go to the following URL