Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols are less a band and more of an elemental force. Though they only released one album and four singles before breaking up, they changed rock and roll forever. They gave punk rock a face, a voice, an attitude, and an agenda and turned a handful of young working-class nihilists into icons for a new generation of disaffected youth.
Punk comes from classicist anger. In the late seventies, England there were very little opportunities for working class youths to find jobs and build futures for themselves. Furious with a privileged elite that kept them marginalized, they formed a malcontent subculture of punk rockers. Most of the look was based around a DIY mentality: the ubiquitous patches and safety pins were ways to keep old clothes from falling apart, the spikes and leather came from the burgeoning BDSM subculture, and the extravagant hairstyles came from stylists working in Vivienne Westwood's first stores.
The Sex Pistols embodied the anarchy of the punk rock movement to a shocked public. Their songs were unrelentingly nihilistic, their live shows were chaotic battleground, their musical talent was questionable, and their famed bassist Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose after allegedly murdering his girlfriend in New York's famed Chelsea Hotel shortly after the band broke up. So, if your only knowledge of punk rock music has been the syrupy pop punk of Green Day, it's time to go back to the roots.
God Save The Queen
No matter what you can say about their actual talent levels of musical proficiency, there's no question that the band's music was electric. It's stripped down, muscular, and completely surly, with every ear rattling note like a middle finger in your stupid bourgeois face. The members of the band were either members of older unsuccessful bands or recruited by legendary manager Malcolm McLaren. Though the band only existed for a couple of years and released just one full album they quickly became media darlings, who never quite knew how to take them. The band eventually broke up amid tremendous infighting but the impact of their music continues to be felt today. The surviving members reformed in 1996 for their multi-city Filthy Lucre tour.
If you like Sex Pistols, check out The Clash, Fear, The Exploited, Agent Orange, Black Flag, Anti-Flag, and Rancid. I like 'em. Oh, and watch Sid Vicious performing My Way. It's the best thing ever.
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