I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol (2025) Movie Script

[dramatic upbeat music]
[metallic clanging]
[rock music]
[no audio]
-[dramatic triumphant music]
-[wings flapping]
[traffic noise droning]
[upbeat rock music]
[Glen] Blaine, can
I get your guitar?
[upbeat rock music]
[Crew] Check
yeah, one, two, AD.
One, two. One, two.
Well, blue jean, baby
In life, one thing
leads to another thing
and that's all part of an
exploration of gathering ideas.
Hello? Oh, [beep].
I say my art has been
a songwriter, really.
[crowd cheering]
Rock and roll!
There's Glen Matlock,
formerly with the Sex Pistols.
Glen, you've already got a
very good catalog of songs,
having written which of
The Sex Pistols' hits?
We got an old English
folksong we gonna play for you.
I think you might know it.
[Drummer] One,
two, three, four.
["God Save the Queen"]
[Glen] People like to paint me
as the guy from the Six Pistols
that nobody knows, but
that ain't quite true.
God save the Queen
The fascist regime
They made you
Pistols, they put on a
brash crude display of music.
[Reporter] When
the Sex Pistols,
with lead singer Johnny Rotten,
suddenly made punk
music front page news,
they outraged
pretty well everyone
Complacent,
apathetic old [beep].
People couldn't believe
what they were seeing
'cause it was no one had
seen anything like this.
One of the most reviewed
and most reviled rock
phenomenon of recent weeks.
[Reporter] Their
records are among
the most popular in England.
The Pistols were something
completely different.
The classic rejection
of the status quo
into a new, more
aggressive, more heartfelt,
more passionate expression.
It was fresh. It was naughty.
Dirty fucker.
[Bill] What a clever boy.
[Steve] What a fuckin' rotter.
[Bill] Well, that's
it for tonight.
We didn't realize how much
we were gonna shake things up.
People say they can't play.
You know, the Pistol songs
are largely three chord songs,
but it's three
chords and the truth.
They made one goddamn album.
It's one of the most
classic records of all time.
Oh, Lord God, have mercy
Glen, I could tell
if he understood
the power of the
instrument he was playing.
I think he is the
unsung hero of the band.
A lot of people
didn't quite realize
what he brought to the group.
We were kind of fed
a Sid Vicious story.
That Sid Vicious was punk rock
and Sid Vicious is
the Sex Pistols.
And we found out Sid
Vicious could not play bass,
did not play bass and
there's some other guy
named Glen Matlock and
we're like, who's he?
There was so many
kind of people involved
that they've all got
their own take on things.
So this is my side of the story.
You are jogging my
memory, I must say.
It's amazing how much
you do remember and what.
Everyone knows the story.
I mean we're fucking
sick of talking about it.
It's the same old shit.
Told the story a million times.
Okay, quiet on the set.
Action. Okay.
[rock music swells]
[static crackling]
Let's, yeah, we gotta kinda
set the scene a little bit.
[upbeat music]
[humming] Here we are walking up
Ravensworth Road in
Northwest London.
It was where I was brought
up till I was about 16.
I used to live up there
with my mom and dad.
I wouldn't mind
having a look round
if the set of new
inhabitants let us in.
Wow.
Lead the way around.
[Glen] So this was
my mom and dad's room.
This was my bedroom
from about here to there
and we didn't have
a bathroom then.
Really?
And that was it.
Oh, hang on, hang on.
[all laughing]
[Resident] The Pistol's
were my favorite ever band.
[camera shutter clicking]
It was a bit short
of the plumbing.
We had like a tin bath we
had to get out once a week.
And used to run a hose
out from the scullery,
which is a tiny little kitchen,
into the tin bath in
front of the telly.
My dad was a sort of
semiskilled worker,
had a few different jobs.
He worked for Rolls Royce
as a coach builder.
My mum worked part-time
at the powder puff factory
with my Nan making powder
puffs for compacts and things.
Then the next street, all my
mates I went to school with.
You know we was always
out playing football
and it is got very high tech,
there's a goal-mount painted,
but we just used to
put our jackets down.
And then there was
one of the guys,
who was a Latin member
of the Skatellites.
He was older than us
and he used to come
and play football in the street.
Skinheads a
mashup London Town
Skinhead to me
There was a lot of
second generation,
West Indian kids around there
and it was my introduction
to Bluebeat and SKA.
And their moms and
dads were all hip
to King Tubby and the Skatellites
and things like that.
In the summer, now
all the windows open
and you'd hear "Madness"
blasting out by Laurel Aitken.
But that was cool.
And all the kids had a
little transistor radio
underneath your pillow at night.
And we didn't have a
proper radio station
that played pop music,
but there was all these pirate
radio stations sprung up.
It was just really
a exciting time.
And then this TV show come
out, "Ready, Steady, Go".
["Wipeout"]
Bands like The Kinks and
The Yardbirds and Stones
and the Beatles,
Smokey Robinson,
Martha Reeves & the
Vandellas, the Supremes
and the Small Faces.
The Small Faces were these
kind of little Herberts
from the East End of London,
but they were the
height of cool.
I just sit here everyday
Some kids like me
picked up on that,
all in this kind of mixture
of stuff that was going on.
And that's sowed the seeds
of my musical awakening.
You know I didn't have
any brothers or sisters
and getting a guitar for
Christmas when I was 10 or 11.
You know when
everybody goes home
after playing
football in the street
at eight, nine o'clock at
night, you've got your guitar
and you got your
transistor radio
and you start hearing songs
that you can relate to.
[upbeat music]
But when I was getting 15, 16,
we all got jobs in
this department store
called Whiteleys.
A crowd of us worked there
and one Friday night we
went out to The Scene.
There was a band called Ace.
How long has this
been going on
Has this been going on
And we watched them
and stayed up all night.
That's when I started thinking,
oh, there must be a
little bit more in life
than working in the
department store.
Around about the
same time my uncle,
who was a bit of a ducker
and diver with things,
appeared round my Nan's once
with this big, long flat case.
I said, "What's that?"
And he opened it up.
It was this Fender Precision
Bass and it was beautiful.
Sunburst with all the
chrome bits on it.
I said, "Where'd you get it?"
And he said, "Don't ask."
When you get a bass
and you get it home,
right, it sounds like that.
[guitar strings vibrating]
And you can't hear
the fucking thing.
And then what do you do,
you can kind of jam it
against the wardrobe.
[strings vibrating]
You can hear it a bit
more, so you do that.
The thing is, is
playing bass by yourself
is a bit like having a wank.
Boom, boom, boom, boom and
it's a bit boring really.
You need someone to play with.
Yes, it's all right
All or nothing
So I started to
be on the lookout.
I'd left school by then.
I was waiting to start art
college and I wanted a job.
And I'd heard about the
shop down at King's Road,
Let It Rock.
And it had big sign outside,
it said too fast to
live, too young to die.
And I walked in
and it was like my Gran's
front room from the '50s.
They had a radiogram, all
these drape jackets hanging up
and some Brothel Creeper shoes.
Brothel Creeper is
generally a suede shoe
with a thick crepe sole,
which supposedly makes no noise
when you're creeping
around a brothel.
And that's what all
the Teddy Boys wore.
[upbeat music]
Well a Teddy Boy is
from the name Edward.
In the '20s and '30s,
all the upper-class
people of England
sort of dressed in
this Edwardian look
because we had the King
Edward at the time,
you know with longer
coats and velvet collars.
And then all the
rock and rollers,
when Bill Haley came over,
they kind of adopted
this kind of look
and they were Teddy Boys.
Well, we're Teddy Boys.
We like rock and roll
because we think there's
never been a better music.
And we like our style of dress,
because we think it's the best.
Let It Rock, it was basically
a sort of a Teddy Boy shop
and there was a guy in there
and he said, "Can I help you?"
I said, "You don't need
anybody to work here, do you?"
And he said, "Well, as it
happens, I'm leaving this week."
And he wrote a number down.
He said, "Why don't you
call this guy up?" Malcolm.
I then started working
for Malcolm McLaren
and Vivienne Westwood.
It was like a clubhouse.
You know, we just rolled in.
Vivienne and Malcolm
would look around
and Glen was the Saturday boy.
So we all got on
like a house on fire.
We'd look after the customers.
They all came in
just to talk to us.
Every now and again
we'd sell something.
I still don't remember
putting money in the till.
I used to say to Vivienne, I
think more stuff got stolen
than actually got paid for.
But because it was
so expensive anyway,
she always made money.
Friday there'd be a delivery.
Word would get out,
on Saturday morning there
was a queue of Teddy Boys
down the street waiting to
get their Brothel Creepers
when they'd come in.
And some of them would
order a drape jacket suit
and I'd measure them up for it.
Early '75, they were
getting a bit fed up
with all these Teddy
Boys coming in.
Malcolm and Vivienne
decided to change the shop
and he come up with
this idea, SEX.
As similar kind of effrontery
that Teddy Boy clothes had,
except it would be new.
[Glen] So he wanted to
get rid of the Teddy Boys,
move on, do this kind of more
bondage kind of looking gear.
And I helped make
the big sign outside
and they started to get a
younger crowd coming in.
I never went there
when it was Let It Rock,
but I went when it was SEX.
In fact, Malcolm
even measured me up
for a pair of peg pants.
The whole idea of SEX was to
put off the ordinary person.
It was like to frighten
you into not going into it.
And they even had a
bit of an attitude,
the people who worked there,
We did get a lot of
sort of people who,
obviously, mistook
the establishment
for another kind of place.
In fairness for them, it
did say sex outside, right?
So you would get a few odd
balls and weirdos come in
and there was one guy came
in head to toe in rubber
and he'd just come and
ask the prices of things,
never bought anything.
He's obviously playing
with himself right?
Then he'd say,
"How much is that?"
And I'd say, "Oh,
how much is that?
Well, that's, oh."
Then he'd go, "Ten
pounds, ten pounds, whoa."
And then he'd rush out
and then you'd have
to get the mop out.
We'd always sort
of like roll our eyes
and say, "Oh well, clean
up in dressing room three."
[Glen] But it pissed
off the Teddy Boys,
which was kind of the idea.
When the Teddy Boys
suddenly realized that Malcolm
had changed the shop of
being new-age sex clothes,
they got really upset
and they'd throw things
through the window.
The windows were
smashed every Saturday.
We wore Brothel Creepers.
They didn't like that we
were taking their look
and destroying it.
I don't like them. They
probably don't like me.
The Teddy Boys
would come along, oh,
we'd have to lock the door,
but they'd smash the window.
We were always
terrified of Saturday
'cause of getting beaten up.
[Glen] But that's when things
really started
beginning to change.
It became the hippest
place in London
on a Saturday afternoon.
And that's where Steve and Paul
started coming in with
a couple of their mates.
Yeah, well Steve and
myself were really close.
We grew up together.
Like brothers, if you like.
I met him when I
was about 10 years old
and we were just
unseparable for many years.
We went to the same schools.
Hung out at the same places,
getting into trouble.
And he stayed around
my house a lot
because his home life wasn't
a happy place for him.
At school, there
was a gang of us.
There was me, Steve and
a couple of other guys
and Wally Nightingale.
And we used to skive off school
and go round to Wally's house.
[Steve] Sit in his bedroom
and listen to songs
and play Faces.
Baby used to stay out
I was crazy about the
Faces and Rod Stewart.
I was kind of a bit obsessed.
We were definitely keen on
getting a band together.
It became everything,
for me anyway.
Oh no love,
you're not alone
Glam Rock was really
massive in the UK.
Bowie, Roxy Music, Queen,
T. Rex, Mott the Hoople
and we would go down
Kings Road all doled up
like we were in a
band; platform, boots,
flares, all stuff
that I had to nick
'cause no one could afford it.
We used to go into the shop
a lot and hang out in there.
We just felt comfortable.
Vivienne was great.
Her and Malcolm
were a great team.
They were interested
in us as well.
Malcolm was always asking,
where do you come from?
What'd you get up to? And
Hey, I've been nicked.
I've gotta go outside.
He's nicked me.
I always had to watch
him when they came in
'cause I thought they
were gonna nick something
and Malcolm would humor
them a little bit.
How's the band going?
You know, like that,
looking at me like that.
And Paul said,
"Well I don't know.
We're trying to
take it seriously.
But our bass player said
he never turned up."
I went, "Well I got a bass."
And the next thing we were
sort of chatting away.
Like, "What music do you like?
Who's your favorite band?"
I said, "The Faces."
He said, "That's our
favorite band at all."
I thought he was a cool guy.
You know I was impressed
that he worked at the shop.
So a few days later I'm
going around Wally's house
and the neighbor's
like, "What you got?"
And I went, "Uh,
I've got this one,
which is a Faces song actually
off their first album."
[mellow guitar music]
So I played it and they're
like, "Whoa, you're in."
Well, I was impressed. He
could actually play, you know.
I basically just knew
power chords at that point
and I always thought
I was better musician,
which I let him think.
But I was only about a week
ahead of Steve, you know.
But don't tell him that.
[Paul] Initially, Steve
was gonna be the singer.
I went onto the drums
and Wally was playing
guitar at the time.
Wally confided
in me and he said,
"Steve, he'd go
and nick fur coats
and ladies handbags
and things like that."
He said, "It was my idea,
if he'd nick guitars,
we could start a band."
Wally's dad had the
keys to a BBC studio.
We used to have the
run of this place
and we had a big load
of equipment there
procured from various
places, mainly by Steve.
We started rehearsing
a bit more seriously
and people would come down
and be a bit of a party
night on a Saturday night
after the shop had shut.
Somebody who was in
there a lot of the time
and who was friends with
Malcolm and Vivienne
was this guy, Bernard Rhodes.
He'd done some screen
printing with Malcolm
and they had sort of an
odd couple relationship.
They was mates one minute
and then they'd have a
ruck about something and.
He was a prick. [chuckles]
That said, I was a sort
of working class lad
from the sticks, whereas
Bernie was much more art based.
He would always talk to you
and he'd make you
kind of qualify
what you're thinking and why.
"Who do you like?"
'Well, I really like Faces,"
"But why do you like them?"
In the mornin'
Don't say you love me
"Well, I like them 'cause
they're all right."
"No, that's not
good enough. Why?
What are they doing?"
That specific and it
really made you narrow down
the way you go about things.
Steve had come in and
he thought a cool thing
to say was, "Where's
the action?"
It kind of annoyed Bernie,
he'd say something like,
"Would I be sitting here if
I knew where the action was?"
And it transpired, the
action was actually
where we were sitting because
that was the beginning.
[upbeat rock music]
Rock was in a terrible
state in the '70s.
It was grandiose and
25 minute guitar solos
and 30 minute drum solos.
[rhythmic drums pounding]
It all became prog rock,
progressive rock.
And I think mainly
they progressed
by growing their
hair a bit longer
and their trousers
got a bit more flared.
People that would
potentially be in bands
were really put off by the fact
that you had to have this 20
years experience of playing
and you had to be really
good as a technical guitarist
before anybody'd
take you serious.
[dramatic guitar music]
This kind of became
a bit indulgent.
[upbeat rock music]
There was this other music
scene called Pub Rock
where bands were
play in local pubs.
Pub Rock at the
time was a reaction,
I think, against the
big stadium rock bands
and kind of slightly
hippie music
that was going on at the time.
Every pub had a stage and
bands were playing all the time.
You know you'd get
bands like Ducks Deluxe
and Brinsley Schwarz
and Dr. Feelgood.
We used to go and never
paid to get in anywhere,
just went around the back
and bunked in, as we say.
They really were the return
to the roots of rock and roll,
you know, the Feelgoods
covering a lot of R&B.
And they all had kind
of strange names.
Like the drummer was
called The Big Figure.
You didn't know if they were
real life criminals or not.
They were kind of dodgy.
We all loved "The Feelgoods ".
They were very
influential to all of us
on the New York music scene.
They had short hair and suits
and they looked mean
and they were menacing.
This jangly kind
of rockabilly sound.
Kind of rough around the
edges, but not too heavy.
The people cry for more
The pub rock was sort of
quite a vital part
of change really.
And collectively,
we'd all kind of go out
to check out some of these
things that were going on.
["Delilah"]
By that time, the Alex Harvey
Band had, had a big hit
with a cover of a Tom Jones
song called "Delilah".
I saw the light on the night
that I passed by her window
Going from playing little
pubs on the pub rock scene,
they were playing
Hammersmith Odeon.
So I went and took Malcolm
and while we're sitting there
he said, "Um, how much
does it cost to get in?"
Back then it was like 75 pence,
which is not even a pound.
He went, "Oh."
He said, "How many people
does this place hold?"
I said, "I don't know,
turn it off, 3,000."
He went, "Let's have a meeting
about the band tomorrow."
'Cause he could smell that
there was a money involved.
[lively upbeat music]
When I started a playing with
Wally and Steve and Paul,
they weren't the Sex Pistols
and they'd thrown around
a couple of names.
One was The Swankers
and also they the toying
with the name The Strand,
which was named after
a Roxy Music song.
Do the strand, love
Malcolm came up
with some ideas.
Creme De la Creme, Kid Gladlove.
Oof, don't know where
he got that one from.
The Damned and QT Jones
and his Sex Pistols.
But me and Wally didn't
wanna be in a band
that was something
and something.
So we sort of
conspired in the pub
and said, "Let's just
drop the QT Jones thing,
just be the Sex Pistols.
Which made sense,
'cause we were the pistols
from a shop called SEX.
It was pretty straight
in the UK around that time
and calling a band the Sex
Pistols was pretty outrageous.
In fact, very
outrageous, actually.
[airplane engine roaring]
By that stage, Malcolm
had been going backwards
and forwards to
America to try and buy
'50s style clothes for his shop
and met the guys from
the New York Dolls.
[upbeat rock music]
They played for me
this tape of theirs.
I thought it was the worst
record I'd ever heard.
But they were so funny,
it didn't matter.
And I realized it didn't
matter that the music was bad.
What mattered more was the fact
that they were so
good at being bad
and that gave me a whole
other attitude towards music
and it locked in my own thoughts
about what was important.
And that was the
presentation of it all
and the attitude behind it.
But because he'd
been on the scene
that little bit in New York,
he was hip to a
few other people;
the fledgling Ramones
and Richard Hell
and Television and
The Heartbreakers
and it's all kind
of interconnected.
But Malcolm would
come back to England
and Malcolm, he said, "If
you want me to be involved,
you gotta get rid of Wally."
He just didn't look
right, I suppose.
He had big glasses
and funky hair.
It was quite ruthless, really.
But that's the way it was
and we had a bit of an
attitude problem with Wally.
You know I liked Wally and
I would fight his corner.
And then one day when we
were sitting in the pub,
Paul turned around
to me, he said,
"I don't know why
you're defending Wally,
he's always trying
to get rid of you."
So I went, all right,
that's that then.
So Wally's gone, Steve's
moving to the guitar
and then he got
Malcolm and Bernard
involved with us a bit more.
That's the when we started
to be on the lookout
for a singer.
And on Bernard
Rhodes' suggestion
lookout for this
guy called John.
And this guy John came in the
shop and it was John Lydon.
They asked me 'cause they
thought I was a nutcase
and they had no idea what
the hell they were doing.
I went to a kind
of a mock rehearsal
to see if I could sing or
not in front of a jukebox
and I was completely
awful and they liked it
and that was that.
Singing didn't
matter at the time.
Could we play? We couldn't
really play at the time.
Could John sing? Who cared?
We wanted to be in a band.
It was just the attitude and
just clicked straight away.
The planets were aligned.
There was the Sex Pistols.
But then a couple
of days later,
Bernard Rhodes came
in and we said,
"Oh, we found a singer, John."
He said, "Oh great. You
got the guy I wanted."
And a couple of days after that,
he saw John and he said,
"Well, that's not John."
And we said, "Well,
that's John."
And he said, "No,
the other John."
And there was another
John and he'd seen.
John Beverley,
aka Sid Vicious.
They were all mates
and there four of them.
There was John Lydon who
became Johnny Rotten.
There was his mate
called John Gray.
There was another guy
called John Wardle
who became Jah Wobble and John
Beverley became Sid Vicious.
But Johnny Rotten was
the leader of the pack,
so he was always John.
But there was something
about him that was like,
hmm, trouble with me,
Steve and Paul and John.
But I think John
never saw it that way.
He thought it was
three against one.
But when he joined, we
started rehearsing regularly
and trying to work out ideas.
And back then we had four music
papers that came out weekly.
Well, I was flicking
through the ads
and it was this lease for
sale of a rehearsal place
in Denmark Street in London.
I showed it to Malcolm.
He said, "Wow!"
He said, "Call the guy up
and offer him 1,000
pounds without seeing it."
I said, "You're mad."
He said, "Call him."
So me and Steve moved in and
we had our own rehearsal place.
Hello. Uh, fancy seeing you
Here we are in Denmark Street.
This where we used to
rehearse downstairs.
But come upstairs.
The HQ, the center of
operations has changed a bit
'cause it's gonna be part
of some swanky complex
for the 21st century.
But what they've done
is they've preserved
all these drawings
on the walls that,
I think, Johnny Rotten did.
There's Malcolm, Malcolm
Muggerage. Fatty Jones.
Supposed to be
Nancy there and Sid.
There was a little bed there.
Steve had a bed there
and I had a bed here.
And we'd hang out and
we got writing songs.
It was a bit of a dump
back then, but it was home.
Well, the recorder
was upstairs
but we played down,
that's where we used
to rehearse downstairs.
That's where every song
was written downstairs.
Before that I was just
staying round Cookie's house
or various couches, Malcolm's
and Vivienne's place.
So when we got Denmark Street,
like this is my place now.
But it was rats there and
the toilet was outside.
I loved it, though.
It was quiet.
And then you'd go
down to Denmark Street
and it was like,
you are right there.
You could go to the clubs
and then end up just staggering
back to Denmark Street,
get up the next
day and rehearse.
I was working at the
time so I had to get up,
go to work and then come back.
How attentative about do I
really wanna be in a band?
You know I was brought
up in this world
where you left school
and you got a job
and it was a very straight
world where I came from.
And so it was a
dilemma for me. It was.
That's when we then really
started applying ourselves.
John always turned up
and he always had like a
little Castore carrier bag
with scraps of paper in
it with ideas for lyrics.
And Malcolm had
always been going on
that we should write a manifesto
and it goes back to his sort
of '60s hedging prop days.
Now one day I'd
been having a go,
Steve saying, "I've been
coming up with a few ideas,
why don't you come
up with something?"
And he sort of played
a couple of things
and they weren't that good.
And he went, "Oh, you're so
clever what you got then?"
So I just played.
[gentle guitar music]
And he went, "Yeah?"
And I went.
[gentle guitar music]
And he went, "Yeah?"
[one string twangs]
"Yeah?"
[guitar string vibrates]
He went, "Oh, I like that."
He said, "What comes next?"
[guitar strings riffing]
Now
[singer laughing]
That's when John said,
"Finally, you've got something
to with these lyrics."
I'm an antichrist
I am an anarchist
[Johnny] When I
got in the studio,
I wrote the word to
that in 20 minutes
straight off the top of my
head.
Passerby 'cause I
wanna be anarchy
No dogs body
This used to be Saint
Martin's School of Art.
My foundation year, studio
was the one on the left
and the gig we did
was right up the top.
And that is where
the Sex Pistols
did their first show.
We'd been rehearsing for a
couple of months by then,
feeling we was getting
something together.
Come on Malcolm, get
us some gigs. Nothing.
No, no, no, you're not ready.
Reading between the lines,
I thought Malcolm has got
no idea how to get us a gig.
I just approached the social
secretary at Saint Martin's
and said can we play? And
they had this other band on
and there was supposed
to be a support band
who wasn't gonna do
it, so we got the gig.
And that band was a
band called Bazooka Joe.
[faint upbeat rock music]
We had been playing
for several years in
pubs around London.
We'd been hiring vans. We
bought our own equipment.
We bought a PA system
on installments.
We knew there was gonna
be a support band.
We didn't know
quite who they were.
Before then, I booked another
gig at Central School of Art
and that's where I met a guy
called Alexander McDowell.
I was social secretary
and I was booking
rockabilly bands or whatever
and this young man
walked in off the street
and said, "Do you want a band
to play for free
tomorrow night?"
And I went, "Sure."
And then he said,
"Well, come to Saint
Martin's and see us play."
[Glen] We had to go
and get all our stuff
in the rush hour in
the pissing rain.
Wheeling it down
Charing Cross Road.
And then the lift was broken,
carry it all the way up
the stairs and set it up.
Bazooka Joe sort of had a
little bit of an attitude
but they let us use their PA.
There was no stage.
We were just set
up on a flat thing.
There wasn't a lot of people.
We plugged in and
made an awful racket.
[upbeat rock music]
I mean I only picked the
guitar up three months before.
I was so nervous, I took a
Mandrax and a couple of pints,
then it all kicked in
and then we started.
I am a antichrist
I am an anarchist
The lead singer was starting
to smash the equipment up
and he started
kicking the speakers.
They weren't even my speakers.
I was still paying for them.
So enraged, I lept
into the fray.
[Paul] And there was a bit
of a fight, scuffle on stage.
It just all
descended into chaos.
And they pulled the plug
on us after about 15 minutes.
That is not true.
We did not pull the
plugs on the Sex Pistols.
No, they did. I was there.
They took them off.
They pulled the fucking plug.
We only had a few songs
and so they didn't cut
us short by that much.
I remember thinking that
they weren't that good
but you know, they
had the last laugh
'cause they went on to become
legends and quite rightly so.
It was something magical
that happened for me.
Like this is we're finally
doing something. This is it.
This is what I've been
wanting to do for many years,
be in a band.
And John was great. I loved it.
Even though it was
for 15 minutes.
Just seeing them at all
was just such a radical
shift in thinking.
The attitude that was
coming off the stage
was something we'd never seen.
And it was completely
captivating
and almost immediately
we were cutting our hair
and trying to copy John.
And it was an immediate shift
into a visible
expression of discontent.
[Reporter] All are
aware that Britain
was in its worst economic
crisis for more than 40 years.
[Alex] Politically,
it was very suppressive.
Thatcher was
extremely right wing
and you were dealing with
bombs going off with the IRA
and real unrest.
There are problems
which have been pushed
underground for too long.
Which, oh today, you know
they have to be brought up
People ain't got time
to think about the cosmos
and the universe when they
ain't got any money to live off.
-Yeah.
-And got a hung Parliament.
Everybody's on strike.
In London particularly,
there's a real pervading
air of hopelessness.
And now I just got this
sort of vacant kind of idea
and then the "Pretty
Vacant" thing came to me.
["Pretty Vacant"]
We're so pretty,
oh, so pretty
Vacant
But it needed something.
It needed a riff.
And this is the Cambridge Pub
where we used to hang out.
And I'm sitting there
having a pint one lunchtime
and a record came on the jukebox
and it was "SOS" by ABBA.
That riff isn't in the song
but it was something that
the bass player does.
He plays his octave thing.
When you're gone
How can I even try to go on
And it gave me the
idea for the riff.
And I just finished off my
pint, went back and went.
[guitar strings riffing]
Ooh.
Oh, [beep].
[Glen] I gave John
the set of lyrics
which he seemed
to like and sing.
He said, "This is fantastic."
He said, "If we get
this on the radio,
you give me a way to
say cunt on the radio."
And I'd never even
thought of that.
I was just thinking
of vacant with an A.
We're so pretty,
oh, so pretty
Vacant
It summed up the
angst and the chaos
that he felt in his community.
I mean that's part
of our job as artists
is to report on the news of
what's going on all around me.
It reconfirms for us
that we're not alone.
I saw a number of
those early shows
and going from doing covers
to like starting to
do their own songs
and they were these
classic anthems.
I mean the first song I heard,
I really realized was their
own song was "Pretty Vacant".
[Interviewer]
When you stood up
and started singing the
first time, what happened?
I mean.
-Come on, John.
Go on.
-It was wonderful.
-No come on.
-People loved me.
They threw flowers.
[Interviewer] And
what sort of people
came to see you
in the beginning?
[Johnny] Well, no one
knew it the beginning.
We were just a regular band.
Turned up.
'Cause we used to turn
up with our equipment
and just like crashing
and doing the gigs.
Nobody knew we was playing
until we got there.
We didn't even know, actually.
Yeah, there used to be in this
magazine called "Time Out"
and I'm pretty sure Malcolm
would just go through it,
see what's coming
up and see a gig
and say, "Oh, you're
playing there?"
He never spoke to them.
We just used to turn up and
say we're the support band.
People would go,
"Oh. Oh, really?"
"Yeah." We'd go, "Yeah, yeah."
"Well, come on."
But we needed
other places to play.
And Malcolm come up with
his place El Paradise.
It was a proper old-school,
seedy strip club.
Malcolm had hired this strip
club from the Maltese mafia
and, honestly, it
was an absolute dump.
And we actually
went and bought
a bucket and a mop and some
disinfectant. [chuckles]
There was like a few punters
who'd just come
in off the street
thinking actually there
was a strip show going on
and Malcolm was just
taking all the money
and we literally had
to run from the place
'cause the Maltese mafia
suddenly turned up.
But those first early
gigs were amazing.
They were so exciting to be at.
They were learning to
play their instruments.
[laughs] You could tell.
But that's what
was exciting to us,
'cause like, oh man,
these guys don't care.
That's the idea. Get up
there and learn to play.
Rotten had this
great sense of humor.
They'd finish a song and
he'd be, "Uh! Now clap."
Before the audience had,
had a chance to respond
he'd be straight on their
case and very entertaining.
[people chattering]
And started building
up a following.
It was mainly people
who would come in the shop
on Saturday afternoon,
Steve Severin and Siouxsie,
became Siouxsie Sioux
from the Banshees.
Sid, Billy Idol.
The Scene was very small.
We were friends who
used to hang out
and go and see all the music.
Caroline Coon of "Sounds" called
us the Bromley Contingent,
'cause we're all from Bromley.
It's just the same
as when it was before
when they had the Stones and
the Who and they came along
and they thought they were great
because they destroyed
everything that
went before them.
But now they can't take it
because we're destroying
everything that's
gone before us.
[upbeat music]
I loved the Nashville
gigs especially,
'cause you never knew what
was actually gonna happen.
Vivienne would sort of
like scream and shout
and be rude to a person
who was next to her.
Massive fist fights.
Chairs would be flying.
It was a great night.
A fight broke
out in the audience
and this guy took a photograph
of us fighting with this guy.
But we was actually
trying to stop him.
But it became the cover
of the "Melody Maker".
[Alan] Looking back, it
was all part of the plan
to get them sort of noticed.
Doctors of Madness
were one of those bands
that were around the pub
rock scene at the time
and everyone thought they were
gonna be the next big thing.
Nights now
[Paul] And Steve Strange on
guitar with the weird makeup,
very glam rock.
It's early '76,
we're doing great.
We're playing to 800 people
a night wherever we go.
And I got a call from our
agent, I need a favor from you.
I've got this guy driving
me crazy in London.
He's got this band, I
can't think of anyone
who'd have him on the
bill apart from you.
The day of the gig came.
We showed up there, we had
got out for a sound check
and they wouldn't let
us use any monitors.
And they were a bit
like, oh, brushed us off.
The doors open and
the audience comes in.
I said, "This is weird
because the 800 kids
who've come to see
us at the minute,
they normally go
straight to the bar."
And I'm watching them
and like half of them
coming straight in
to see the support band.
And quite a few of the
audience are wearing badges
or they've got ripped
clothes or something.
The lights go down, ladies,
gentlemen, the Sex Pistols.
To attend 'cause
we're not all there
Don't pretend,
yeah, we don't care
And I knew someone had just
moved the fucking goal posts.
That generational change,
that baton, had just
been handed over.
And then the Doctors
of Madness went on.
But while we was on stage,
Steve went in the dressing room
and spat in their stack up.
Boosted and rifled
their pockets.
By the time you get
into the dressing room,
the Pistols have gone
and so has 12 quid
from my back pocket
and other stuff has been
just been nicked, just gone.
So it was a really bad day.
Me career had gone
and 12 quid. [laughs]
I'm sure they were
most upset with us
'cause they thought they were
gonna be the next big thing
and it just kind of fizzled out.
But I paid him back.
[Reporter] Things
really started to move
for the Sex Pistols
when they were spotted
by promoter Ron Watts,
who gave them a booking at
the 100 Club in Oxford Street.
I saw them at High Wycombe.
It was interesting because
they really managed
to upset the crowd
or most of the crowd.
It was the only thing that
didn't come from the industry,
it came from the
kids themselves.
Something had to
come from the kids.
First gig, there was
hardly anybody there.
John was a bit out of it.
And he was singing all the
words to the songs perfectly,
but not the song we was
playing at the time.
He said to me, "Do
you wanna fight?"
And I said, "Yeah,
I'll fight you,
but maybe not that
while we're on stage."
And he got off the stage
and Malcolm followed him
and he comes skulking
back on the stage
and he looked daggers at me.
I spoke to Malcolm afterwards
and I said, "What happened?"
And he said, "Well,
do you know what?
He was outside at the bus stop
waiting for the number 73 bus
to go back home
to Finsbury Park."
And I said, "What'd
you say to him?"
I said, "If you don't
get back on that stage,
mate, you're out of the band."
Tuesday night usually was
a jazz night at the 100 Club.
So people kind of came in and
their sort of mouths'd be,
they couldn't believe
what they were seeing
'cause it was no one had
seen anything like this.
And they was so anarchic,
'cause they weren't really
talking to the audience.
Johnny would be talking
to Malcolm off stage.
He'd go, "Malcolm, why
don't you get me a beer?"
Then he'd see someone in the,
there'd be like someone
coming off Oxford Street,
all in denim, with
flares, long hair.
He'd go, "Oh, look at
you with your flares
and your long hair.
Why don't you go back to
your Melanie records?"
One, two, three, four.
[heckler yelling]
[Johnny] Sit down! Yeah!
Fucking old hippies
all over again.
Rotten's attitude
was off the charts.
But then Glen's kind of
adding a musicality to it
which it just felt, this is
part of what makes groups great
is the individual
characteristics
of the people in the band.
And then watching them
week by week progress
was really exciting.
People say they can't play
and the Pistol songs are
largely three chord songs,
but boy they can really play
and it absolutely rocks.
The hardest thing to have
is to have a sound
that's your own.
The Sex Pistols
certainly had that.
I can tell in eight bars if
it's Steve or Glen or Paul.
When John sings, of
course you know it's him.
He's got a very unique sound.
We sound like that because
we'd actually learned to play
together at the same time.
I don't know where our
sound came from, to be honest.
It was an amalgamation of
lots of different things.
It's just a natural
primal scream, I guess.
They never really
played too fast.
They weren't trying to emulate
the Ramones in that way.
There was more of a groove.
Da da da and da and da.
There was none of that.
And we loved beats that went
bush, bash, buh-buh, bash.
I liked hard, fast,
simple chords.
[upbeat rock music]
Steve used to break into
Ronnie Wood's house in Richmond
and have a would
go in his guitar
and leave a little note
saying Steve was here.
And Steve, I think,
was kind of going for
that kind of sound.
But one of the best things
I've ever read in this
article somewhere it said,
Steve's guitar sound
is the sound of him
paying his stepfather back.
Which is kind of quite
heavy, but probably true.
This is brainwash
and this is a
What we was was
just us together.
That's the way it turned out.
No one was telling us
we have to play a
certain way or anything.
Malcolm didn't even do that.
Well it's really, the
songwriting is fantastic.
And that's down to the band.
I mean when I first
heard "Anarchy",
I mean it, you just knew
it's Glen's bassline
and you knew it
starts the song off.
It made you wanna write
songs too, that's so good.
Kiss me deadly tonight
Early summer of
'76, the word was out.
People wanted
something different.
And once we came along,
it kind of opened the
doors of possibility.
You don't have to be
a fantastic musician.
You don't have to be old.
You don't have to been in
the music business years.
You can just get a guitar,
play for a few weeks
and go on the stage and do it.
[Band Member] One,
two, three, four.
[upbeat rock music]
Well, there's no question
that the Pistols came first.
They were the trigger
for all of it.
I mean, it was
happening really fast.
There was this
small group of us
that were looking different
and voicing our opinion.
You know nobody that wanted
a successful career in the
music business would turn around
and criticized the music
industry, the government,
the police, the queen.
That wasn't how
you got successful.
And so we had nothing to lose.
You know what are they gonna do?
Except put us back on the dole
and take the clothes
off our back.
It was a great leveler,
'cause it wasn't about
musical virtuosity.
It was about keeping it real
and still being creative
with maybe limited skills.
I remember rehearsing
at Denmark Street once
and the door opened and
Bernard Rhodes come in
with this bunch of guys.
When he met me.
Then he met you.
We met him.
[group speaking faintly]
Hand in hand with the
Sex Pistols was The Clash.
It was Malcolm McLaren
and Bernie Rhodes
in constant competition to see
who could up the other one.
Him and Malcolm had this idea
that if you had one
band, it was an oddity.
If you had two bands
that was kind of curious.
But if you had three
bands, it was a movement.
Oh, yeah
The Clash were more political.
That was kind of their thing.
I loved The Clash, by the way.
We saw the flyer it
was A Midnight Special
that was happening.
Got the Sex Pistols playing,
supported by a band that
hadn't played before
called The Clash.
And a new band from Manchester
called the Buzzcocks.
The Pistols was something
completely different.
There was real anarchy
when they came on.
I mean, Johnny smashed
his mouth on the mic
and had to run into the toilet
'cause he knocked his tooth out.
It changed my life, that show.
We went back to school
and we started to form
what became Spandau Ballet.
[Interviewer] What
about the word punk?
It means worthless, nasty.
Johnny Rotten, are you
happy with this word?
No. The press gave us it.
It's their problem, not ours.
We never called ourselves punk.
Hang on a second,
this word punk it didn't exist
as a word when we formed.
They did big articles on us
and they come up
with this word punk.
And if you look
up what it means,
it's not particularly savory
and who wants to
be called a punk?
[upbeat rock music]
Punk has always been a
term of maximum derision.
And I'd read stories of this
new music movement emerging,
punk rock, and
they'd all say, yeah,
we listened to the MC5 and
I'd rip the magazines up
and flush them down the toilet
'cause I didn't want
anyone to associate me
with this punk music
movement. [laughs]
[lively rock music]
When punk came out, I
didn't really like it.
But I loved the
excitement it generated
and the enthusiasm
that's behind it.
But the music I
felt was not for me.
I don't believe in swearing
and spitting and
gobbing everywhere.
Punk rocks really taken off
both in London and in New York.
And although, anyone thinks
punk is that great a name for
it, it seems to have stuck.
There was a huge,
strong music press
that thrived on exposing
all of this energy,
this change, this fashion.
It was very prevalent
and spread around the
country really quickly.
It's actually music
born out of a frustration
to get something across
that is of their own.
You're also trying
to shock everyone.
Your clothes are bizarre.
They ain't bizarre
to young kids.
[Interviewer] Possibly,
I don't have a safety
pin through my nose.
[Reporter] McLaren borrowed
the label punk from New York
where it described a
very particular trend
in outrageous clothes.
But London Punk
was very different.
Raw working class and
deliberately anti-establishment.
We tapped into a feeling
of unrest in the country,
without a doubt,
with all the kids.
And they were all
cutting their hair,
tearing up their T-shirts.
I wanted to do
something for me.
'Cause look at me
now, I'm nothing.
Vivienne created
something extreme.
Something they could feel
that they were actually
doing something in.
Man can be cynical
about The Pistols
and say they were a boy band
that was sort of dressed
by McLaren and Westwood.
But boy were we jealous
that they had access
to those clothes
'cause those clothes were
magnificently heroic.
I mean I was really
annoyed with The Clash.
'Cause when we had a rehearsal
place in Denmark Street,
I decided to paint
the ceiling white.
But I only had one
pair of trousers
and I got paint on them
and I couldn't get it off.
I thought, I'll just
put more paint on it
and then it sort of became
this Jackson Pollock
kind of thing.
When The Clash
played the 100 Club,
they had a full on Jackson
Pollock kind of look
and they'd sort
of nicked my idea.
I was a bit miffed about that.
[upbeat rock music]
Some of these bands had started
doing a few tiny little gigs
and we assembled them all
for this punk festival.
And there were all these
other bands playing
and The Clash played there.
Siouxsie did her first gig.
[Interviewer] Had
you sung before?
Not on stage, no.
[Interviewer] Did you
think that is important?
Um, no.
[Interviewer] And
who was backing you up?
Sid Vicious on drums.
Steve Severin on bass.
It was two nights.
One night was headlined
by the Sex Pistols
and the second night
was headlined by me.
Motorbikin', motorbikin'
None of those bands had,
had any records out.
If Malcolm wanted to
promote a festival,
he had to have a bankable name.
'Cause I'd had my "Motorbikin"
records the year before,
Malcolm said, "Well you
gotta come and play."
And then one day I got a
call from a friend of mine,
Chrissie Hynde, she used
to work in Malcolm's shop
and she said, "You gotta
come and see this band."
And it was the Sex Pistols.
I was quite impressed
with Steve Jones,
who was attacking his guitar
and kept breaking strings
and yet never went out of
tune and still sounded great.
I said to Malcolm,
"I know what a record company
would want to sign you.
They would want a three
song demo. I can do that."
And we went in the studio
called Majestic in South London.
And so we set up and
ran a few run throughs.
[Chris] And I told
the engineer, take it.
And he said, "Come
in and listen."
And we said, "No,
no, no, no, no,
we haven't recorded it yet."
He said, "No, we have."
And we said, "No,
we can't have done.
You didn't put
the red light on."
[Chris] And of course,
it sounded great.
He said we didn't
put the red on
because it was our
first time in the studio
and he didn't want us to get
red light fever, he called it,
where you get uptight and
you start making mistakes.
By five o'clock in the afternoon
we had three songs down.
Too many problems,
why am I here
Need to be 'cause
you're all too clear
And I can see there's
something wrong with you
[Chris] Shortly after that,
they did more recordings
with Dave Goodman.
Dave suggested that we use
the rehearsal place
in Denmark Street
and he had a four-track Revox,
reel-to-reel tape recorder
and recorded the
band live in there.
It was good with Dave because
there was no time pressure.
So we was experimenting
a lot more.
Doing bubble sounds
on a teapot for "Submission"
[bubbles popping]
and overdubbing a bit more.
And then he
suggested to Malcolm,
a bit more money we
could get a proper studio
and record the vocals
there and mix it
and that became what
is the "Spunk" album.
Submission, I'm
going down, down
It wasn't sonically the best,
but there was some great ideas.
[Johnny] All right,
what should we do?
Should we just sing with, oh!
Every time we were having
a go at recording "Anarchy"
and when there was a break,
I'd be on the piano
going, dun, dun-da-dun.
I had this thing, dun-da.
And they're going, "Glen,
for fuck sake, shut up."
I'd go, " No, I've
got something."
I went home, picked up my
guitar and I found the riff.
[gentle guitar riffing]
So I had the
beginnings of the riff
for "God Save the Queen".
["God Save the Queen"]
When I came up with the riff,
I could always imagine Steve
doing it with a bit more,
[imitates guitar
strings twanging].
It was like a beneficial
kind of partnership.
And then John had
some lyrics for it
and then we kind of argued
over how to arrange it.
God save the Queen
The fascist regime
They made you a moron
We argued morning,
noon and night.
But you have to
because that's what
being in a band is
all about, diversity.
I never liked
anything he ever did
and he thought
the same about me.
And we'd meet in the middle
and it would make
for good records.
We argue so much
that the frustration
comes up when we
actually play it.
To me, if you listen
to the "Spunk" stuff,
the bass playing, that's where
the little bits of melody
and counterpoint come in.
The bass playing
is by far superior
to the bass playing that
wound up on the album,
which was kind of
much more methodical
and just kind of eighth notes.
I don't think the rest of
the band appreciated him.
You needed somebody with
a bit of musical know how
and a bit of confidence
and Glen had that.
Hang on. Dave Dew speaking.
This is Chris Parry.
[Doug] Hello Doug
D'Arcy, Chrysalis Records.
They were a
particularly ugly band.
That's dreadful.
[upbeat rock music]
I was the one that
picked up the phone
when Malcolm McLaren called.
And so I went down and
saw them at the 100 Club.
This band was doing
something interesting
and they were
making great noises.
They had something to say
and I talked my boss
into signing them.
[upbeat rock music]
The rest was troubled history.
When we got the record
deal with EMI it was,
for me, you gonna go
with this or you're not?
It was a big thing to leave
an apprenticeship at
the time in a good job.
And everyone said, "You're mad.
You'll never do
anything with this band.
They're rubbish, they
can't play," et cetera.
But I knew there was
something good going on there.
Prior to us being presented
with a recording contract,
we got presented with
a management contract
and I kind of read through it
and Malcolm wanted to
take 25% off the top.
And Steve and Paul
were like, "Oh."
John wasn't there and
I mentioned it to John
and he said he was
gonna sign it anyway.
But he actually said to me when
we were signing it, he said,
"Glen, you've read
it and I haven't.
If there's anything wrong
with it's your fault."
Me and Steve, we was
just happy to be in a band.
We didn't worry about
contracts and stuff like that.
They were trying.
Malcolm definitely saw an
opportunity and milked it.
The first time we
played with the Pistols,
I think we paid five pounds
and Malcolm wanted 25
quid to use the PA.
You know he could
be such a cunt.
But I always liked Malcolm,
'cause he was a hustler.
He was the fifth member
of the band, if you like.
The Svengali, the manipulator
and all those other terms
people level at him.
Look, most of them
true, by the way.
After we signed to EMI,
we're straight in the studio
and because we'd done the
demos with Dave Goodman,
we thought we'd give
Dave a shot producing
and Dave wasn't a proper,
fully fledged producer.
I am an antichrist
And we would, literally,
do "Anarchy" in the
studio a thousand times.
You know we wanted
to get it right.
I wanted to make
the heaviest song
that had ever been
in the universe.
And he was fucking
stoned with weed.
And we're like this is a joke.
So effectively,
we went on strike
and Paul Cook
suggested Chris Thomas,
who produced Roxy Music
and Chris Spedding had
taken Chris Thomas down
to see us at the 100 Club.
So he was up for it.
Maybe a week later,
we're in Wessex Studios,
Queen were there
and we walked in
and Freddie's in full tilt
and we're like, "Woooh,
I'm sorry," you know.
But they were cool, Queen.
They let us have
some of their time
to record the single quickly.
["Anarchy"]
And we did "Anarchy"
in two takes.
That was it. He said he got us.
'Cause Chris knew
when enough was enough
and that it was good enough.
And it's funny, it
finishes how it finishes
because the tape run out.
That's why it goes, blemm.
I think that was
one of the best times,
my whole time in the Sex
Pistols, was recording.
That's the only song
Glen plays bass on,
on "Never Mind the Bollocks".
When we were in
the studio together,
it was just a question
of getting the music down
and getting it done well.
They were professional.
It was definitely not the
image that was publicized.
Only a couple of days
later, as I opened the door,
Freddie Mercury is like
bending over by the door
and he was listening.
Queen, they were quite big
in the Sex Pistols career.
The whole reason we did
the "Bill Grundy Show"
'cause Queen was
supposed to do it,
but Freddie Mercury had
a bad toothache that day
and pulled out,
Oh, the famous Bill
Grundy interview.
Yes, I do remember it.
We was in Kilburn rehearsing.
All of a sudden a phone
call comes through,
we're sending the car for you.
Malcolm says, "If
you don't do it,
you don't get your
wages this week."
Then we're in the studio
behind the cameras,
there's Siouxsie and half
Bromley Contingent are there
and it's like, hmm.
And then this guy comes
on set, Bill Grundy.
Are punk rockers. The
new craze they tell me.
Now Bill Grundy was
a really big deal guy.
He was Walter Cronkite
kind of territory
and he had a real
attitude with us.
Not the nice, clean
Rolling Stones.
You see, they're
as drunk as I am.
They're clean by comparison.
They're a group called
the Sex Pistols.
And the shit hit the fan.
I am told that, that
group have received
40,000 pounds from
a record company.
Doesn't that seem to
be slightly opposed
to their anti-materialistic
view of life?
-No, the more the merrier.
-Really?
Oh yeah.
[Bill] Well,
tell me more then.
[Johnny] We've fuckin'
spent it, ain't we?
[Bill] I don't know. Have you?
Yeah, it's all gone.
Steve had found
a bottle of wine
and he's drunk pretty
much all of it to himself
and it's starting kicking in.
And it just went
from bad to worse.
John swore accidentally,
he said shit
and he pushed him on it.
[Bill] It's what?
Nothing. A rude word.
Next question.
[Bill] No, no. What
was the rude word?
-Shit
-Was it really?
Good heavens, you
frighten me to death.
Oh all right, Siegfried
[Bill] What about
you girls behind?
Always wanted to meet you.
-Did you really?
-Yeah.
[Bill] We'll meet
afterwards, shall we?
-Yeah.
-You dirty sod.
[Bill] Go on, you've
got another five seconds.
Say something outrageous.
You dirty bastard.
[Bill] Go on, again.
You dirty fucker.
[Bill] What a clever boy.
What a fucking rotter.
Well, that's it for tonight.
While the show's going on,
I could see Malcolm
just behind the camera.
Malcolm would go, "Oh, no."
As we went off, he was white.
He said, "You've done it now."
Dragged me out.
We got in the car and as
we're just pulling away
a Black Maria turned
up, a police van.
There were these police, they're
rushing into the TV studio
with their truncheons out
and we're sort of
like waving to them.
What?
[beeps] Rotter.
[Bill] Well, that's
it for tonight.
It was going out
live on prime-time TV
just after the news when
millions of people watched it.
And I didn't know my dad
had called around
the family saying,
"Hey, Glen's gonna
be on the TV."
[beeps].
And we didn't speak
for a year.
It all got crazy very quickly
once the publicity
machine started rolling,
The greatest technique
involved in managing
the Sex Pistols
was always to create
the right explosion
and then know that
it was gonna happen.
And as a manager,
run into the toilet
and come out after the explosion
and say, "God, what's happened?"
Really? I didn't notice that.
Although he sat back later on
and said he had sort of
made all that happen.
I think he was terrified
that he'd blown it for them.
[Interviewer] Why all
the infamous language.
[Johnny] Infamous
language. You're joking.
They were famous in England
before they even
had a record out
and I don't think
that's ever happened
before in the music industry.
Punk was all about
revolution. It was an attitude.
Then they became a
figurehead for that attitude.
And willingly or not,
they became the visible
leaders of a movement.
[Reporter] Unseen, dangers,
awaited, punks in the dark.
[Glen] There
was ramifications.
John got attacked by
more right-wing people
who thought we were
decrying the nation.
It was a very dangerous time
for us after the Grundy Show
and we were public enemy
number one, for sure.
They're trying to put
it across the country,
starting in Britain,
but we're not having it.
That is why we've given them
a good hyding every
time we meet them.
I got attacked walking
down on Shepherd's Bush.
I just came out of the station
with my girlfriend at the time
and these four rockabillys,
Teds, whatever you call them,
didn't like the fact that I
was wearing Brothel Creepers.
I said, "What? It's just a shoe.
Why, what's the problem?"
Anyway, bang and I got attacked.
Yeah, ended up in hospital.
We had to watch our backs.
It was a pretty dangerous time.
[siren wailing]
You start taking your life
in your hands a little bit,
wearing your punk threads.
It was almost like
war was declared.
On Charing Cross Station
and I was kind of
just looking off at,
I don't know, when
the train's coming.
The next minute, doo, got
punched in the side of the face
and then I saw a pair of
black Brothel Creepers
walking away so I knew I
got ambushed, you know,
[phone ringing]
I mean the national press
had exploited punk for
its sensation value
and the violence really
stems from their coverage
and the fact that they've
only really given coverage
to the more violent aspects.
Not to any of the ideals
and, certainly, not very
much to the music at all.
[upbeat music]
We had a tour planned,
the Anarchy Tour.
Malcolm, he had
that kind of idea
that we'd have some kind
of punk rock review.
So we had The Clash, The Damned
and he brought over from the
States, the Heartbreakers.
We were going around in his
coach from place to place.
As we're turning up to a show
and then it was canceled.
We were supposed to
have like 23 gigs
or something around the country
and we're starting being banned.
One of the most reviewed
and most reviled rock
phenomenon of recent weeks.
[Reporter] Do you really
think that punk rockers
are such a threat to society
that you're justified in
banning their concerts?
We are responsible
for public safety.
There was such a
storm around them.
You couldn't do anything.
Even we couldn't do anything.
I remember one specific
and they just came up
and threw us out immediately
just because we were banned
on tour with the Sex Pistols.
[Reporter] Mr.
Stabler, you can't watch
punk concerts in
Newcastle, either.
The decision was
made when we discovered
it was mere children that would
be watching the performance.
Now, out of all those dates,
how many dates would
you say are there, look?
I think we only did
five or six dates
and we're lucky we got them.
We had to go to show
that we wasn't gonna
accept their censorship.
It was very frustrating.
[Paul] We had fair
amount of rude journalists
following us round and finding
out where we were staying.
And I went and got a cup of
tea in a bar room, came back,
got on the coach first, I
had the window open slightly
and I heard one saying to other,
"Oh, Fred, how'd you go?
Did you get a quote
from anybody?"
He said, "Yeah."
He said, "I got two fucks and
a shit from Johnny Rotten."
Just sells their papers
putting us in it now.
You know what I mean?
-Yeah.
-Put us on the front
just sells their papers
and it's bit stupid really.
Because we weren't
allowed to play
and we was cooped up in
this bus all the time,
it started creating kind of
problems within the band.
Became kind of quite factional.
Steve and Paul were always
a bit of a double act,
which I felt they were
always a bit standoffish,
though, they'd
kind of let you in.
Maybe John felt a bit
threatened by it or Glen did.
I don't know. But
yeah, we were close.
I know what I think and
that's all that counts to me.
I don't try and impress
anybody, but myself.
It'd been a simmering
thing between me and John.
I think personally 'cause,
and I'm not the only
person who's said this,
but you know once he got
his face in the papers,
he became a bit more arrogant
and everything had to
be his way all the time
and I thought we was
in a band, you know.
It is be hard living up
to your image sometimes?
What image? I never
thought I had one.
[Interviewer] Well,
what do you think
I change from day to day.
There was always animosity
between John and Glen anyway,
even back to the very
early days when I was just
standing on the side of
the stage watching them
and John would always
give Glen shit.
[Interviewer] Do
you feel the publicity
following the television
interview has been damaging
or do you think it's helped you?
I don't think it's been
damaging far from it.
Whether it's helping
us is another matter.
Later on, there
was a frustration
that I found out that we
could play in certain places.
Went to see the Ramones
when they finally
come over to England
and some promoter
asked me, he said,
"Hey, Glen, you can't play?"
And I said, "No."
He said, "I'll put
you on. Tell Malcolm."
So I tell Malcolm. He's goes,
"No, no, you're banned."
Hang on, I wanna be in a band
because I wanna be a
musician and I wanna play.
And I started to think
there was a bit of
dishonesty involved.
[upbeat music]
[rain spraying]
We ended up in London
just before Christmas,
penniless without a real
sense of achievement.
And then the record company,
while we was away on tour,
and had got a load of shit,
backlash from the TV show
and they pulled the record.
The ground floor was very
unhappy about that firing.
It was just the big bosses.
The way I read it was that EMI
was very close to the
British establishment.
You know, they had friends
in Parliament and all that.
And the guy, who was
the head guy of EMI,
when not running
the record company
would have dinner
with the Queen,
[Reporter] The
anti-establishment Sex Pistols
called in the
establishment press
to protest what had
happened to them.
[Press] Okay, you want
to get your music across,
but do you feel maybe the fact
that you can't do
that commercially
is because of the
way you've behaved?
[Johnny] Oh no, I'm not
gonna come down to their level.
The next thing, we're
on a plane to Amsterdam.
We did a TV show there.
And then we played
at the Paradiso
and then we went to Rotterdam
and played and flew home.
But you know, things
were getting bad.
Then John was on my case
and I was just beginning to get
fed up with the whole thing.
And I had a meeting with
Steve and Paul and Malcolm
in this restaurant we used
to go to in Covent Garden.
I'd found out that they'd tried
to have a rehearsal with Sid
and I wasn't supposed
to know, but I did know
and I thought, well
that's out of order.
There's this big hoo-ha
and Malcolm says it's
all a big secret, man.
Come down to this pub at
such and such, you know.
And I thought they
were gonna do me over
'cause I didn't turn up
to one of Rotten's
parties or something.
John sort of manipulated
the situation with Malcolm
to get rid of Glen.
And whether he'd done it
because he wanted his
mate sit in the band
so he could feel
more comfortable
up against me and
Steve, I don't know,
At this meeting Paul says,
"Look, we know you're
not getting on with John.
Can't you just pretend
that you like him?"
And I thought, I'm
coming up with his ideas.
You guys don't really realize
what side of your
bread's buttered.
Why can't you guys back
me up a little bit?
And I said, "Then you want
me to pretend I like John?"
I said, "No, I can't
really do that."
At the end of the day,
John said he wasn't gonna,
couldn't go on with
Glen in the band.
And so it was either the
band broke up or Glen left.
It was one of the
only times that John
and Malcolm were in
sync with each other.
And by that time, the vast
majority of the songs on
"Never Mind The Bollocks"
had been written
and that was kind
of that really.
I liked Glen. We
liked the same music.
I got along with him great.
I think it just got
too weird for him.
I know Glen said he left.
Malcolm says he got fired.
It was weird and there's Sid.
And we just carried on,
like, oh, all right, okay.
We kind of just cowardly
went along with it,
I guess, to just
keep everyone happy.
And in retrospect, we should've
maybe stuck up for Glen
and kept him in the band.
Who knows what
would've happened.
As far as I'm concerned,
I quit and that was that.
I'd shaken hands
with Steve and Paul
and Malcolm before he sent
the telegram to the NME.
[tense music]
I thought it was the
stupidest fucking move
they ever made.
They say they threw him out
because he liked The Beatles.
Well, fuck you if you
don't like The Beatles.
I never bought into
Malcolm's sort of PR
that you know, oh,
we've kicked him out
'cause he likes The Beatles.
But I think what Malcolm
was really saying
is we kicked him out
'cause he's too musical.
It proved to me
then at that point
that this was not a band
that Malcolm had any
interest in having longevity,
musical development of any
kind or even staying together.
He wanted to destroy it
and he destroyed it by putting
this crazy guy in on bass
who couldn't even play bass.
It felt to me that
the musical heart
had been torn out the band.
Steve and myself
were very concerned
when Glen left the band.
But we was pushed
into a corner, really,
and we had no option.
I was left to write "Holidays"
and a few others, "No Feelings".
It definitely changed
the dynamics major.
I was the mug who had
to try and teach Sid
where to put his
fingers on the bass.
That's the last thing
I wanted to be doing.
Sid couldn't play bass.
I mean, well who gives a shit.
[Friend] We should
turn him down in takes.
Sometimes you should
turn him off actually.
I think we'd [indistinct]
all the dials on the M.
Should we do that for a pound?
Don't worry, Sid.
You don't need to worry
about fucking pounds.
You just keep
talking to the girls.
John really wanted
him in the band.
Me and Steve were, oh okay,
let's see how this goes.
He looked great, don't get me
wrong. He looked fantastic.
Yeah, he was a face around town
and when he first joined
the band, it was great.
He was really willing to
learn and learn the numbers
and play and learn the bass.
The only thing
missing with Sid
was fucking notes on the neck.
You know pieces of
tape, this is a C.
This is a G, you know. [laughs]
This is poor schmuck
fucking got thrown
into the fucking circus.
He never contributed
to any of the songwriting
or any of the recording.
What more can I say?
Even Sid himself would've
said, I'm not really a musician.
We all knew why he was there.
He was the poster boy
for the punk movement.
Went and picked
up my equipment
from our Denmark Street place
and then a couple of days
later I'm down at the Roxy Club
and then somebody
said, "John's here."
And I thought, oh, all right.
And I went out and I
was going to the loo
and he was there with Sid
and John's going like
that to Sid egging him on
and Sid follows me into the loo
and he said, "I'm the bass
player in the Sex Pistols now."
I said, "Yeah, I know."
I said, "Good for you."
He said, "What do you mean?"
He wanted to fight and John's
sort of egging him on, right.
But he's outside in the hallway
and me and Sid are in there.
I said, "I'll tell
you what, Sid,
I'll give you some bass
lessons if you like."
And he went, "Really?"
I said, "Yeah."
He said, "Aren't you annoyed?"
I said, "No, if they want you
in, that's the way it'll be."
And John's outside waiting
for the sound of fisticuffs.
And me and Sid sort of come out,
practically
arm in arm, laughing.
And John was like.
[Sid burps] Pardon me.
[Interviewer]
So what did you do
now that you've lost
your record contract?
You're still recording
though, aren't you?
-Yeah.
-What's your next single?
[Steve] Uh.
And there is no reason why
EMI
[Interviewer] And you were
signed up then with A&M?
Yeah for the week.
We walked into A&M Records.
Sid collapsed in the
marketing director's chair.
He was completely gone.
He drunk two bottles of
vodka from 10:00 AM to three.
It was like this wasn't a group
that had entered this building.
What had entered was
this fabulous disaster.
A couple of weeks later on,
Malcolm called me
up and he said,
"Look, you know, I
thought about it.
It's really not
working out with Sid.
I want you to come back
and kick down the doors
and be the Sex Pistol
bass player again."
I said, "Well, I could
do that, Malcolm.
But you sent that
telegram to NME
saying I was sacked
for liking the Beatles.
And I think it's pretty
shitty, really. So fuck you."
[crowd cheering]
[majestic music]
[Reporter] The summer of
'77, the summer of the Jubilee,
a time when the nation united
in spontaneous
gestures of patriotism.
A time when the then top 20
record charts were dominated
by this original version
of the National anthem
by the Sex Pistols.
God save the Queen
The fascist regime
They made you a moron
A potential H-bomb
We didn't write the song
to coincide with
the Jubilee at all.
We wrote that song I think
a year before, near enough,
it just came out at that time.
[Reporter] Her Majesty
and Prince Philip
to the thunderous cheers
of hundreds of thousands
of her subjects
lining the route.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd whistling]
They can't play on the land
and you can't hear
them in the air.
So let's put on a bloody boat.
[Johnny] It's insane,
the whole thing.
-And let's follow
the Queen's flotilla.
We mean it, man
When the Sex Pistols
went after the Queen,
I mean it just wasn't done.
"God Save the Queen" and played
it at the Queen's Jubilee.
No, no one has ever
done anything that ballsy.
That actually came out
after I'd left the band,
the song was written
and we were playing it,
but originally it was
called "No Future".
And to me, although the
first line of the song
is God save the Queen, the
main thing to me is no future.
There's no future. Not
that's a good thing.
But there's no
future unless you try
and do something
about it for yourself,
which is what we
were trying to do.
We didn't realize how much
we were gonna shake things up,
Questions in the houses
of the Parliament
and stuff like that going on.
You know it was crazy.
But we had a lot of support
throughout the country.
[Broadcaster] The Sex
Pistols current record,
"God Save the Queen",
is at number one
in the Capital headline today.
But the IBA, which administers
the Broadcasting Act,
has advised us this that,
particularly at this time,
this record is likely
to cause offense
to a number of our listeners
and have asked us not to play
it in our normal programming.
Not only would they
not play it on the BBC,
but they wouldn't even
print the name in the chart.
Going into Woolworths they
had the Top 10 on a pegboard
and then the number
one was blank.
When you're that passionate
about what you're doing,
that you're willing
to step over the edge
and confront the
world around you,
you will generate an
equally strong reaction
in the opposite direction.
[Interviewer] Are
you anti-royalist?
We are.
I've never met the
Queen in my life,
so why should I wanna know
her? [speaking faintly]
[Interviewer] I mean do
you think well, let's go
We don't bother about her.
We don't bother about her.
We just don't care
about the Queen.
I mean she don't give a
fuck about us, does she?
It was great that we knew
we were doing something
culturally significant
and fantastic,
but it was also very scary
that we knew people
were out to harm us.
So we had to get out
the country at one time.
No future for you
No future
[Glen] Well, then
they went to the States.
For you
[music swells]
[Audience] Hey, Johnny!
[crowd cheering]
And in the meantime,
I'd already started
taking some steps to talk to
other musicians like Steve New.
And I met this guy Rusty
Egan, he was a drummer,
and I'd already been writing
a couple of song ideas.
As soon as we heard that
Glen had quit the band,
we were on the phone.
And he said, "As a friend
and a representative of EMI,
we see you as a main
tune-smith in the band.
We'd be more than interested
in anything you come up with."
And I thought,
well, fucking handy.
And when I was on the
lookout for a singer,
like everybody wanted to
sound like Johnny Rotten,
which was the last
thing I wanted.
Rich Kids.
There's Glen Matlock,
formerly with the Sex Pistols
and Midge Ure, who's
with a Scottish
teeny-bop group called Slik.
Now you can see
Now you can feel
Now you can tell
that it was you
This is a kid had played in
the ultimate teenybopper
group, boy band Slik.
To get him as the front
was another clever
stance from Glen.
Okay, this is
called "Rich Kids".
[upbeat rock music]
What I did want to
do with the Rich Kids
was not be a
second division Sex Pistol.
And that's why it kind of
came out a bit different.
I'm talkin' about rich kids
The guys too much for you
This is the band that were
the missing link between punk
and what we were about to do
in the '80s with
New Romanticism.
They bridged that gap
and that was a
massive inspiration.
[Interviewer] What
do you think it will be
sort of a new wave kind
of words and angry songs?
No, I mean I'm not that
kind of angry person.
That's one of the reasons
I'm no longer in
the Pistols anymore.
Oh, it's too much
To stop the rich
So true
[Interviewer] Is there
a particular reason
why you're not playing
some of the larger,
you're not playing Los
Angeles or New York or?
[Glen] There's a
very definite reason
and all those places that
says you'll be sellouts,
but like who plays down south?
[upbeat rock music]
[crowd cheering]
Playing in the South,
that was a great idea.
Down there they had this
guy cutting himself on stage
with spiky hair and
not giving a fuck.
That was a spectacle. It
really was a spectacle.
The Pistols are
just out of sight.
I think they got a lot of balls.
Poo-poo, it isn't what
they sing. Get outta here!
[Interviewer] What do
they sing? They sing.
[spits] Get outta here.
It was just getting crazy.
We had lunatics following us
around all over the place.
The police were on
the side of the stage
and the record
company were worried.
We had a security all around us.
It was getting horrible.
I thought someone was
gonna die on that tour.
They nearly did with Sid just
causing chaos everywhere.
And the drug taking
and all that thing.
The band, it went
quickly downhill.
[Johnny] This is no fun.
No fun at all. No fun.
I said to the audience,
"Ever get the feeling
you've been cheated?"
And I meant it and I
still do to this day.
The whole thing went
sour. So we split.
Ever get the feeling you've
been cheated. Good night.
It was getting
dark and horrible
and, to be honest, I was
glad when it was over
at the end of that
American tour.
I was relieved too.
You know, I'd had enough.
That's the way it was.
That was the way
it was meant to be.
Sid was in the hospital.
It was a blizzard and I went
down to CGBGs that night
and there's Joe Stevens
with Johnny Rotten.
He asked me if I
had a cigarette.
I said, "Here, man, take it."
And he goes, "Oh."
He goes, "Is this a
token of your respect?"
And I said, "Well, no.
I actually feel bad for you
'cause you're out of work."
[laughs] It was an icebreaker
right there, you know.
Do you keep in touch
with any of the people
that you've played with before?
Anybody in the band?
No. They never bothered to
ring me, so I won't ring them.
It was really
heavy at the time.
And yeah, I was glad.
I thought we were just gonna
split up for a few months,
maybe then get back together.
But it never worked
out like that.
Then Sid came back to London
with tail between his legs.
Then he had a big drug problem.
But he moved into Maida
Vale a borough in London
and he was friends with
some of the same people
and then Nancy'd be around
and I saw him quite a lot.
[Nancy] I've been with Sid
ever since the first
day I got to England
and we're partners in crime.
[Sid speaking faintly]
We have good fun.
We wipe the shit off and
we help each other out.
Do remember once,
there was Nancy holding
her hand over a bowl.
She cut her wrist,
sort of cut her wrist,
eating an ice cream.
And I go, "Oh Nancy,
what you doing?"
She's going, "Well, Sid
don't love me anymore."
I said, "Oh, well never mind.
Do you want a cup of tea?"
And she'd be like,
"No, it's all right.
I was just eat the ice cream."
And it was all like
playacting kind of stuff.
I liked Nancy.
She was like one of
the handful of women
that were on the scene at CBGB.
You know we were all kids.
I got to know Nancy and
she sort of explained to me
that she had, had a rough
life, a rough home life.
I don't know if you
saw any of the gigs,
but Sid was like
really showing him out
and John was being like nothing.
[Interviewer] What
was it that you thought
the Pistols were trying to do?
Was it just like kick the
establishment up the ass?
[Sid snoring]
Sid?
And we were sitting in
the pub one night together
and he's going, "The
thing is, Glen,"
he said, "people seem
to think we're enemies,
but here we are sitting
having a drink together."
And I said, "Yeah, it's
kind of funny that."
He said, "Can't we do
something about it?
Well, you know, to prove
that we're not enemies."
I said, "Well I'll
tell you what,
maybe we could do a
little gig for a laugh."
He went, "Oh, really?
Who would we get?"
I said, "Well I'll
tell you what,
why don't we get Steve New,
who's my guitarist
in the Rich Kids band
and maybe Rat Scabies."
He said, "Who's
gonna play bass?"
I said, "Well, I'll
play bass. You sing."
"Oh, oh, all right."
This was like on a Monday
and we was playing
the Electric Ballroom
the following
Friday or Saturday.
Sid Vicious, I was
in the Rich Kids
and Rat was in the White Cats.
Vicious White Kids,
boom, and it sold out.
[Sid] This one's dedicated
to my honey, Nancy.
[upbeat rock music]
[Glen] There was loads
of people at the gig.
I remember Thin Lizzy came down
and I think that's where I met
Blondie for the first time.
Joan Jett and I went together
and Marc Bolan was there.
But the mystic just
brought me tears
They had no material
and they did "I Wanna be
Your Dog" three times.
Kept getting encores and we
didn't have any more songs.
So we did the same set of
about 10 songs three times.
I mean, what happened
after that gig,
Sid was gonna go to America
and we didn't do too
bad after the gig
and then in a kind of
drunken moment of largess,
I said, "Let's just give
Sid the money for the gig."
And a couple of days
later he went to America.
The thing was, I didn't realize
that he was always skint.
He didn't have any money
and I didn't realize
how bad he'd become
and Malcolm wasn't
giving him any money.
So him and Nancy's in their own.
I didn't know that.
I've given him several grand
of money to go to America.
He turns up in New York, loaded.
Sid, damn you! Fuck.
So I don't know
if I didn't help somehow
in some small way,
help him with his
demise, undeliberately.
[Reporter] Tonight
Vicious is in real trouble.
Charged with the murder
of his girlfriend
at Manhattan's Chelsea Hotel.
Vicious, whose real
name is John Ritchie,
had lived at the Chelsea with
20 year old Nancy Spungen
for about three weeks.
This morning, Vicious
called an ambulance
to the West 23rd Street Hotel.
When it arrived, Ms.
Spungen was already dead
of the stab wound
in the stomach.
[somber music]
Really sweet enough guy.
I mean I didn't
really get to know him
until after fucking
Nancy was dead.
He just got out of jail.
He was actually sober
and you could talk to him
and he was a very sad character.
I mean he was, you know I
asked him flat out one time,
"Did you do it?"
And he goes, "I don't know."
[Interviewer] And what do
you think made it happen?
It was meant to happen.
Nancy always said she
die before she was 21.
[somber music]
Sid Vicious will not
have to stand trial
for the murder of a girlfriend
at the Chelsea Hotel.
Sid is no longer
vicious. He's dead.
His nude body found in a
Greenwich Village apartment.
spoon and syringe nearby.
[Reporter] The ex Sex
Pistol was described
as happy about prospects
for a bright future
when he came here to
63 Bank last night.
[somber music]
You just have to accept it.
I could no more save him
than I could've killed him.
[Interviewer] Were you
close to him at that time?
He was my best mate.
All I can say is
that we really tried,
everybody tried to talk
to him, Steve and Paul.
[Interviewer] Do you
feel if he'd never met you,
he might be alive today?
[somber music]
I don't know.
[somber music continues]
First person I see up
here is Joe Strummer,
who was a friend of mine.
I remember Joe wearing this.
Generation X, there's
Tony James there
who used to knock
around with Mick Jones.
Scabies there, up there.
Very good drummer, but
he's a bit impulsive.
About a few years ago I
was having a jam with him
and was playing
away and he did this
fantastic big drum
thing, all that,
that ended like one and a
half beats into the next bar,
which it shouldn't have done.
It just all fell apart.
We was only rehearsing
and it all broke
down and I went wrap.
And he said, "Glen, I hate it
when you can't follow me
when I go wrong like that."
[crew laughing]
So there's kind of quite
a lot of connections
in this room for me.
But the only thing is
they got pictures of
Pistols without me in it.
So I'm gonna have to
address that issue
when I go back to England.
It's funny how the media
gave us that illusion
about the Sex Pistols,
that it was all Sid
when it wasn't all Sid,
it was Glen Matlock.
It's kind of funny, I don't
get up in the morning thinking
I used to be on a Sex Pistols.
But everything I've
done over my life,
I've never been allowed to
forget about the Sex Pistols.
But all I've ever
really wanted to do,
and maybe that was
one of the reasons
I fell out for the other guys,
you know Malcolm, was
be a working musician.
And you know what?
I'm 67 now and
I've managed that.
[upbeat rock music]
After the Pistols, I
got a gig with Iggy Pop.
I'm on tour with Iggy Pop
around Europe and America
and I played in his
"Soldier" album.
With the Rich Kids
it was fantastic.
I got to work with Mick Ronson,
he produced the album and
I became mates with him
and he asked me to
do other projects.
There's people that
have influenced me
I got to work with.
Johnny Thunders, I actually
did a tour of Japan
and Australia with Johnny.
[energetic rock music]
Look at the stuff
he's done since.
He played with
the fucking Faces.
The band that I used to
stand in front of the mirror
when I was 14 pretending
I was in them,
we headlined the Fuji
Festival in Japan;
you know Ronnie Wood and
Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan.
If someone said to me,
I can see into the future
and later on down the
line you're gonna get
one of the Sex Pistols
playing with me,
I would go, "Go away.
Don't be silly."
But sure enough he did.
[crowd cheering]
Then I got a phone call
a year and a half ago
from Clem Burke, Blondie
was short of a bass player,
would I go and help him out?
And I said, "When, late in
the summer or something?"
He said, "No, on Tuesday."
I was like, oh, [stammering].
[crowd cheering]
I knew Glen would
be perfect for it.
And we did this
arena tour with Glen
and it's just carried
on since then.
It's been great.
[crowd cheering]
[Debby] Oh, my god. [laughs]
Yeah, you know Glen is great.
Yes, he's a sweetheart.
["Call Me"]
Call me, call
me, on the line
Call me, call me
any day or night
Call me, I'll arrive
When you're ready
for your sweet design
In my experience,
there's some people
that were born to be
in rock and that's it.
It's just, you know who you are.
And I think that applies to him.
Designer sheets,
I'll never get enough
That's one of the
things I like about Glen,
that it's not past glories.
I think his current work
is his strongest ever.
Really With his
finger on the pulse
of what's going on
politically in the country
and the world and
he's writing about it.
Until there's
someone, oh yeah
People always say the
Pistols was like a sea change.
Maybe it was in a way,
but I dispute that.
I think music's
like a baton race.
You know the people from
before you that you dig,
you take the baton off of
them and you do your bit
and then you pass the baton
on for the next lot of people.
You know here's this man Glen
Matlock who changed my life.
Yeah, I put seeing
the Sex Pistols
in the same bracket
as Paul meeting John.
[upbeat rock music]
Glen leaving
sadly did take away
that marvelous accidental
synergy that they had
and they couldn't really
seriously recover from it.
[Paul] What a damn good band
we were, to be quite frank,
and how right it was that
we ended when we did.
You know I'm
proud of the songs
and every time you hear a Sex
Pistols record on the radio,
especially the
first three singles,
you might be listening to
Johnny Rotten and Steve Jones
and Paul Cook, but you're also
listening to Glen Matlock,
He is a writer
and an idea maker.
I don't think we would
have the Sex Pistols
the same way that
that we knew them
without him being one
of the main ingredients.
It takes a- a lot of people
to make something great
and different opinions
and when they align,
that's when it's
something special.
And in the end of the Pistols,
they were very special.
And there's not a lot
of bands that can say
that they have one record
that impacted everything.
It's amazing with
that one album,
how they're spoken about in
the same breath as the Who
or even the Stones
or the Beatles
or all the great
rock and roll bands,
which they were one of.
They only had to
make one, really.
It's so good.
No one sounds anywhere
near that powerful.
Never Mind the Bollocks raised
the bar for everyone.
It's one of the most
classic records of all time.
Amazing, I mean I played
that to death when it came out.
That's their one
statement to the world.
And imagine getting
it so right once.
I made 10 albums
and in my own mind,
they don't match up to that
and I'm an arrogant bastard.
I mean it, man
We love our Queen, oh yeah
God saves
We have got
something in common
that only four people
in the wide world have
and it's like when we get in
the room, if we ever did again,
and we start playing
we're the Sex Pistols,
it wouldn't have happened
without all the elements,
which is mainly the band.
But it wouldn't have
happened without Malcolm.
It wouldn't have happened
without Vivienne.
It wouldn't have happened
without Jamie Reid's artwork.
It wouldn't have happened
without Little Helen,
Helen of Troy whose
mates were Malcolm.
There's a power to the
music of the Pistols.
No future for you
No future, no future
[crowd cheering]
[music swells]
Yeah, maybe we could've
made another album or two.
But you know bands tend
to do a ballad or so.
Something like the
Rolling Stones',
Angie, Angie
Can't Imagine Johnny Rotten
singing something like that.
[he chuckles]
Angie...
All right, that's
Glen Matlock on bass.
[crowd cheering]
That's a good
place to end then.
There's no point in
asking, you'll get no reply
Oh just remember
I don't decide
I got no reason and
you'll get no reply
Sigh of friction, yeah
That's just fine
We're so pretty,
oh so pretty
We're vacant
We're so pretty,
oh so pretty
Vacant
Don't ask us to attend,
'cause we're not all there
Oh don't pretend
'cause we don't care
Got no reason,
it's all too much
Always find us
Out to lunch, out to lunch
We're so pretty,
oh so pretty
Vacant
We're so pretty,
oh so pretty
Vacant
We're so pretty,
oh so pretty
Vacant, yeah
And we don't care
We're so pretty,
pretty vacant
We don't care
[song ends]