PUNK RESEARCH

One of my favourite music videos is from a 'punk-esq' band, they have influence over the way I think politically and about money and of course music. After watching 'God Save The Queen' by the Sex Pistols I decided to to a bit of further research into the genre and way of life. this section of research will be based around the Sex Pistols after having watched their music videos and owning a number of their Cd's.

Other bands such as The Ramones or the New York Dolls might have invented the punk sound. Richard Hell might have invented the punk image. But the Sex Pistols came to define punk. They are the band that turned punk from a cool little Rock'n'Roll sub-genre into a worldwide musical, artistic explosion. The Sex Pistols ripped it off New York and made it their own.

The Pistols added a British twist of humour and brought elements of pantomime to this new sound. They were everything that was the worst and the best about they British, all wrapped up into one

explosion of spitting hate and cynical fury.

The Sex Pistols started off in London in a lace called The Strand. However

at this point the band were not called the 'Sex Pistols'. The band regularly hung out at Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren's shop - 'Too Young To Live, Too Young To Die.' Westwood and McLaren agreed on styling a clothing range on them, She changed the shop name to 'Sex' which gave the inspiration for the Sex Pistols to change their name also. She changed her focus to anti-fashion wear and specialized in stage wear, glamour wear and rubber wear. McLaren soon became the bands manager, he paid for their first rehearsal space etc. Sid Vicious was recruited when he walked into 'Sex' wearing an 'I Hate Pink Floyd' top and bright green hair.

'Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols' (1977) was the name of their album originally intended to be called 'God Save The Queen'. The name of this album cause difficulty for the band as stationary shops refused to store stock and sell the album. Although someone was able to demonstrate that the word 'Bollocks' meant 'Old Preist'.

'God Save The Queen' single was released on the 17th May 1977 deliberately released in the' the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. The celebrations proved a ripe target for punk's own aristocracy to attack. After leaving EMI labels the Sex Pistols held a press conference outside Buckingham Palace and played their new release - 'God Save The Queen' .

They were banned from the square, and hours afterwards hired a boat to take them down the River Thames deliberately passing Westminster and the houses of Parliament. They did this whilst playing the track on full volume passing these critical places, but soon got stopped by the River Police. This whole experiment was perceived as an attack on The Queen.

However Johnny Rotten said it was not an attack on a specific member but the whole Royal Society and Monarchy in general. He also remarked that they "had declared war on the whole country without intending to." 'God Save The Queen' was originally named something else but changed it to coincide with the Silver Jubilee.

It is fair to say the the Sex Pistols have had their fair share of making history and intend to make some more.