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0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Joey v. Johnny Apr 20, 2010
There is a hilarious story about the Ramones playing in England. Johnny Rotten was in the house, and sort of lurking about outside the Ramone's dressing room. Someone asked if he wanted to meet the band. He replied that he did, but he was afraid that they would beat him up.
 Buy this Apr 19, 2010
This is the best Sex Pistols CD!!! There is nothing in the world that has the same sound as they do! It is awsome!
When Johnny met Malkie Apr 09, 2010
Or, hey hey, we're the punkees.
I was a young man in school when an issue of Rolling Stone landed in my hands with the intriguing cover story "Rock is Sick and Living In London." It chronicled the rising punk rock movement in England and prominently featured The Sex Pistols. I was already into the Ramones, so finding a copy of "Never Mind The Bollocks" was high on my new "to do" list. I went out and found a copy and was utterly blown away. It was loud, angry and had attitude to burn. All my friends into southern rock? They could eat my shorts after I heard "Anarchy In The UK."
While Malcolm McLaren was the provocateur who put these four men together (the legend goes that he put Johnny Rotten in the band after auditioning to Alice Cooper's "I'm 18" in front of a jukebox), there's no way to deny the ferocity that The Sex Pistols made as a band. (As reference. McLaren's other discoveries were an early version of Adam and The Ants and Bow Wow Wow, hardly the stuff of legend.) It's Rotten's demonic "right! Nowwwwwwww" that opens the album and it's his snarling laughter that comes off as something the then 19 year old was not faking. Add the infamous antics that the band became famous for and soon the band were running wild through Europe.
When listening to "Never Mind The Bollocks" over thirty years later, it shows some wear. However, the ballistic singles "Anarchy In The UK," "God Save The Queen," "Pretty Vacant" and "Holidays In The Sun" have lost none of their brutal impact. McLaren and the band used every opportunity to rub the staid noses (and ears) of prim and proper music with exploitative music and imagery, with Rotten's anti-singing and charisma being the lead instrument. Guitarist Paul Jones was a secret weapon, as he was cracking guitar hooks that were simple but devastating, supporting the manufactured mayhem with musicianship that was often ignored by the antics.
McLaren may have been the Svengali (so long, R.I.P. you scoundrel), and The Sex Pistols and band jimmied together for maximum impact, but the chemistry and timing were perfect. "Never Mind The Bollocks" stands toe to toe with such breakthroughs as the MC5, The Stooges, The New York Dolls and The Ramones as bands that redefined rock and roll attitude. The one and only album they ever did defines a moment and a legacy for all involved.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Don't be fooled by reputation! Feb 21, 2010
Allot of people think the Pistols are like modern punk....like speed fast screaming punk...like guys that Nirvana were inspired to play fast and scream too punk. they get a bad rap because of some what contrived antics and appearance, also a bunch of wanna be's trying to hard to not conform and unable to play a note. For all that the pistols musically never get the credit they deserve. They are not like the Ramones...2-3 minute blitzfests of simplicity and not much thought (though they have there moment of greatness in those songs)...they are much more, and in retrospect for the time period very creative in their song writing approaches when it came to the music arrangements. Many remember Anrachy in the UK...or God Save the Queen, they were very trash but songs like Bodies, Liar, Pretty Vacant, etc show very creative changes and interludes that most never appreciate. When I first heard this CD I tought wow they are actually really good musicians. The drummer is very craft. It's just a shame so many posers throw on some grubby clothes and fashionably get anger and depressed claim angst pointing at the Pistols as their battle cry. Therefore scorning a great band with a lot of dirt for which they are stained to the people that probably would really like the ablum. These are great songs.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Greatest Hits EP Dec 13, 2009
For years, my reaction to anyone who claimed this was their favorite punk album was to assume they'd never heard it. Maybe they had a Sid Vicious t-shirt and a Green Day CD. Why? I was 14 when I first heard Anarchy - Radio Luxembourg had an interview with the band right after the Bill Grudy TV show. They played Anarchy three or four times and I Wanna Be Me twice. Visceral, blistering and exciting. I wanted to tell everyone I knew about this band, these songs. When God Save The Queen was released, the local record store had one copy and I stood there for hours hoping they'd play it a second time. Oh, and that b-side! No Fun....Pretty Vacant made Top of the Pops, but the initial thrill was gone.
Then Bollocks came out. Cajoled a tape from a friend's older brother. Rush home. Oh Dear. Far and away the best moments were the singles I'd already heard. Apart from Submission, nothing else was as good as No Fun or I Wanna Be Me. Much, much worse. Dull. Being 15, I loved Bodies. He was angry! He was cussing! He was venomous. Apart from that, I was deeply disappointed. Stomach ache disappointed. Listen-to-it-again-hoping-it's-better disappointing. And that was that. Until I was 17 and outgrew the shock value of Bodies. Poor Johnny Rotten wasn't yet ready to deal with the personal. Oh, and around this time they sang a song called "Belsen Was a Gas". Yeah, after Glen Matlock they were nothing. Complete and utterly worthless. Irrelevant.
25 years go by and I listened to Bollocks again. Blown Away by the singles, Submission now my favorite, Seventeen moving up the list. Even Holidays sounds better. Steve Jones impresses throughout; Lydon's petulant, angry, paranoid squaling raises the hair on my neck (oh, how I wish Bodies had a point of view...); the drummer appears competent. It's best thought of as a Greatest Hits package. The short, sharp, shock of the first three singles no longer overwhelms the album. Worth buying, worth listening to. If you missed the singles as they came out, and this was the first time you heard them, it's a terrific album, despite some clunkers like EMI and New York.
Oh, and revolution aside. It's now available everywhere even in an Eco-Friendly Package.
John Lydon would move on to create one of the all time best albums with PIL Metal Box/Second Edition. Finally he got the personal and broader politics right.Perfectly right. Challenging and brilliant. Justified belief inhis warped intellect. Tragically, that was it. Was he replaced by a less intelligent twin? Who knows.
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