Day 35: "Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols" - The Sex Pistols (1977)
I never really 'got' punk growing up. I think past me always saw it as something deliberately juvenile, surface level rebellion, the fart jokes of the musical world. I don't know whether that was an attitude that I inherited from my parents, or if not being part of that era, the impact and significance of punk had somehow just been lost on me as a teen.
As time has passed, I've come to appreciate punk more. I think "London Calling" is an amazing album. I've listened to an enjoyed entire albums of The Ramones, The Dead Kennedys, and later punk like X's "Los Angeles" and Black Flag. I can appreciate that this album is considered to be a cultural touchstone for an era of music that predated my own and reinvigorated a music scene which had grown bloated and uninspired.
All that being said, let it be known here and now that I fucking HATE the Sex Pistols.
Listen to me here
So today's question is this; despite my burning dislike of the band, is my collection better off for owning it, despite the fact that I have no desire to ever listen to it, and listening to it this morning just reminded me how godawful I think it is?
You'll not be surprised to learn that this isn't a CD I bought for myself. This was part of a Christmas present from my sister way back when. Like me, my sister is a big music fan; I could never figure out whether she got a stronger dose of the family musical gene than me, was just more dedicated to learning at a younger age, or both; she plays guitar and sings very nicely, far better than I at both disciplines, and like me she has a wide and eclectic taste in music which constitutes a large CD and record collection across a variety of genres.
This was part of a few CDs which she knew were missing from my collection, and reasonably she thought "this is a classic album, Rich doesn't own it and he should". I can't fault the logic behind that thought process apart from the fact that the sound of John Lydon singing makes me want to jab a hot knitting needle into my ears until the pain stops, which she was not to know. So now I own this thing, and I am forced to wrestle with the way I feel about owning it.
If I am being real, I am sure that I am massively in the minority about my opinion of this album amongst 'serious music fans', whatever that means. But because I'm aware of what made this an important record when it was released, does that mean that I have to sit through 3 minutes of harpy like screeching during "Liar", wincing slightly and saying "Oh yes, you can really hear the cultural relevance through the atonal nasal whining"?
Maybe it's because I knew so much about the genesis of the Sex Pistols that put me off. Their existence was as contrived as the existence of McBusted, their rise to fame orchestrated by one of the biggest con men in music history, they produced only a single album, and one of their band members probably killed his girlfriend, attacked the singer of another band, and then committed suicide via heroin overdose. I don't understand why this collection of arses gets to be the face of punk. It makes me genuinely annoyed to think about it.
But even though that's the case, is that still not enough to counteract that feeling that "no collection is complete without a copy of this seminal, culturally relevant album in it"? I really don't know. it sticks out in my collection like a sore thumb, unloved and unplayed moreso than any other album I can see with a quick scan of the Pile. I have some love for at least one track on every album I own, with this glaring exception. Even "Pretty Vacant" and "Anarchy In The UK" feel like hackneyed punk cliches, over-saturated and covered countless times. You haven't heard anything until you've experienced a Russian reggae band covering "Anarchy In The UK", let me tell you. That's how you know you are punk.
So I am sticking to my guns on this one. Fuck the Sex Pistols, and thank christ and everything holy that I will never have to listen to this album voluntarily again.
