Celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee will take place on an extended weekend on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th June. 35 years ago, after the Queen had celebrated her Silver Jubilee, Never Mind the B******s, Here’s the Sex Pistols, was released on 27th October 1977.
The lyrics of two songs on this album, ‘Anarchy in the UK’ and ‘God Save the Queen’, appeared to many as a despicable assault upon the British monarchy; lead singer Johnny Rotten, for example, in ‘God Save the Queen’, describes Queen Elizabeth II as “no human being”.However, the band went on to explain their issues were not with the Queen but with the British Government in general. It peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart and, in the words of Charles M. Young: “there had never been anything like it before.” It was the album’s bare-faced effrontery that made it popular. This can be plainly heard in the song ‘Pretty Vacant’ which is largely interpreted as a celebration of youthful apathy, perfectly summed up by the closing line: “and we don’t care.”
The grunge, indie and thrash metal genres of music simply would not have sprung up without punk rock, a movement kick-started by The Sex Pistols, while bands such as Oasis, Nirvana and Guns N’ Roses have all openly admitted they are indebted to the band’s influence. However, since the much-mourned death of Diana in 1997 and the marriage of her son William to Catherine Middleton last year, the monarchy’s status as a national treasure appears to no longer be in doubt, while albums such as Never Mind the B******s remain at the core of our country’s musical legacy.