Sex Pistols To Reform

[Viero_Berlotti]

Phoebe Greenwood
The Sex Pistols have announced that they are reforming for a one-off concert in November at London's Brixton Academy. Timed to coincide with the thirtieth anniversary re-release of their seminal album Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols, the concert date will be preceded by the re-issue of singles Anarchy In The UK, God Save The Queen, Pretty Vacant and Holidays In The Sun.

Already music magazine NME have shown their support for the return of the remaining members - John Lydon, Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock - by gearing up their readers to get God Save the Queen to number one on the charts, a position it failed to reach when originally released in 1977. Banned by Radio One, it is one of music's most legendarily apocryphal tales that the chart was rigged by jittery regulators who felt the Queen might not be amused at having her Jubilee celebrations sound-tracked by a fevered anthem to monarchy bashing.

This will be the band's first live date since their Piss Off Tour in 2003, although, Lydon, Jones and Cook did reunite earlier this year in Los Angeles to re-record Pretty Vacant for a video game.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article2480789.ece

[non capisco]

Is that chart-rigging story apocryphal though? I'm sure I've read that it's been confirmed they did bump 'God Save The Queen' down to no 2.

[TC Raymond]

I saw them in 1996 and they not only looked as if they were back from the dead, they stank like it too.

[drberbatov]

I'd only go for a PIL reformation.

[buttgammon]

Me too. And that would have to be with Wobble and Levene - not the crappy stadium rock set-up they used later on.

[NoSleep]

Let me third the (Wobble/Levene/Lydon) PIL reunion.

[kidsick5000]

Let me third the (Wobble/Levene/Lydon) PIL reunion.

Don't. It only makes me think what happened Johnny?

[thugler]

NO thanks. Were shit the first time they were around, and every time they've reunited.

[buttgammon]

It's sad to see Lydon throw away any artistic credibility he has like that again. He could do something interesting but would rather reform to make a load of money and turn the Pistols into a dad rock band. It goes against the spirit of not only punk but his work with PIL too.

[The Mumbler]

I think Wobble and Levene fell out terminally in the 90s. I don't think Wobble's interested in nostalgia, in any case.

I won't be going, in case anyone cares. Punk rock may now be the dullest subject on earth.

[buttgammon]

I suppose Wobble still makes his own music on his own terms and doesn't have to resort to reforming an old and effectively dead band to make a bit of dosh anyway.

[The Mumbler]

Book reviews for the Independent on Sunday too. He gave Alan Parker's third (that's third) biography on Sid Vicious the kicking it was crying out for a few months ago.

[buttgammon]

It probably did deserve one really. I haven't actually read the book but it's not as if the Sid Vicious biography is a gap that needs filling in literature. How many books must there be about the bloke?

[The Mumbler]

http://www.fodderstompf.com/ARCHIVES/REVIEWS%202/sid.html

(Excellent fansite there, incidentally, if you're at all interested in PiL.)

As for Parker, run a mile from anything he's written. He's the Robert Ross of music books. They appear to be mates, as they're always bigging each other up on their respective myspaces.

[buttgammon]

I'm familiar with that website, helped them a bit with the samples section. It is an excellent site and that was a well written review as well. Wobble's clearly got the knack with that.

[ziggy starbucks]

I'd like to see glen matlock recreating his original departure from the band and eating a spunk sandwich.

[TC Raymond]

The Sex Pistols reunion will look exactly how the average Derby and Joan club will look in the year 2027.

[sublingual]

Already music magazine NME have shown their support ... by gearing up their readers to get God Save the Queen to number one on the charts

This seems the most unnecessary part of the whole story to me. Great at the time - and whether true or not, it's a fantastic story that it was kept off Number 1 - but an anachronism, increasingly irrelevant today. Given declining single sales they probably stand a good chance of doing it, but would anybody really care?

[Beagle 2]

Ra ra fucking ra, I love the pistols, I love John Lydon and I'm chuffed to bits they're doing the concert. I thought they sounded absolutely fine on the reuinion gigs they've done before, and they approached them with honesty and good humour. It'll be a good old party. Pull your heads out of your arses.

Buttgammon - do you really think he cares about "artistic credibility", especially at his age - it's that sort of pomposity he's always tried to puncture.

[buttgammon]

I just don't like to see him embarrassing himself yet again.

[Beagle 2]

I don't think he does though, he never makes me cringe, just break into a big grin.