In 1980 the downtown Toronto Ontario bar called the Horseshoe Tavern held The Last Pogo. The former Country & Western Bar had for the last four years played home to Toronto's flourishing Punk Rock scene and they could see the writing on the wall that spelled the end of an era.
Already the first "boutiques" were opening in what had been their previously unfashionable downtown neighbourhood. When the sandblasting started and the gentrification began one knew it was only a matter of time before it would become a "scene".
Band names like The Battered Wives, Nazi Dog And The Vile Tones, Suburban Crime, and Throbbing Members were soon only a memory as the weekend punks from the suburbs made their way into the city core to buy their black leather jackets, studded collars, and combat boots. Enclaves of hold outs hung on, moving to where rents were cheaper and the neighbourhood less reputable but it was only holding off the inevitable: the first wave of Punk Rock in Toronto was over and done.
Punk had its origins in the streets of London England in the mid 1970s where unemployment among the working class youth was rampant and hopes for the future were minimal. Rock music had become moribund and bloated, losing track of the rebellious nature that had made it so vital in the late fifties early sixties.
The times were ripe for something new, something that spoke to the anger and hopeless frustration. The times were ripe for Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols. For about three years they were like an asteroid entering earth's atmosphere; gradually burning out and breaking apart from the speed of their flight and the weight of the resistance against them.
The first line up for the Sex Pistols was Glen Matlock on bass, Paul Cook on drums, Steve Jones on guitar, and Johnny (Lydon) Rotten vocals, lyrics, and attitude. Eagle Rock Entertainment has reissued the DVD Classic Albums: Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols that tells the story of how the album came into existence. Bollocks was the only full-length studio album that the Pistols produced and, judging by what we hear on the DVD, it's a miracle that they even got one recorded.
Article comments
1 - JC Mosquito
"The act of creating music is not that of a person with no faith or hope for the future, no matter what people say."
Brilliant, Mr. Marcus - and if this revelation is yours, make sure posterity remembers to attach your name to it.
This is the key to the whole thing, isn't it? It was never about nihilism - not even pre-punk godfathers the Stooges were despondent - the whole thing was about the joyful noise.
Thanx for sharing your insight.
Skeeter.
2 - Marty Thau
Nice article. However one thing needs correction -- punk had its origins in New York's east village in '74.
3 - Christopher Rose
"Never Mind The Bollocks" is indeed one of the great albums of all time and the Sex Pistols almost the perfect band.
4 - zingzing
the sex pistols were an interesting group, but let's be honest about things... nevermind the bollocks kind of sucks. there's only really 4 or 5 songs on it that completely work, and most of those were the early singles. plenty of other punk bands put out better albums, and john lydon put out much better stuff himself. but still, for all intents and purposes, the sex pistols were the quintessential british punk group.
and marty... as much as you would like to believe that punk started in your 'hood in 1974, that would be really bad history.
but richard... you make many good points in this peice, but this one betrays you: "The Pistols appear to have had a career in spite of [MacLaren], not because of him. He seems to have seen them as a toy he could play with and a means of creating a stir and being flamboyant..."
it may be true that maclaren was more interested in his own self than he was in the music, but it is also 100% true that the sex pistols would have been nothing without him. he created the atmosphere for them to meet, he gave them the practice space, he got them all their shows, he talked to the media, he was the one spitting out situationist slogans all over the place. without the media, what were the pistols, and without maclaren, how would the pistols have ever attracted the media?
maclaren is a crucial part of the sex pistols story. yes, he was an asshole. but who wasn't? glen matlock? the guy was a whiner. now name me another person in the group who wasn't completely looking after his own interests...
save johnny rotten, i think maclaren is the most important part of the sex pistols story... which, in itself, is far more interesting than the actual music. (other than anarchy, and god save... which are really good songs...)
5 - JC Mosquito
Bollocks kind of sucks!?! Compared to what at the time?
Y'know zing - you might even be right (you often are about this stuff). Personally, I'd sooner listen to almost any of the American punks before the Pistols' first and last effort. But Bollocks is more than just a record - it's the hammer that broke rock and roll as it had come to be known by the late 70's.
6 - zingzing
yeah, that's what i'm trying to say. bollocks is more important than it is listenable. but it wasn't really the album that did it anyway, it was those first three singles. the album was a bit of an afterthought in some ways...
as for albums that were better...
television-marquee moon, richard hell and the voidoids-blank generation, ramones-ramones, clash-clash, buzzcocks-spiral scratch, wire-pink flag... it goes on and on. that's just the more popular stuff, and that doesn't take into account that '78 and '79 were much more interesting than '76 and '77.
7 - JC Mosquito
Marquee Moon might be the best album of the late 70's, period. And the best thing about MM was it was the acid test for good taste. I used to tell people that Tom Verlaine was as good a gutarist as Hendrix or Page, and after playing the title track, if they didn't get it, you knew they never would get it.
But the unbelievers would just shrug at Television - but EVERYBODY had someting to say about Bollocks. And speaking of guitars,one of the most potent, concise guitar solos of ALL TIME is the 4 note assault in the bridge of God Save the Queen - reminded be of McCartneys' four noter in Back in the USSR of all things, except with more firepower.
8 - Christopher Rose
zing, I'm not sure how an album can be both important and unlistenable, though I agree the singles were all so perfect.
Skeeter, Marquee Moon is one of the best albums ever! I still get goosebumps and shivers up and down my spine when I listen to it. Shame nothing else Television did ever got close to it though - talk about one hit wonders!
9 - JC Mosquito
".. important and unlistenable..." I once read a review that called Smells Like Teen Spirit "...as inspiring as it is unintelliglble," which I thought was a perfect description.
CR: The reissue of Marquee Moon is even more excellent, with one of the bonus tracks being a nearly as good alternate version of the title track, and the original version of Little Johnny Jewel. And no matter what anyone says, I thought Television's second album Adventure was nearly as good, with a couple of the tracks topping even some from MM. Just get a copy of the ROIR cassette of Televison, and you got pretty much all there is from the band from that era.
10 - zingzing
ahh, chris, i didn't say bollocks is "both important and unlistenable," i said it is "more important than it is listenable." there's a difference. i think it's vastly more important than the actual quality of the album merits. but that's the thing.
MM is some great shit, but i would say wire's chair's missing is the best album of the late 70s. although maybe talking heads' more songs about building and food or pere ubu's dub housing are better. not sure. i flip-flop all the time.
also, jc, the guitars on god save are fucking fantastic, ain't they? such a rush...
11 - JC Mosquito
All I can say is, if I was Chris Spedding, I would've taken all the credit ;)