The cool July air swept over the bulging riverboat as it rocked rhythmically to the soft breaks of the Thames. There was a quiet anticipation amongst the punks on board. They knew what was coming.
Then…
Paul clicked his sticks, Johnny dashed his fag, and all hell broke loose...
Tony Wilson once said, "When the Sex Pistols played Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall there were only about 40 people there. But everyone there formed a band."
This quote sums up the Sex Pistols perfectly. They weren't a punk band, they were moulders of the movement.
To understand the Sex Pistols' influence, you really need to understand the political climate of Britain in the 1970s. The UK was a wounded animal post war. Debt was spiralling, both Labour and the Conservatives were in turmoil, and Prime Minister Ted Heath was failing to deal with industrial unrest, causing soaring energy prices and, at one stage, the rationing of electricity. To top this off, the IRA had launched its mainland bombing campaign, which had become everyday news.
Notwithstanding this, youth unemployment was soaring, inflation was at 20%, the government was taking huge loans from the IMF, and people could hardly afford to live. It seemed like while the rest of the world was advancing and growing, the old British Lion was limping towards complete capitulation. It was in this climate that a young tearaway named John Lydon was growing up and living every day.
John Lydon, or as we know him, Johnny Rotten, realised that you didn't have to have an angelic voice like Freddie or lightning fast fingers like Jimi to be a musical hero. You just needed a cause, a bit of edge, and a name that upsets the papers...
The Sex Pistols crafted their image around being provocative. Donning ripped clothing, home dyed hair, and on occasion a swastika or two. The fashion statement was always to give a big "fuck you" to society and anyone who deemed themselves a part of it.
Musically they were simple and quick, rejecting complexity for aggression. They were essentially saying to the youth, "Anyone can start a band. Just find something to shout about and do it."
There are two defining Sex Pistols moments that stick out for me as the antithesis of punk music. Moments that I often think about and say, "God damn they were cool..."
Firstly, we look back to 1976. Queen were due to appear on national TV with Bill Grundy, a well respected but alcoholic television presenter. At the last minute they were forced to cancel due to a dental emergency, and who better to fill in than the Sex Pistols?
Bill was almost certainly drunk while interviewing the group and openly mocked and ridiculed them. Then he made a pass at a member of the female entourage, which caused guitarist Steve Jones to aim a long string of expletives directly at him.
Overnight, the band became a household name.
The older generation saw them as the amalgamation of everything wrong with society and modern Britain, but for the younger generation they represented defiance, hope, even bravery. They were carrying the torch of youth rebellion.
But that was just the Sex Pistols warming up. They still had to deliver their pièce de résistance.
Dropped from EMI Records and then again from A&M, the Sex Pistols were in danger of fading away unless someone could give them a lifeline. In 1977 they released Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols under Richard Branson's Virgin Records. Although this album would ultimately be their only studio release, it would change punk music forever.
During the lead up to the album's release they dropped two singles, one of which was the infamous God Save the Queen. It was already a provocative song for the time, attacking one of the country's most respected institutions, but they needed a stunt to really carve their name into history, and it just so happened they had the perfect idea.
7th June 1977. The eve of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee.
A riverboat packed with as many punks as they could fit sailed down the Thames. They waited, and waited, until they were sailing past the Houses of Parliament...
And then Paul clicked his sticks, Johnny dashed his fag, and all hell broke loose...
God Save the Queen vibrated at full volume from the boat and echoed through Westminster. This image of the Sex Pistols flagrantly attacking the establishment from the heart of London became one of the defining moments in punk history.
Barely two years and one album before they completely imploded. By most metrics, their music career was remarkably short lived.
But that wasn't the point.
They forced punk down the mainstream's throat. They rejected the premise of "normality", and they showed the youth that you could use music as a vehicle to air your frustrations.
Nearly fifty years later they are remembered not because of their musical prowess, but because they changed what people thought music was.
The Clash, Joy Division, Buzzcocks, The Smiths, Oasis, Green Day, and Nirvana are all direct consequences of the Sex Pistols' musical revolution, and this musical family tree has still got a lot of growing to do.