You would imagine we will never see the Sex Pistols perform together again after Lydon lost the court case for the Pistol TV series and he was quick to state that he was the talent and they had done nothing since. Let’s be honest he just didn’t like the fact that the recent Pistol was based on Steve Jones book and not one of his.
Lydon was a revelation as lyricist and front man but without Matlock’s melodies (we will ignore Sid as apparently, he is barely on the album), Steve Jones powerhouse guitar and Paul Cook’s solid drumming the Pistols would have been an inferior band.
From the cover to the music, Bollocks is rightly considered a classic. Holidays in the Sun, Pretty Vacant, God Save the Queen and Anarchy in the UK were the singles and are brilliant from the marching boots in Holidays to Rotten’s sneer on Anarchy, if the rest had been substandard, we would still have a good album on our hands. Problems, New York, and EMI bring me as much pleasure and Lydon’s delivery on No Feelings is the right side of aggression and performance. Of the eleven tracks only, Bodies falls short for me.
Through the years the Pistols have maybe become diluted with reforming for the money (although I hope they made a fortune) with no new music, just plain getting old and Lydon moving to the mainstream with butter adverts and I’m a Celebrity appearance.
However, we would be doing this record a disservice if it were not recognised as forty years on its still an important, raw, powerful, and more importantly enjoyable record.
Lydon is wrong this is a band of four strong parts, not him and a bunch of inferior talent.
9.5/10
GIVE IT A STREAM: Pretty Vacant