The Sex Pistols song that shocked a nation
On this date in 1977, the notorious British punk band released God Save the Queen
On this date 48 years ago, the Sex Pistols released their second single, the intentionally provocative (and successfully so!) God Save the Queen, a sneering broadside aimed at the monarchy as Britain celebrated its Silver Jubilee, the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne in 1977.
It’s hard to fathom today how upsetting the Sex Pistols were to proper British society in 1976 and 1977. Reflecting the growing discontent among England’s youth and dispossessed classes over their bleak prospects in an economically stagnant and backward-looking nation, the Sex Pistols released their first single, Anarchy In the U.K., on November 26, 1976. When a band’s debut single opens with “I am an anti-Christ, I am an anarchist,” it’s safe to say they’ll be stirring up some shit.
But the shit-stirring was just beginning for the Sex Pistols. Days later, after lucking into an opportunity to plug Anarchy on a popular Thames Television talk show, the Pistols swore up a storm on the live telly!
The tabloids took it from there, ensuring months of scandalous headlines and scare stories about the punk menace. Seventeen of 24 shows in the Sex Pistols-headlining Anarchy In the U.K. tour in late 1976 were canceled by local officials around the country who feared an invasion of the Bromley Contingent. Then EMI dropped the Sex Pistols from the label in January, just three months after inking the band.
In March, A&M Records signed the Sex Pistols and begin pressing copies of the band’s second single — God Save the Queen. Also in March, A&M dumped the Pistols for general all-around assholishness.
By now the band had dismissed original bass player Glen Matlock, charging him with inappropriate and unnecessary musical competence. Lead singer John Lydon’s malleable buddy Sid Vicious replaced Matlock.
In April, the band signed with Virgin Records, which on May 27, 1977, released the long-overdue God Save the Queen upon the British public. While Anarchy was a cry of nihilistic rage and aggression aimed in the direction of U.K. society, God Save the Queen was far more pointed and personal:
God save the Queen
The fascist regime
They made you a moron
A potential H bombGod save the Queen
She ain't no human being
There is no future
In England's dreaming
And all this was going on when the Queen Mum was merely trying to have a pleasant little Silver Jubilee! Can anything save us from the punk scourge?
Here’s the song and a well-produced video:
God Save the Queen is a catchy and classic punk song. I love how Lydon (Johnny Rotten) rolls his R’s slightly on “moron.” Steve Jones plays a ferocious lead break, and the rhythm section of drummer Paul Cook and bass player Not Sid Vicious (Glen Matlock? Steve Jones?) drives the tune.
Like Anarchy In the U.K., God Save the Queen appears on Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, the only album recorded by the band, which was released in late October 1977.
While Anarchy In the U.K. barely cracked the U.K. Top 40, God Save the Queen climbed to No. 2. (Some suspect a conspiracy to keep the single out of the top spot.) The song’s rise can be attributed to its own merits, along with ongoing media coverage of the Sex Pistols as well as one of the most brilliant PR stunts in music history. Which we’ll talk about soon.
Fun Modern Fact: God Save the Queen is the second most-played Sex Pistols song on Spotify. The song’s 113 million streams is surpassed only by Anarchy In the U.K.’s 120 million streams. (Pretty Vacant — my favorite Pistols song — is a distant third at 43.6 million streams as of this writing.)