Still firing all guns?
In anticipation of the Sex Pistols' first gig in Ireland, at the Electric Picnic, Eamon Sweeney looks at the legacy and many comebacks of the infamous punk band
PRETTY VACANT: Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols
On Sunday night, the Sex Pistols will play on Irish soil for the very first time. According to guitarist Steve Jones, the Pistols were essentially banned from playing Ireland back in the day.
Intriguingly, Jones played in Dublin once as a member of a supergroup called The Greedy Bastards that featured Phil Lynott. They played the ill-feted Stardust nightclub in Artane and the opening act was U2.
Sex Pistols reunions quite literally have been 10 a penny. In 1996, they staged their first reunion called the Filthy Lucre tour. In 2002, they played a one-off date in Crystal Palace to mark the Queen's jubilee. In 2003, they toured the States as part of their P*** Off tour. In 2007, they did it all over again and now in 2008, they are currently staging their first ever festival tour.
The Pistols are a very divisive live act. In 1996, Creation Records boss Alan McGee took out ads in the music press professing his love of the Pistols after their first show, calling them "the real royal family."
Last year, James McMahon from NME told a completely different story. McMahon began by saying the Pistols were his favourite band of all time. "Those songs and their auteurs taught me to question the world, that creativity and intelligence should be valued and fostered and to always believe in change and progress," he wrote.
"These guiding principles had already taken a battering the week prior to tonight's show when I'd finally come face to face with my hero, singer John Lydon, at a press conference in east London. That night he'd mused that England had "too many foreigners", verbally abused an almost-mute female French photographer by repeatedly calling her "a f***ing whore" and admitted he was a Tory voter. When I expressed my distaste he threw a microphone at me. It didn't matter that he missed; he'd already broken my heart."
The Director of the Dutch festival Lowlands, Eric van Eerdenbur, called the Pistols' recent headline slot "saddening". "They left their swimming pools at home only to scoop up some money here," he said.
At a headline slot at the Isle Of Wight Festival in June, singer John Lydon threatened to murder members of the audience, called The Police "bumholes", paid tributes to Iggy Pop and complained about the lack of "fanny" in the crowd.
At Loch Lomond, Lydon said President George Bush should be erased and responded to speculation alleging that he or his entourage racially abused Kele Okereke from Bloc Party. "I don't know if anyone reads the newspapers, but they have a f***ing liberty to call me a racist," he blasted before the band played Holidays In The Sun.
Whatever about Lydon's behaviour and attitudes, there is no denying that the Sex Pistols produced some of rock's most rivetting moments in God Save the Queen, Anarchy In The UK and Pretty Vacant. Personally, I consider both The Clash and The Ramones to be superior punk bands, but I'd still acknowledge the seismic shock that the Pistols gave music.
In calling their first reunion tour Filthy Lucre and John Lydon still making it his business to get up the nose of just about everyone he encounters, it means it's still business as usual for these aging punks who simply refuse to grow up. God only knows what their Irish debut will be like this weekend, but I'm sure it will be memorable, even if it is for all the wrong reasons. n
- Eamon Sweeney
