45 RPMs 94: Sex Pistols ~ God Save the Queen

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Sex Pistols ~ God Save the Queen

45 RPM front cover 

cover design by Jamie Reid 

    

    

On May 26, 1977, the Sex Pistols released the single, God Save the Queen, which described the monarchy as a "fascist regime. It was released and coincided with national celebrations for the Queen's Silver Jubilee. It is believed it was created because of the Silver Jubilee, however, the band has denied it, with Paul Cook saying that "it wasn't written specifically for the Queen's Jubilee. We weren't aware of it at the time. It wasn't a contrived effort to go out and shock everyone." Johnny Rotten has explained the lyrics as follows: "You don't write God Save the Queen because you hate the English race. You write a song like that because you love them, and you're fed up with them being mistreated." He intended to evoke sympathy for the English working class and a general resentment towards the monarchy.              

 

On 7 June 1977, the Jubilee holiday, the band attempted to play the song from a boat named the Queen Elizabeth on the River Thames, near the Palace of Westminster. After a scuffle involving attendee Jah Wobble and a camera man, 11 people, including Malcolm McLaren, the man who organized the concert, and several other members of the band's entourage, were arrested when the boat docked.           

Sex Pistols ~ God Save the Queen

45 RPM back cover 

cover design by Jamie Reid

The song's title is taken directly from the British national anthem. The original title for the song was No Future, with the lyrics themselves being a general expression of the band's view of the monarchy or any individual or establishment commanding general obligation.         

The song was banned from being played by the BBC and by nearly every independent radio station in Britain, making it the most censored record in British history. In spite of this, The song reached No. 1 on the NME charts in the United Kingdom, and made it to No. 2 on the official UK Singles Chart as used by the BBC. This led to accusations that the charts had been "fixed" to prevent the song from reaching No. 1        

God Save the Queen was included on Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, the band's only album.        

Rolling Stone ranked God Save the Queen number 175 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and it is also one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. It was Sounds magazine's Single of the Year in 1977. In 1989, it was eighteenth in the list of NME writers' all-time top 150 singles. Q magazine in 2002 ranked it first on its list of "The 50 Most Exciting Tunes Ever..." and third on its list of "100 Songs That Changed the World" in 2003. In 2010, the song was ranked among the top 10 most controversial songs of all time in a poll conducted by PRS for Music.   

 

In 2012, it was announced that the single would be re-released on 28 May 2012, coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the original release and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Lydon has voiced his disapproval over the re-release and the campaign, saying in a statement: "I would like to very strongly distance myself from the recent stories and campaign to push 'God Save the Queen' for the number one spot... this campaign totally undermines what The Sex Pistols stood for."       

With the death of Elizabeth II in September 2022 and the accession of King Charles III, Matlock began to perform a modified version of the song which reflects the royal succession. Lydon paid tribute to the Queen on Twitter and subsequently objected to any commercial use of The Sex Pistols' tracks to capitalize on the Queen's death.         

The single's picture sleeve, featuring a defaced image of Queen Elizabeth II, was designed by Jamie Reid and in 2001 was ranked No. 1 in a list of the 100 greatest record covers of all time by Q magazine. A photograph of the image is held by the National Portrait Gallery, London.        

On the 18 March 1983 episode of SCTV in the Mel's Rock Pile segment, Mel Slirrup (Eugene Levy) has a tribute to punk rock featuring a number by the band the Queenhaters—Martin Short (lead singer), Andrea Martin (lead guitarist/back-up vocals), Eugene Levy (rhythm guitarist), Joe Flaherty (bass), and John Candy (drummer)—performing I Hate the Bloody Queen, a sound-alike song that almost matches the original it is spoofing, with references to the Falklands War ("I'd like to drown the Queen/Off the coast of Argentine/Throw her off a battleship/With her Falkland war machine!") and the problems that Princess Diana was, and would be soon having with her in-laws ("I feel sorry for you, Lady Di/Having a mother-in-law like that!"). This spoof of the Sex Pistols God Save the Queen even has its own cover version by Mudhoney on the tribute album Oh Canaduh! 2.          

in 1975, Queen did an instrumental version of the original God Save the Queen piece. It would have been great if a vocal version with Freddie Mercury had been done.  

 

 

Sex Pistols ~ God Save the Queen

45 RPM side 1 & 2

 

 

        

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A - God Save The Queen, Producer – Chris Thomas - 3:20

Side 2:

B - God Save The Queen (Neil Barnes And The Sex Pistols - 7" Extended Mix), Engineer – Steve "Dub"* Remix, Producer [Additional Production] – Neil Barnes - 3:09

Companies, etc.

    Licensed To – Virgin Records
    Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Sex Pistols Residuals
    Copyright © – Sex Pistols Residuals
    Published By – Warner Chappell Music Ltd.
    Lacquer Cut At – The Exchange

 Credits:

 

    Producer – Chris Thomas
    Artwork [Original Sex Pistols Artwork Originated by Jamie Reid

    Lacquer Cut By – Grazz*
    Written-By Matlock*, Rotten*, Cook*, Jones* 

 

Notes:

25th Anniversary reissue coinciding with the Queen's Golden Jubilee Year.

Side A ℗ 1977 Sex Pistols Residuals
Side B ℗ 2002 Sex Pistols Residuals
Original Sex Pistols artwork originated by Jamie Reid.
Sample courtesy of Capital Radio Pic and Greg Edwards.
The copyright in this recording is owned by Sex Pistols Residuals.
℗&© 2002 Sex Pistols Residuals licenced exclusively to Virgin Records.
This label copy is subject of copyright protection.
©2002 Sex Pistols Residuals
Printed in EU.

Barcode and Other Identifiers        

         

    Barcode (Text): 7 24354 64837 3
    Barcode (Scanned): 724354648373
    Label Code: LC03098
    Matrix / Runout (Side A runout, hand etched): VS-1832-A₁ GRAZZ - THE EXCHANGE
    Matrix / Runout (Side B runout, hand etched): VS 1832-B VS-18̶2̶3̶-B₁
    Distribution Code: F: PM215
    Rights Society: bel BIEM

Sex Pistols – God Save The Queen
Label: Virgin – VS 1832, Virgin – 7243 5 46483 7 3
Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, Reissue
Country: UK
Released: May 27, 2002
Genre: Rock
Style: Punk

        

        

        

Viewfinder links:       

         

Malcolm McLaren         

Jamie Reid

Johnny Rotten
Sex Pistols         

Jah Wobble        
     
Net links:       

         

         

         

        
     
YouTube links:      
         

British National Anthem - God Save The Queen           

Motörhead – God Save The Queen               

Queen - God Save The Queen         
The Queen Haters ~ I Hate The Bloody Queen       

Sex Pistols ~ God Save the Queen       

Sex Pistols ~ God Save the Queen (live)             
        
         

        

        

Styrous® ~ Monday, September 7, 2020

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John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) articles/mentions

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The Filth & the Fury      

God Save the Queen     

PIL (Public Image Ltd.) ~ Metal Box  

Sex Pistols    

     

mentions:     

Malcolm McLaren ~ Fans     

Tchaikovsky ~ Swan Lake                 

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) - 1976

photo by Mick Rock

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

 

 

 

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45 RPMs 8: PIL (Public Image Ltd.) ~ Metal Box

photos by Styrous® 

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I've started the Vinyl series because I have a collection of over 20,000 vinyl record albums I am selling; each blog entry is about an album from my collection. Inquire for information here.   

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There were two Decembers in particular that were good to me in regards to Punk/New Wave music, 1979 and 1983.    

Sometime in December of 1979, I came across one of the many exciting and innovative albums produced in the late Punk era. It had just been released the month before but a copy of it was marked down because the cover was slightly "abused." Although I was familiar with the lead singer, I had never heard of the group. I bought it simply because I was intrigued by the packaging (always been a sucker for unique packaging).   

The album consists of three untitled 45-rpm 12-inch (30-cm) records . . .  

 

. . . all packaged in a metal box resembling a film canister with an embossed PIL logo on the lid.

 

Public Image Ltd. ~ Metal Box front
design by Dennis Morris

Public Image Ltd. ~ Metal Box back

From Wikipedia . . .

'Public Image Ltd (also known as PiL) is an English post-punk band formed by ex-Sex Pistols singer John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten), guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble, and drummer Jim Walker. Personnel has changed frequently over the ensuing years. Lydon is the sole constant member of the band.

Lydon emerged after the break-up of the Sex Pistols with PiL's Public Image: First Issue (1978). The new band had a more experimental sound: a "droning, slow-tempo, bass-heavy noise rock, overlaid by Lydon's distinctive, vituperative rant". Their early work is often regarded as some of the most challenging and innovative music of the post-punk era. Their 1979 album Metal Box was ranked number 469 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The NME described PiL as "arguably the first post-rock group".'  

Public Image Ltd. ~ Metal Box w/liner notes

Metal Box was the second album by PIL. It was originally released in the metal box in an edition of 50,000 copies (plus an extra 10,000 for export). The design for Metal Box was the brainchild of Dennis Morris, photographer and designer. It was later reissued in more conventional packaging as a double LP set, Second Edition.   

Big Black produced an EP, Bulldozer, released in December of 1983, with the first two hundred copies packaged in a galvanized sheet metal sleeve in homage to Metal Box by Public Image Ltd. (see link below).  

Packaged in a 12" film can-style metal box. Sides are labelled Metal 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 on the info sheet and Metal 1-A, Metal 1-B, Metal 1-C, Metal 1-D, Metal 1-E and Metal 1-F on the record labels. Includes an A5 size sheet with tracklist and line-up.

 

PIL (Public Image Ltd. ~ Metal Box 

track list

Side B ends with a locked groove which repeats the last few seconds of "Swan Lake" endlessly until the needle is lifted from the record. The Runout for 1.B has three lines for the letters "B", the middle of which is superimposed over an "A". 

PIL (Public Image Ltd.) - circa 1978
 left to right:

Jim Walker, Jah Wobble, Keith Levene, John Lydon

photographer unknown

When I got it home I was completely blown away by what I heard. Metal Box features the band's dub reggae bass lines, glassy, arpeggio guitar work, and bleak, paranoid, stream of consciousness vocals. But Metal Box is starker than their first album, Public Image: First Issue, and it is scattered with bits of Eno-like ambient synthesiser.      

The songs

(Click on title to hear song)

Record 1, side A - Albatross - 10:32

Albatross is early Michael Jackson, Billie Jean (I've wondered if Michael had heard Albatross), with a hard but subtle steel-sounding guitar/synth? It sounds like it's recorded in a silent, echoey machine shop. It has an edge that bites, nicely but it does bite. The John Lydon vocal is sparse, distant and echoey. The guitar does some great stuff during some of the breaks.

Record 1, side B
B1 - Memories - 5:05
B2 - Swan Lake - 4:19

Memories starts with a fast bass guitar and bass drum beat that doesn't waste time in gettin' on with it. The tinny, echoey, guitar-sounding synthesizer does some great work in this piece. The vocal by Lydon is typically wacky, off-key and a lot of fun (imagine a mosh pit on steroids).

Swan Lake, the following cut, is a way cool interpretation of the Tchaikovsky work, Swan Lake. The bass guitar hesitantly peeps from around the curtain then leads the gang on to a determined march. Some fantastic instrumentals supporting the incomprehensible vocal of Lydon stroll around and eventually but sporadically bring in the motif. It is very nicely done. 

Record 2, side C
C1 - Poptones - 7:45
C2 - Careering - 4:32

Poptones is a kind of aimless song but not my favorite in the set. There is some great bass guitar work in it though.  

Record 2, side D
D1 - No Birds (Do Sing) - 4:43
D2 - Graveyard - 3:07 

No Birds (Do Sing) has a dissonant, disjointed and eerie edge to it that is disturbing, which is what punk was all about.     

Graveyard is slow, determined and methodical. It is dark and mysterious. It is a brilliant instrumental; a taste of New Wave at its finest.  

Record 3, side E
E1 - The Suit -3:29
E2 - Bad Baby - 4:30

The Suit is a weird, more spoken than sung song with Lydon doing some bizarre things but that also is the job of punk.        

Bad Baby has a strange double beat with a strange synth in the background and a very strange vocal by Lydon. I guess it's just a strange song.    

Record 3, side F - Socialist/Chant/Radio 4   - 12:31

Socialist is FAST! No foolin' around with this one. At 3:10 I couldn't wait for it to be over. Not good.

Chant is another determined guy. It moves on with a jerky insistent pace that makes me want to march right on out and do something; what, I don't know.  5:01.

Radio 4 starts almost reverently with an organ/synth joined by the bass guitar. It has a subtle waltz tempo and it also is an instrumental. It logs in at 4:24.  
 

Palladium Geneve, Switzerland. 26.10.1986

There is an interview with drummer David Humphrey that was first published on Fodderstompf, in April of 2004 (see link below).  

The album was recorded by Virgin Records, Ltd., a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell and Tom Newman in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, the Human League, Culture Club, Simple Minds, Lenny Kravitz, dc Talk, the Smashing Pumpkins, Mike Oldfield, Spice Girls and many other artists. It was later sold to Thorn EMI in 1992.      

Wholly owned by Universal Music Group after its purchase of EMI in 2012, UMG absorbed its British operations to create Virgin EMI Records in March 2013, which absorbed Mercury Records UK.



Track listing:
    
Record 1
Side 1:
          A     Albatross - 10:32
Side 2:  
          B1     Memories - 5:05
          B2     Swan Lake - 4:19

Record 2
Side 1:  
          C1     Poptones - 7:45
          C2     Careering - 4:32
Side 2: 
          D1     No Birds - 4:43
          D2     Graveyard - 3:07

Record 3
Side 1:
          E1     The Suit -3:29
          E2     Bad Baby - 4:30
Side 2:
          F     Socialist/Chant/Radio 4    - 12:31                   

Personnel:

• John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten)– vocals, piano (9)
• Keith Levene – guitar, synthesizers, drums (4, 12), bass guitar (12)
• Jah Wobble – bass guitar (except 12), drums (5, 8), piano
• David Humphrey – drums (1, 3)
• Richard Dudanski – drums (2, 6, 7, 10, 11)
• Martin Atkins – drums (9)

Note: Levene played all instruments on "Radio 4".

• Nick Cook, Hugh Padgham, George Chambers - engineers
• PiL, Dennis Morris - sleeve design and concept
• The Metal Box Company - packaging 

Producer: Public Image, Ltd.  

Recorded March to October, 1979
Released November 23, 1979

Studios:

• The Manor Studio, Shipton-on-Cherwell
• Townhouse Studios, Advision Studios, Gooseberry Sound Studios & Rollerball Rehearsal Studios, London, England

 Length: 60:29

Label: Virgin


Viewfinder link:
      
John Lydon      

       
Net links:
      
Big Black ~ Bulldozer           
David Humphrey ~ Fodderstompf interview  
     

PIL (Public Image Ltd.) ~ Metal Box on YouTube:
  

Albatross        
Memories           
Swan Lake          
Poptones         
Careering          
No Birds         
Graveyard            
The Suit            
Bad Baby           
Socialist         
Chant         
Radio 4       

There was even more innovative work to follow!

Styrous® ~ Sunday, December 6, 2015

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