The Sex Pistols were probably one of the most important bands in British musical history – not particularly becasue of their music but becasue of the effect they had on the music business. It was a time when many felt the music business had lost its way – bands like Pink Floyd were huge at that time and many teenagers felt they had got too big and distant and had lost touch with their audiences. The Sex Pistols tried to move back towards music being live, exciting and something young people could play – and this was something they were hugely successful at. The movement that sprung up with them – Punk – influenced many bands and musicians who followed them – for example the Clash, the Stranglers and the Jam.

The band was put together by Malcolm McLaren who sadly died last week at the age of 64. McLaren was central to the fashion and music scene in London in the 1970s, starting out with his partner Vivianne Westward as they opened a clothes shop together – called  Let it rock in Kings Road in 1971. The shop was renamed SEX in 1975 and became the - of the then emerging punk movement.  McLaren was influenced by bands he’d seen in new York in the early 70s – particularly the New York Dolls. He started to manage the Sex Pistols (originally named the Strand) in 1976 and helped turn them into one of the biggest musical phenomena of that time. They became increasingly infamous following a TV appearance in 1976 when they swore on live TV (very unusual at the time!) followed by the release of a single – God Save the Queen – in 1977 which was released at the same time as the Queen’s silver Jubilee celebrations. The BBC banned the single from being played on radio – (at that time there were not many radio stations so this was a significant thing), the effect of this was to make the single (and the sex pistols) even more popular! Following the collapse of the band McLaren went onto record several other artists and also produced his own music. If you’d like to read more about him then follow this link to a story in the Guardian.

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