50 Fun Facts About Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols singer John Lydon was renamed Johnny Rotten as a joke about the sorry state of his what?

Teeth were the target: Lydon's had turned green from neglect when the nickname was coined. He finally had extensive dental work done in Los Angeles in 2008.

The Sex Pistols released "God Save the Queen" in 1977 to coincide with which royal celebration?

The Silver Jubilee marked 25 years of Elizabeth II's reign. Drummer Paul Cook insists the song was not written for it: the band had not even known the anniversary was coming.

Which song made famous by Frank Sinatra did Sid Vicious sing on a 1978 Sex Pistols single?

My Way became a top-ten hit in Vicious's snarling version, recorded in Paris with a string orchestra. Paul Anka, who wrote its English words, later said he felt Vicious was sincere about it.

Christopher Nolan said Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten helped inspire which villain in The Dark Knight?

The Joker owed part of his sneering menace to Rotten, Nolan has said. It is quite a legacy for a frontman whose band's first run lasted barely two and a half years.

John Lydon joined the Sex Pistols after being spotted in which band's T-shirt, defaced with the words 'I Hate'?

Pink Floyd's faces had not been spared either: Lydon had scratched holes through the members' eyes. He was 19 when the shirt won him an audition, held beside a jukebox in a clothes shop.

Outside which London landmark did the Sex Pistols hold a press ceremony to sign with A&M Records?

Buckingham Palace made a pointed backdrop for a band about to release "God Save the Queen". A&M tore up the contract within days and destroyed nearly every copy of the single it had pressed.

Which food did former Sex Pistols singer John Lydon advertise on British television in 2008?

Butter, of all things: Lydon fronted a campaign for the Country Life brand. He spent the fee on reuniting the group he had formed after his first band fell apart.

Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious was named after which pet of John Lydon's, one that had bitten him?

A hamster called Sid did the biting, so Lydon passed its name on to his friend John Ritchie. Lydon later pushed for Ritchie to join the band, though he had never played bass.

Malcolm McLaren said Glen Matlock left the Sex Pistols for going on too long about which musician?

Paul McCartney was the excuse, but Matlock says he left by choice after falling out with Johnny Rotten. He is credited as a co-writer on 10 of the 12 songs on the band's only studio album.

Glen Matlock says the main riff of the Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant" was inspired by "SOS" by which pop group?

ABBA were an unlikely source for a punk riff, but Matlock borrowed from them for the band's third single. He says he also wrote its words, taking his cue from Richard Hell's "Blank Generation".

Police cut short a June 1977 Sex Pistols gig held aboard a chartered boat on which river?

The Thames trip took the band past the Houses of Parliament aboard a boat named, fittingly, the Queen Elizabeth. When it docked, 11 people were arrested, the band's manager among them.

Which TV presenter was suspended after goading the Sex Pistols into swearing live on air in 1976?

Bill Grundy egged the band on during his early-evening show, and they obliged. It aired only in the London region, yet it filled the tabloids for days and effectively ended his career.

Which fashion designer ran the King's Road boutique Sex with Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren?

Vivienne Westwood and McLaren had opened the shop in 1971 as Let It Rock, selling Teddy Boy revival gear. Renamed Sex, it became the hangout where the band and its look came together.

Which English actor played Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious in Alex Cox's 1986 film Sid and Nancy?

Gary Oldman twice turned the part down, saying he had little interest in punk, before his agent talked him round. Cox had first considered Daniel Day-Lewis for the role.

Which post-punk band did John Lydon form in 1978, months after walking out of the Sex Pistols?

Public Image Ltd let Lydon shed the Rotten persona and chase a more experimental sound. Its debut single took aim at the way his old manager had exploited him.

The Sex Pistols split after a January 1978 show at the Winterland Ballroom in which US city?

San Francisco's Winterland, a former ice rink, closed out a chaotic US tour. Rotten played a single encore, asked the crowd whether they felt cheated, and quit the band days later.

Whose single officially kept the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen" from number one in the UK in 1977?

Rod Stewart held the top spot, though many suspect the chart was rigged. Sales in the label's own shops were left out that week, and a rival music-paper chart did put the band first.

A trip to which divided city inspired the Sex Pistols' fourth single, "Holidays in the Sun"?

Berlin and its wall fascinated John Lydon, who said he loved the insanity of the place. The band went there after being thrown out of Jersey, where they had tried a real seaside break.

Which American band's 1991 album title, an echo of Never Mind the Bollocks, angered Sex Pistols singer John Lydon?

Nirvana's Nevermind made Lydon very angry when it appeared, though he later praised the band and called its biggest hit one of pop's all-time greatest. Kurt Cobain listed Never Mind the Bollocks among his 50 favourite albums.

A 1976 Sex Pistols gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall inspired the founders of Joy Division in which city?

Manchester saw the band twice that summer, the first time before only a few dozen people. Those two crowds included future members of the Smiths, the Fall and Buzzcocks.

The Sex Pistols got their infamous 1976 Today interview as last-minute stand-ins for which rock band?

Queen pulled out because their singer needed emergency dental surgery. A 2008 poll found the stand-ins' interview to be the most requested TV clip ever.

Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious reportedly taunted which rock frontman about bringing ballet to the masses?

Freddie Mercury is said to have answered by calling him Simon Ferocious, then seized him by the collar and thrown him out. Their bands were recording in the same studios at the time.

Which institution inducted the Sex Pistols in 2006, only for the band to refuse to attend?

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honours left the band cold, and Rotten dismissed the museum in unprintable terms. Steve Jones said that once you want to be put in a museum, the music is over.

Which punk band played its first ever gig as the Sex Pistols' support act in Sheffield in July 1976?

The Clash had rehearsed with singer Joe Strummer for less than a month before that debut at the Black Swan. He had turned to punk after watching the Pistols open for his old pub-rock band.

"Pretty Vacant" earned the Sex Pistols their first appearance on which long-running BBC music show?

Top of the Pops featured the band as the single climbed to number six. Filming its video took two days, because they were thrown out on the first for hurling lager cans at the cameramen.

Which fugitive criminal sang lead on the Sex Pistols' 1978 single "No One Is Innocent", recorded in Brazil?

Ronnie Biggs had escaped from prison after the Great Train Robbery and was living in Rio, safe from extradition. Steve Jones and Paul Cook recorded with him there soon after the band's last show.

At a 1977 obscenity trial over a Sex Pistols album title, an expert said the offending word once described whom?

Clergymen were known for talking rubbish, the defence argued, which is how the word came to mean nonsense. The magistrates, much as they deplored the record, reluctantly found the shop manager not guilty.

Which record label dropped the Sex Pistols in January 1977, then found itself mocked by name in an album track?

EMI lasted only three months with the band before the storm over their TV swearing forced it to let them go. They hit back with a gleeful diss track named after the label.

Which 1950s rocker first recorded two songs that Sid Vicious sang on hit Sex Pistols singles in 1979?

Eddie Cochran's "Something Else" and "C'mon Everybody" both reached number three for the band. The first, issued weeks after Vicious died, outsold every other single under the Sex Pistols name.

Which Stooges cover was the only encore, and the last song, of the Sex Pistols' final concert in January 1978?

No Fun closed the show, with Rotten turning its title into a verdict on the whole tour before walking off. The band had released their version as a B-side the previous summer.

Which thrash metal band covered the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K." with Steve Jones guesting on guitar?

Megadeth's 1988 version has altered words, because Dave Mustaine could not make out Johnny Rotten's singing and made up the parts he missed. It also moves the song's setting from the UK to the USA.

Which British film director made all six episodes of Pistol, the 2022 miniseries about the Sex Pistols?

Danny Boyle told the story through guitarist Steve Jones, over the objections of John Lydon. The singer lost a court fight to keep the band's music out of the series.

Which artist designed the Sex Pistols' sleeves, including the defaced royal portrait on "God Save the Queen"?

Jamie Reid based that sleeve on a Cecil Beaton photograph of the monarch. His ransom-note style of cut-out letters came from a radical magazine he had founded in 1970.

Which Daily Mirror headline about the Sex Pistols' 1976 TV outburst later became the title of a documentary?

The Filth and the Fury was the Mirror's verdict on the band's swearing. In 2000 the same words headed a film that set out to tell the story from the band's own point of view.

What name did the Sex Pistols give their 1996 reunion tour, having reformed openly for the money?

Filthy Lucre came from a 1976 tabloid headline about the band. Rotten made no secret of the motive, saying that what united the members was the audience's money.

On Christmas Day 1977 the Sex Pistols played a special show for the children of which striking workers?

Firemen were on strike that winter, so the band played an extra show for their children at a Huddersfield club. The two gigs that day were the group's last in the UK for more than 18 years.

Which American glam band did Malcolm McLaren look after shortly before he took charge of the Sex Pistols?

New York Dolls shows got a McLaren makeover: red patent leather outfits and a Soviet-style hammer-and-sickle motif, meant to provoke. He came home to London in May 1975 and tried again.

Which American film critic scripted an abandoned 1977 Sex Pistols movie to be directed by Russ Meyer?

Roger Ebert had never heard of the band when he took the job. Meyer filmed for only three days before the studio pulled out and the shoot was abandoned.

What was the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen" called before it borrowed the national anthem's name?

No Future was the first name, and the band insist the song was never an attack on the English. John Lydon says you write a song like that out of love for people you are tired of seeing mistreated.

For which 2007 video game did the surviving Sex Pistols re-record their debut single "Anarchy in the U.K."?

Guitar Hero III got a fresh recording because the original multi-track master could not be found. The missing tapes finally turned up during a move in 2012.

Which Oxford Street venue hosted a Sex Pistols residency in 1976 and the two-day Punk Special they headlined?

The 100 Club gave the band a Tuesday-night residency before the festival. It banned punk acts soon afterwards, when a glass thrown during a set cost a girl the sight of one eye.

At which London art school, where Glen Matlock was a student, did the Sex Pistols play their first gig in 1975?

Saint Martin's saw them support a pub-rock group called Bazooka Joe, with a set heavy on covers of the Who, the Small Faces and the Monkees. Matlock had arranged the booking himself.

Which Roxy Music producer oversaw the Sex Pistols' singles, starting with "Anarchy in the U.K." in 1976?

Chris Thomas spent many hours on guitar overdubs with Steve Jones, who called the studio work the best part of being in the band. Thomas returned in 2012 to oversee a remaster of the album.

Which band did Glen Matlock form with Midge Ure, later of Ultravox, after leaving the Sex Pistols?

Rich Kids reached the UK top 30 in 1978 with a single named after the band. Ure says he had earlier been approached to front the Pistols himself, and turned the offer down.

On which Sex Pistols album track, recorded in August 1977, can Sid Vicious's bass still be heard, mixed low?

Bodies kept a trace of Vicious's playing beneath a second bass part overdubbed by Steve Jones. Jones handled nearly all the bass on the album, having tried to keep Vicious out of the studio.

Which director made both The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle and a later documentary giving the Sex Pistols' side?

Julien Temple first worked with the band's manager on a 25-minute film of footage that was screened before their gigs. He took sole script credit on the feature after the manager had his own name removed.

What name did the press give the Sex Pistols' early fan circle, which included Siouxsie Sioux and Billy Idol?

The Bromley Contingent took its name from the south-east London suburb several members came from. A journalist coined the label after the band's first gig abroad, in Paris.

John Lydon auditioned for the Sex Pistols by performing along to which Alice Cooper song on a shop jukebox?

I'm Eighteen came from the jukebox in the manager's King's Road shop, with Lydon improvising over it. Steve Jones remembered him arriving with green hair and a shirt held together by safety pins.

Before becoming the Sex Pistols, Steve Jones and Paul Cook played in which band, also known as the Swankers?

The Strand formed in 1972 with Jones as the singer and, by his own account, a set of stolen instruments. He only moved to guitar after the original guitarist was dismissed.

Which American Beat writer sent the Sex Pistols a letter of congratulation after "God Save the Queen" came out?

William S. Burroughs wrote to say he agreed with the song's anti-royal message. Britain's big retailers were less keen: Boots, WHSmith and Woolworths all refused to sell the single.