Biographic - Sunday November 4, 2007 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

The punk revolution that swept the U.K in the 1970's was hatched in the London clothes botique of entrepreneur Malcolm McLaren and his partner, designer Vivienne Westwood. Having briefly managed the New York Dolls, McLaren began to manage a band created by local teens Steve Jones and Paul Cook, adding Glen Matlock to the line-up. In 1975, the band recruited John Lydon as singer, and he was soon dubbed Johnny Rotten. Their raw music, nihilistic outlook, and distinctive image- short, spiky hair and safety pin piercings, Vivienne Westwood's "anti-fashion" clothes designs were in distinct contrast to the long-haired flared-jean rock bands that dominated the music scene at that time. The group attracted a rabid following of kids who copied the look and the attitude. In late 1976, an altercation during a TV interview made front-page news and saw them banned from venues all across Britain. Dropped by two record labels in quick succession, their 1977 single "God Save the Queen" outraged the establishment and was banned by the BBC. By the time their debut album was released in November 1977, The Sex Pistols were the most notorious band in rock. Earlier that year, the band had parted company with Glen Matlock. His replacement, Sid Vicious was short on musical ability but big on punk attitude, and his behavior became increasingly erratic and destructive. In January 1978, during a short and turbulent U.S. tour, Rotten quit the group. He emerged a few months later, calling himself John Lydon once more, at the helm of a new band, Public Image LTD. The remaining trio limped along for a short while, but Sid's life was spiraling out of control. He died from an overdose the following February, aged 21, while out on bail awaiting trial for murder, his sordid demise was later recounted in the 1986 Gary Oldman movie "Sid and Nancy." Cook and Jones briefly played together in The Professionals, Jones went on to play with the likes of Bob Dylan and Iggy Pop, and now hosts a radio show in Los Angeles. Lydon has turned his hand to acting, written an autobiography, and is much in demand as a TV representative. The four surviving members fo The Sex Pistols have reunited on a number of occasions in the last decade, and the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

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