35 years of never minding the bollocks

Andrew Jacobs here,

I'll start this post off by saying that I obtained the original release date of October 28, 1977 (a.k.a. 35 years ago today) for the Sex Pistols' Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols album from their official website (http://www.sexpistolsofficial.com/). Needless to say, I really and truly hope that I got the date right this time.

On to the post...

I'll never, ever forget the very first time that I heard the song "Anarchy In The U.K." by the Sex Pistols at a friend's house sometime in 1985 when I was 15 years old.

Mostly because it scared the living shit out of me.

Although I was already familiar with punk music at that point, I still was not prepared for Johnny Rotten's bloodcurdling vocals and Steve Jones' unbelievably loud & aggressive guitar. In fact, it wasn't until a year later (during the summer of 1986) that I would actually become a Pistols fan. 

But when I became a Pistols fan, I REALLY became a Pistols fan.

The Pistols became the very first band that I fell head over heels in love with. I would go on to purchase and re-purchase Never Mind The Bollocks more times BY FAR than any other album (in part because it's been reissued more times than any of my other favorite albums). I collected everything Pistols and Pistols-related that I could get my hands on. In terms that y'all can understand, they were my KISS a good 7 years before KISS became my KISS. Or something.

On August 25, 1996, I celebrated my 10th anniversary as a Pistols fan by going to see them play a concert (with their original bassist Glen Matlock) at the Hollywood Palladium on their Filthy Lucre reunion tour that year. Needless to say, I loved every single second of it and it definitely ranks as one of my top 10 favorite concerts of all time.

Speaking of Glen Matlock, I was extremely glad to see on the Pistols' official website that Sid Vicious is NOT credited as the bassist on Never Mind The Bollocks. Besides the simple fact that he didn't play bass on the album (most likely because he was too doped up to play on it), I absolutely detest him and everything that he stands for.