It had to be this album for 1977, didn't it? A quid in a charity shop, it had to be done.
The first time I heard the Sex Pistols was early that year, when a friend manufactured an excuse to play Anarchy In The UK as part of a school assembly, but it was the defiance, not the music that impressed.
I was still in a prog/space rock rabbit hole, sneering at those noisy oiks who couldn't actually play. In May that year I was even carried away on a wave of patriotism and alcohol at a Silver Jubilee party (mostly alcohol - it wasn't patriotism that necessitated an apology and a box of chocolates the next day), so God Save The Queen kind of passed me by, and I'm not sure I even heard it then since Radio 1 refused to play it. But the Sex Pistols thwarted attempts to play gigs made for interesting reading (I certainly wasn't going to side with Conservative councillors and religious zealots) and by the time the album came out, I was at university, with a new set of friends and more open to new things.
So, what to make of Never Mind The Bollocks, as its 50th birthday appears on the distant horizon. Nothing startling to observe, musically. The songs are simple in construction with Jones and Cook laying down note perfect, dead tight backings for Lydon's acerbic lyrics. And the singles (Anarchy In The UK, God Save The Queen, Pretty Vacant, and Holidays In The Sun) still sound great. Of the rest, No Feelings, Liar, Problems, EMI, all still stand up well.
As a historical document, it is 1977 in a nutshell. Musically, most of it still sounds fresh.
4* - Irrespective of the hype and publicity at the time, this is a great rock album.
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