1977: A Madman Turns 40: 2017- Day 6

   It's Epiphany and to my wife, our Christmas lights have to stay up at least till this night is through. But you don't want to hear about that. We just got over the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Plus many of us are still recovering from holiday hangover- you know, that time after a long break and the difficulties of getting back into the daily grind of work and life in general. 

   So I thought I would talk about music today. Over the next year, I'll be talking about music quite a bit. I'm not musically inclined but I love to listen to various things. But above all, I'm quite a fan of new wave and it's father genre: punk. 

    No, I don't have safety pins sticking out of my face or spiked purple hair. The only holes in my clothes are mostly due to tiny claw marks from my cats. But I've always been considered a rather odd fellow with my own style of dress, actions, and likes. So, I guess that why punk music speaks to me...

   Doing research on this project, I noticed that 40 years ago today punk band, the Sex Pistols were dropped by production company EMI. So, I thought I would investigate why. I clearly know of the impact of this action: it sent the punk music world on fire. It was US vs Them (the rich, the establishment, and the powerful.) EMI's decision to cancel a 2-year contract (and demand thousands of dollars back which was already spent) with the band that was only a couple of months old was seen like a big rich bully picking on the weird poor kid at school. The punk community saw this as a challenge and in response, turned the Sex Pistols into rock gods.

    But why was the Pistols dropped?

    Dateline: December 1976
    Newly signed Sex Pistols agree to appear on the BBC as a replacement for my favorite band of all-time Queen! They got drunk but instead of being wild, the Sex Pistols started 
out the interview kinda drool. Though they did apparently mutter some sweats, studio heads were expecting a crazy punk band. What they got was a group of uncommitted thugs. Seeking to get things rolling, producers begged host Bill Grundy to get everyone involved, including fellow punk artist, Siouxsie Sioux revved up. 
     Grundy supposedly was drunk too and at one point starts flirting with Siouxsie. at which point this exchange occurred. (Warning: NSFW)

Jones: You dirty sod. You dirty old man.

Grundy: Well keep going, chief, keep going. Go on. You've got another five seconds. Say something outrageous.

Jones: You dirty bastard.

Grundy: Go on, again.

Jones: You dirty fucker.

Grundy: What a clever boy.

Jones: What a fucking rotter.

The event caused a media $#it-storm. You think scandals are bad in the States, they're

 even worse in the UK. For the next 3-4, the episode was all the papers and tabloids

could talk about. 

The Daily Mirrors response to the events of December 76.

   Jump to January 4, 1977. The Sex Pistols take a commercial flight at Heathrow. They're

 set to perform in the Netherlands. While waiting for the flight, the band spat at passengers, 

got into fights, and while in the air, reportedly had several vomiting spells. Well, it was all 

enough for EMI and on January 6, they dropped the Sex Pistols. 

The Sex Pistols, signing with A&M,
after being dropped by EMI.
Note Sid Vicious (center) the band's newest member.

   After this happened, the rest they say is history. Another label signed the band and quickly

terminated their contract, but Virgin picked up the Pistols by the Summer. The band added a 

new band member by the name of Sid Vicious, and by year's end, they would sell over

150,000 records in less than 24-hours with a little record called 'God Save the Queen.' 

Pretty soon, the world of punk music would become a commercial darling to labels worldwide,

all because a group of young British musicians got drunk on BBC television.

In 2001, Q Magazine named this the
greatest album cover of all-time.

Punk had been around for a while; mostly underground and in garages. But it was on this day

40 years ago that lead to punk rock becoming a household name and giving birth to a genre

that would dominate the early 80s, British New Wave. 

Happy Birthday, Punk... and God Save the Queen!