1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,400 Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:05,800 Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. 3 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:20,640 Speaker 2: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 4 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:25,280 Speaker 2: the sex Pistols are insane. Their lead singer saw rock 5 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 2: and roll as a disease that needed to be eradicated 6 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 2: and was hell bent on being the one to put 7 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 2: it out of its misery no matter what. And their 8 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 2: guitarist was a sex addict in kleptomaniac who stole wallets, bikes, cars, 9 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,239 Speaker 2: and more than a few pieces of musical equipment to 10 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:46,199 Speaker 2: outfit his band, including gear belonging to rock gods like 11 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 2: Keith Richards and David Bowie. They destroyed other bands gear 12 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:53,600 Speaker 2: and slept with their girlfriends. They played a show in 13 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 2: front of five hundred hardened criminals at a maximum security prison. 14 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 2: And they scamed the same system that had scanned them 15 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 2: the working class for years by convincing the biggest record 16 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 2: label in the world to release their controversial music. And 17 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 2: they did all of this before the most infamous pistol 18 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:15,640 Speaker 2: of all ever strapped on a bass guitar and pretended 19 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:16,520 Speaker 2: he knew. 20 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:16,839 Speaker 1: How to play. 21 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 2: And the sex Pistols made great music. Some of the 22 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 2: most defiant and defining music of the punk era. Unlike 23 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:28,679 Speaker 2: that clip I played for you at the top of 24 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 2: the show. That wasn't great music. That was a preset 25 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 2: loop from my mellotron called Forbidden Flute MK One. I 26 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:41,479 Speaker 2: played you that clip because I can't afford the rights 27 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 2: to Tonight's the Night Gonna Be Alright by Rod Stewart. 28 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 2: And why would I play you that specific slice of 29 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:50,760 Speaker 2: loosened French gown cheese? 30 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: Could I afford it? Because that was the. 31 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 2: Number one song in America on November twenty sixth, nineteen 32 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 2: seventy six, And that was the day that the Sex 33 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 2: Pistols released their debut single Anarchy in the UK, a 34 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 2: single that would scandalize and galvanize opposing social classes in 35 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 2: Great Britain and serve as a dramatic turning point. 36 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:15,639 Speaker 1: In the history of rock and roll. 37 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:20,240 Speaker 2: On this part one of the special two part episode 38 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 2: rock and Roll Diseases, Kleptomediacs, maximum security prisons, and never 39 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 2: mind the bollocks, it's the sex Pistols. I'm Jake Brennan 40 00:02:32,200 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 2: in this this disgraceland. The sewer Rats weren't just huge, 41 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 2: they were angry, The rank smell of the underground clung 42 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 2: to their greasy, wet fur. They were kept down there 43 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 2: by the things that intended to do them harm. Cats 44 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 2: liked to play the part of the oppressor, sharp witted, 45 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 2: quick claud nemesis to the filthy vermin. But just because 46 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:23,080 Speaker 2: the cats were farther up the food chain didn't mean 47 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 2: the laws of the food chain weren't meant to be broken. 48 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:29,560 Speaker 2: Vile and upheavil was inevitable. Sewer rats didn't want to 49 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:30,720 Speaker 2: stay underground forever. 50 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,000 Speaker 1: They wanted the good life, the cat's life. 51 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 2: Post World War II, London was in a constant state 52 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 2: of falling apart, so it came as no surprise when 53 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 2: rusted sewer pipes ruptured. 54 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: And when sewer. 55 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 2: Pipes ruptured, rats squeezed their bodies through the corrosion. They 56 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 2: pushed towards. 57 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: The light, up higher and higher. 58 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 2: Until they shot out through a sink drain gushing forth 59 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 2: like dirty water from a backed up toilet. 60 00:03:57,160 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: They ran through the. 61 00:03:57,920 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 2: Kitchen and found their way through a crack in the wall, 62 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 2: where they scurried out onto the street. There they found 63 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 2: a stray cat, and the rats were hungry. The cats 64 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 2: stood its ground and hissed with menace. Its hair stood 65 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,960 Speaker 2: on end, and the rats could smell fear, and they 66 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 2: moved in closer. 67 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: A low, guttural. 68 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 2: Moan came from the cat's belly, the kind of demonic 69 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 2: sound a cornered animal makes when it knows its time 70 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:22,160 Speaker 2: is up. 71 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: And then the rats pounced. 72 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,480 Speaker 2: They ripped up the cat's matted fur with their teeth. 73 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 2: They tore at the cat's flesh with their tiny claws. 74 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,279 Speaker 2: They painted the cracked asphalt with the cat's blood, slicing 75 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:38,159 Speaker 2: open its stomach and spilling the contents of its belly 76 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 2: on the ground. And only after the rats bellies were 77 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:44,919 Speaker 2: full did they stop, and they left the carcasses behind. 78 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 1: They didn't clean up messus. They made them. 79 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:52,600 Speaker 2: Soon They were everywhere, and the cupboards under the floorboards, 80 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 2: and the old abandoned air raid shelters. Tenacious little fuckers, 81 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:59,600 Speaker 2: harbages of death and doom, bringers of dirt disease. Plagueritten 82 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:03,160 Speaker 2: number two is seeking you exploit a crumpling world. London 83 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 2: had already been burned decades after the war. Neighborhoods like 84 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 2: Finsbury Park and North London remained neglected shitholes by anyone's definition, 85 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:16,920 Speaker 2: the working class struggled simply to survive. No fridge, no shower, 86 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:20,920 Speaker 2: no toilet and upward mobility. Ah, you were lucky if 87 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,840 Speaker 2: you remained upward and or mobile, and there was no 88 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,640 Speaker 2: incentive to strive for anything else, because if you did, 89 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 2: if you happened to escape the deckenzie wasteland of the soul, 90 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:33,039 Speaker 2: that place where your mom scoured you with toilet cleaner 91 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:34,919 Speaker 2: once a month just to kill out the bugs that 92 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 2: thrived on the taste of your skin, you'd never ever 93 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 2: hear the end of it. Escaping your fate meant you 94 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 2: to turn your back on the downtrodden and the marginalized. 95 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 2: Fucking middle class cun is what you were and everyone 96 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:49,240 Speaker 2: else you left behind were unite with the same shared 97 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 2: bond boredom, desperation, no future. The whole thing was fucking rotten. 98 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:02,720 Speaker 2: In the nineteen sixties and seventies, those feelings of hopelessness 99 00:06:02,720 --> 00:06:06,920 Speaker 2: in London just festered. They bred hatred and contempt, just 100 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:11,159 Speaker 2: like the rats bred feral armies and the sewers. Resentment 101 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 2: led to more hatred, and the poor punched down when 102 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 2: they should have been aiming higher. All the while the 103 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:19,640 Speaker 2: middle and upper classes continued to turn a blind eye, 104 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:22,599 Speaker 2: and the Queen continued to sip her tea with hand 105 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:26,159 Speaker 2: firmly in glove. And it wasn't just feelings that festered 106 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 2: in London. All that rat piss in the water was 107 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,560 Speaker 2: making people sick. John Lytton didn't know if it was 108 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 2: the rat piss that caused the meningitis nearly killed him 109 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,240 Speaker 2: at age seven in the early sixties. He was too 110 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:41,719 Speaker 2: busy fighting for his life. All that fluid pushing on 111 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 2: his brain made him hallucinate, and the headaches made him vomit, 112 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:47,480 Speaker 2: and he was in and out of a coma for months. 113 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 2: A year later, he left the hospital permanently changed all 114 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:54,680 Speaker 2: the needles they had stuck inside him to drain fluid. 115 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:58,279 Speaker 2: It caused his spine to curve. His vision had gone blurry, 116 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:01,799 Speaker 2: so he had to try extra hard to focus, which 117 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:07,640 Speaker 2: men He developed an intense dead eyed stare. All those 118 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 2: hateful Londoners in his neighborhood, especially the English geezers who 119 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 2: couldn't stand Irish blokes like him, They saw him coming 120 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 2: and all said the same, John Lydon looks fucking grotesque. 121 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 2: Good take a long, hard look your fascist pics dare 122 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 2: you to look away, especially you genteel bastards. The ones 123 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 2: who survive and thrive on the status quo, the ones 124 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 2: who were high up that ladder, the ones who stay 125 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:36,320 Speaker 2: up that ladder by keeping the rest of England down. 126 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:41,600 Speaker 2: For John Lynon, Grotesque became him. It was his ammunition. 127 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 2: They put all that work in class anger, that rock 128 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:46,640 Speaker 2: bottom malaise, right in the faces of those people who 129 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:49,360 Speaker 2: needed to see it the most. The Prince of Wales 130 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:52,200 Speaker 2: seated comfortably in the House of Lords, the so called 131 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:54,600 Speaker 2: street fighting rock and roll men getting their medals from 132 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 2: the bloody Queen. Grotesque is necessary, long hair and. 133 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:00,280 Speaker 1: Peace and love. 134 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 2: That was someone else's trip. This was hacked up hair 135 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 2: dyed a futrid shade of green, visible cigarette birds on 136 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:10,440 Speaker 2: your arms. You mutilated your head, you cut yourself, burned 137 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 2: yourself fucking right you did, You bled, you hurt, You 138 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 2: were bored shitless. Your fashion reflected it, ripped up shirts, 139 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:19,240 Speaker 2: fetish wear, safety pins. 140 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 1: It wasn't style, fuck style. This was chaos, the. 141 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 2: Stuffy button down the English way of life. It was 142 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 2: over on deck, hate in war idle hands. Weren't the 143 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,400 Speaker 2: deaf's playthings that belonged to the anti Christ. Now it 144 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:37,400 Speaker 2: was time for anarchy, and not just in the streets. 145 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 2: In the schools they weren't teaching, they were indoctrinating, brainwashing. 146 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:45,839 Speaker 2: Home wasn't any better, and the adults all peddled the 147 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 2: same fantasy, the nineteen sixties fantasy, the nineteen fifties, bloody escapism, 148 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:56,320 Speaker 2: Elvis Presley, Buddy Hawley. What the fuck did they have 149 00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 2: to do with your life right now? In the nineteen seventies, 150 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 2: Elvis was a plague. Rock and roll was a disease. 151 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 2: It was vile, it was airport music. 152 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:06,400 Speaker 1: It was over. 153 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 2: Someone needed to kill it and trotted through town flogging 154 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:14,600 Speaker 2: its corpse for all to see. These were the kinds 155 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 2: of plans. John Lydon hatched when after his father tossed 156 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:20,120 Speaker 2: him from the house at sixteen because of the way 157 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:24,080 Speaker 2: he looked, he found himself squatting in London flats. He 158 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 2: lived alongside artists and musicians and pimps and junkies and 159 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:32,640 Speaker 2: his friend another John, John Beverly aka John Simon Ritchie. 160 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 2: But they didn't call him John or Simon. They called 161 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 2: him Sid after John Lydon's vicious hamster. England's economic system, 162 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:42,719 Speaker 2: it's social hierarchy. It didn't have room for kids like 163 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:45,720 Speaker 2: John and Sid. They were too poor, they were too ugly. 164 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:48,079 Speaker 2: They put their lives in their hands simply walking down 165 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:48,719 Speaker 2: the street. 166 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 1: Looking the way they looked. 167 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 2: They didn't look like the hippies or the teds, or 168 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 2: the skinheads or the football hooligans. They looked like aliens. 169 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 2: Everyone else took one look at the likes of John Lydon. 170 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,839 Speaker 2: His spine curved, his caustic stare practically psychotic, his green 171 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,840 Speaker 2: hair chopped the pieces, and they just wanted to murder him. 172 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:07,440 Speaker 2: He looked so different that he was treated as a threat. 173 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:09,600 Speaker 1: He didn't conform, He didn't. 174 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:11,640 Speaker 2: Stay in his place with the rest of the working class. 175 00:10:11,880 --> 00:10:14,800 Speaker 2: He wouldn't accept that fate, and he desired the right 176 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 2: opportunity to expose the whole system for what it was. 177 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:23,160 Speaker 2: A fraud, a frame, a bloody disgrace. He wanted to 178 00:10:23,200 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 2: scratch all the way to the top and pull the 179 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:29,320 Speaker 2: whole fucking thing up from the inside. It's only natural 180 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:33,800 Speaker 2: when you're that bored, that's desperate, that belittled, you have 181 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:36,679 Speaker 2: no choice but to swindle the system that's swindling you. 182 00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:41,320 Speaker 2: You either do that, but you start walking into forbidden places, 183 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:44,280 Speaker 2: like you're supposed to be there and take what is 184 00:10:44,400 --> 00:11:11,640 Speaker 2: rightfully yours. July nineteen seventy three, London. David Bowie was 185 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:13,880 Speaker 2: glad he had decided to wear a sheer mess shirt 186 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 2: that night, not just because it complimented his glittery trousers, 187 00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:22,240 Speaker 2: but because the Hammersmith Odion was hot. Thirty five hundred 188 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:26,320 Speaker 2: people packed inside. Bowie was sweating like a pig, playing 189 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 2: the role of his androgynous alter he Go Ziggy starred us. 190 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 2: He had just delivered one hell of a show and 191 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 2: now he was tired. He stopped to catch his breath. 192 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:37,520 Speaker 2: He looked out at the crowd and said, of all 193 00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:40,600 Speaker 2: our shows on this tour, this particular show will remain 194 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:43,079 Speaker 2: with us the longest, because not only is it the 195 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:45,640 Speaker 2: last show of the tour, but it's the last show 196 00:11:45,679 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 2: we will ever do. A hush fell over the crowd, 197 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:52,840 Speaker 2: followed by sounds of confusion and panic. 198 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:54,320 Speaker 1: What was happening? 199 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:57,760 Speaker 2: The last show will ever do? The Spiders from Ours 200 00:11:57,800 --> 00:12:00,560 Speaker 2: followed Bowie's words with a thunderous verse of rock and 201 00:12:00,640 --> 00:12:07,000 Speaker 2: roll suicide, and then Ziggy Stardust was dead. The audience 202 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:10,480 Speaker 2: was distraught. They cried in the streets outside the venue. 203 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 2: Little did they know when they went out that night 204 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:16,040 Speaker 2: they would witness David Bowie's last show as Ziggy start Us. 205 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:18,760 Speaker 2: And little did David Bowie know it was the last 206 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:19,839 Speaker 2: show he'd play. 207 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:20,400 Speaker 1: With his gear. 208 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:26,320 Speaker 2: Seventeen year old Steve Jones found the security guard snoring 209 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:28,479 Speaker 2: when he peeked in the back door of the Hammersmith 210 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:29,640 Speaker 2: Odian later that night. 211 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:31,719 Speaker 1: From his vantage. 212 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:35,080 Speaker 2: Point, he could see the band's equipment on stage, Mick 213 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:39,719 Speaker 2: Ronson's cream colored les, Paul Trevor Boulder's son Bassam. It 214 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 2: was all just sitting there. He could reach out and 215 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:47,200 Speaker 2: touch it. Jones he heard a noise inside. Was someone there? 216 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:51,280 Speaker 2: Didn't matter. This wasn't his first rodeo. He could play 217 00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:53,600 Speaker 2: the part if needed, the part of a security guard 218 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:56,240 Speaker 2: or some daft roady, just like Bowie played the part 219 00:12:56,280 --> 00:13:00,120 Speaker 2: of Ziggy Christ. Steve Jones loved David Bowie almost as 220 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 2: much as he loved Rod Stewart or Brian Ferry. But 221 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:05,920 Speaker 2: Jones wasn't at the Hammersmith Odian to revel in David 222 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:09,559 Speaker 2: Bowie's incredible live show. He was there to steal David 223 00:13:09,640 --> 00:13:13,520 Speaker 2: Bowie's shit. Jones looked over at Wally and told him 224 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:16,080 Speaker 2: the followers lead act like he's supposed to be there, 225 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 2: don't get rattled. Wally was Wally Nightingale, one of the 226 00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 2: members of The Strand, Jonesy's first band he formed in 227 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:27,560 Speaker 2: the early seventies, along with drummer Paul Cook. Jones and 228 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:31,080 Speaker 2: Wally quickly made their way inside a security guard. Snore 229 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 2: echoed through the place, and they walked no suspiciously, but 230 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:39,560 Speaker 2: confidently to the odeon stage, and then they started loading 231 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:41,440 Speaker 2: up their arms with as much as they could carry. 232 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:45,360 Speaker 2: They loaded the gear into Jonesy's van outside, some symbols 233 00:13:45,360 --> 00:13:48,679 Speaker 2: from Mick Woodmansee's drum kit, a microphone that still had 234 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:52,559 Speaker 2: Bowie's lipstick smeared all over it, and that sweet bass samp. 235 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:56,679 Speaker 2: Jones He could hardly believe he now possessed something that 236 00:13:56,760 --> 00:14:00,440 Speaker 2: belonged to one of his idols. It was thrilling, thrilling 237 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:03,559 Speaker 2: as the time he stole Wrong Woods's coat. Well, he 238 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:06,240 Speaker 2: thought it was Ron Woods's coat. Jonesy and the rest 239 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:09,080 Speaker 2: of the guys in the Strand idolized the faces they 240 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 2: used to take banned pilgrimages up to Ron's posh house 241 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:14,560 Speaker 2: on Richmond Hill and just marble at the enormity of it. 242 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 2: Sometimes Ronni himself would even appear at the window and wave. 243 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 2: But that wasn't enough for Jonesy. He wanted more than 244 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:24,000 Speaker 2: a winkt or nod. He went back to the house 245 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:26,440 Speaker 2: on his own, and he followed a small path to 246 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:30,280 Speaker 2: a wall around back. The wall wasn't that high, easy enough, 247 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:32,720 Speaker 2: He scaled it and was delighted to find that the 248 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:34,080 Speaker 2: side door was unlocked. 249 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:38,360 Speaker 1: He let himself inside and the room seemed pretty vacant. 250 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:41,520 Speaker 2: He spied a small portable TV set in a coat, 251 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:42,680 Speaker 2: and he nicked the bull. 252 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:44,880 Speaker 1: He was toughed to have ron Woods coat. 253 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:47,760 Speaker 2: Later, when he learned it didn't actually belong to Ronwood, 254 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:51,600 Speaker 2: he wasn't disappointed because it really belonged to Keith Richards 255 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 2: fucking Amy. That's just as cool now and then it 256 00:14:56,560 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 2: wasn't just Pilford trophies that encouraged Steve Jones. 257 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: To compulsive steal. 258 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:03,280 Speaker 2: Part of the thrill of being a klepto was knowing 259 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:05,920 Speaker 2: that it was wrong that he get caught at any moment. 260 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:08,680 Speaker 2: The biggest thrill of all, though, that was hearing a 261 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 2: news report the next morning about the theft. David Bowie's 262 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:14,680 Speaker 2: gear from the night before he did that. He was 263 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:17,040 Speaker 2: the reason the man on the radio was telling that story. 264 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,760 Speaker 2: It was Jonesy's first brush with fame, and it felt good. 265 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 2: Before Steve Jones stole anything, he watched other people steal, 266 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:29,840 Speaker 2: working class people just like him and his mom and stepfather. 267 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:32,840 Speaker 2: Everyone in West London was struggling to get by, and 268 00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 2: they would never be anything but poor. And there were 269 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:37,080 Speaker 2: the haves and the have nots, and never the twain 270 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 2: shall meet. So he really couldn't blame poverty stricken family 271 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:42,520 Speaker 2: with no hope and no future for sticking a few 272 00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:45,360 Speaker 2: extra items up their jackets at the grocery store. You 273 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 2: saw it happen and you just looked away. Some days, 274 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:52,080 Speaker 2: thieving was literally the difference between life and death. As 275 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:55,520 Speaker 2: a child, Jonesy wasn't poor. He was fucking miserable. He 276 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,240 Speaker 2: could hardly read or write. He had to jockey with 277 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:01,840 Speaker 2: his stepfather for his mother's attention, and that same stepfather 278 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:04,600 Speaker 2: sexually abused him when he was only ten years old. 279 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:07,200 Speaker 2: He no longer had a safe place in his own home. 280 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,240 Speaker 2: He felt threatened by that man's presence and it made 281 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:12,480 Speaker 2: him angry, and he had to do something about it. 282 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:16,600 Speaker 2: He began to hang out anywhere but home, and he 283 00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:19,280 Speaker 2: started to steal. And I'm not talking a few extra 284 00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 2: bags of Chris at the market. First it was toys 285 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 2: parts for his train set, wallets lifted from pants left 286 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:29,200 Speaker 2: in gymnasium changing rooms. Then it was bikes ones resting 287 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 2: against their kickstands outside bicycle shops. Next it was musical 288 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:35,360 Speaker 2: equipment so that his band actually had instruments to play. 289 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 2: A twin weaver of bamp stolen from a band that 290 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:40,680 Speaker 2: was opening for Bob Marley and the Whalers, a Sunbird 291 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:44,000 Speaker 2: special that belonged to Mott the hoopless guitarist. Eventually it 292 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:46,320 Speaker 2: was even cars, and there was nothing like the feeling 293 00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:49,440 Speaker 2: of popping some Mandy's aka Mantrick sleeping pills, chasing them 294 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:51,520 Speaker 2: with a few pints of beer, and then letting that 295 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 2: magical tingling feeling take over your entire body as he 296 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:58,920 Speaker 2: slipped behind the wheels someone else's Austin Healely Well, maybe 297 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:01,720 Speaker 2: shagging birds, which, next to stealing, was an eight plus 298 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:04,919 Speaker 2: non stop addiction for Steve Jones. It was the nineteen 299 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,239 Speaker 2: sixties and seventies, the golden age of car crime, as 300 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:12,480 Speaker 2: Jones himself put it long before alarms and security cameras. 301 00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:15,200 Speaker 1: In the club, but that didn't mean he didn't get caught. 302 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:19,000 Speaker 2: He did twelve times before the age of eighteen. 303 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: He was sent to juvie. 304 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:24,240 Speaker 2: He was slapped on the hand. Honestly, he really didn't 305 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:28,000 Speaker 2: give a fuck. What he did care about was finding 306 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 2: a place where he belonged. It certainly wasn't at home. 307 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:34,639 Speaker 2: It wasn't at some halfway house either, and he couldn't 308 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 2: crash it as mate Paul Cook's place all the time. 309 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:39,440 Speaker 2: The first time he walked through the door at four 310 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 2: thirty Kings Road in early nineteen seventy two, he thought 311 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:45,680 Speaker 2: perhaps he had found the place he was looking for. 312 00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:48,159 Speaker 1: Let It Rock was. 313 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:51,320 Speaker 2: A trendy shop run by Malcolm McLaren and Vivian Westwood. 314 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:55,119 Speaker 2: They sold modernized versions of fifties era teddy boy close 315 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:57,920 Speaker 2: that contradicted the hippie fashions that the rest of lond 316 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:01,879 Speaker 2: had seemed to be clinging too, of creeper shoes, peg pants, 317 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,760 Speaker 2: drape jackets. But you didn't just buy something and let 318 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:07,080 Speaker 2: it rock and then leave like you did at other stores. 319 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,320 Speaker 2: There was a couch in a jukebox, you can hang out. 320 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:15,040 Speaker 2: Malcolm Mavivian were always up to chat. If, like Steve Jones, 321 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 2: you were playing around with your identity a hippie who 322 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 2: loved purple Hayes, a skinhead enamored with a whole lot 323 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:24,080 Speaker 2: of love, a hooligan headbanging to rock and roll Hoochi Coup, 324 00:18:24,560 --> 00:18:27,200 Speaker 2: you were welcome to do that without judgment. You were 325 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:30,280 Speaker 2: free to be yourself whoever the hell you ended up being. 326 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,439 Speaker 2: The Cobs, on the other hand, weren't about to let 327 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:37,320 Speaker 2: Steve Jones off so easily. The summer of nineteen seventy 328 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:41,200 Speaker 2: four was a rude awakening. His thirteenth bust was different from. 329 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:41,959 Speaker 1: The previous twelve. 330 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:45,920 Speaker 2: Jones was no longer an adolescent. He was now eighteen 331 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,040 Speaker 2: years old, and this time wouldn't be another Judy lock up. 332 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 2: This time would be prison talk about no future. The 333 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:55,280 Speaker 2: band would be over, that's for sure, and they were 334 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:58,920 Speaker 2: just getting started. Glenn Mattlocke had recently joined on bass, 335 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:01,479 Speaker 2: and he was quite good, even if he was partial 336 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:05,400 Speaker 2: de Beutles Courts. But unlike the last doesn't arrest, this 337 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:08,800 Speaker 2: time Steve Jones had something else on his side. He 338 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:11,960 Speaker 2: had Malcolm McLaren in honest to god adult in his 339 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:14,600 Speaker 2: late twenties who was willing to vouch for Jones and 340 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 2: help plead his case to the judge. Inside the Marley 341 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:21,760 Speaker 2: Bone Magistrate's Court, Malcolm went on and on about Jonesy's 342 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:24,080 Speaker 2: bright future, about how he was going to leave an 343 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 2: indelible mark on British society and all that, and that 344 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:30,480 Speaker 2: stupid fucker in the robe, and Wig swallowed Malcolm's line 345 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:34,359 Speaker 2: of bullshit like it was a tea cake. It wasn't 346 00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:38,680 Speaker 2: all bullshit. Though Malcolm McLaren was right. Steve Jones would 347 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:41,399 Speaker 2: leave an indelible mark, it just wouldn't be in the 348 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:41,800 Speaker 2: way the. 349 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:42,880 Speaker 1: Judge might have imagined. 350 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:45,600 Speaker 2: What the judge didn't know was that as soon as 351 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,639 Speaker 2: he was set free, Steve Jones wasn't going to change 352 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:51,439 Speaker 2: lead the goody two shoes bit to those wankers in 353 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,280 Speaker 2: the Bay City rollers. Jones he was going to take 354 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,040 Speaker 2: all that anger and all that frustration which he still 355 00:19:57,080 --> 00:19:59,960 Speaker 2: felt at his stepfather, at all the filthy risch top 356 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:02,159 Speaker 2: he never had to make nothing in order to survive, 357 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:04,679 Speaker 2: and he was going to funnel it into a guitar, 358 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:06,440 Speaker 2: one that belonged. 359 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:06,800 Speaker 1: To someone else. 360 00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:11,080 Speaker 2: Because just like David Bowie ziggy stardus once sang the 361 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:14,200 Speaker 2: bitter does come out better on a stolen guitar. 362 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:22,880 Speaker 3: We'll be right back after this. We're, We're, We're. 363 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,200 Speaker 2: John Lyden did his curved spine, dead eyed stare move, 364 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 2: the one where he leans forward from the front of 365 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:36,360 Speaker 2: the stage, the microphone stand propping him up and preventing 366 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:39,439 Speaker 2: him from falling straight into the audience, And for the 367 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 2: first time he was the one who felt nervous. Just 368 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:49,440 Speaker 2: look at this crowd. Rapists, murderers, hardened criminals, five hundred 369 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:53,359 Speaker 2: fucking lunatics, eyes wider and crazier than his own, and 370 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:57,680 Speaker 2: their teeth. Steve Jones had re christened John Lydon Johnny 371 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 2: Rotten because of his disgusting teeth. But John's pearly off 372 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:04,879 Speaker 2: whites were no match for this ocean of damage smiles. 373 00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:09,399 Speaker 2: The inmates at the Chelmsford Maximum Security Prison looked rabid, 374 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:13,360 Speaker 2: frothing at the corners of their mouths, unshackled and uninhibited. 375 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:16,640 Speaker 2: You only want to be an anarchy until you're performing 376 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:19,159 Speaker 2: in front of a prison's worth of real anarchists who 377 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 2: would gladly trample your lifeless body to get to the 378 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:26,200 Speaker 2: nearest exit, and where the fuck was Malcolm McLaren, their 379 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:29,320 Speaker 2: so called manager. He was safe and sound on the 380 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:31,359 Speaker 2: other side of the closed and locked door with all 381 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:35,280 Speaker 2: the prison guards. He wasn't crazy, he wasn't risking his life, 382 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 2: but he'd risked the lives of his band members. Never 383 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 2: mind the bollocks one false move, they were all dead 384 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:47,600 Speaker 2: to John. Malcolm was no savior. Malcolm didn't rescue John 385 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:49,719 Speaker 2: from a fate worse than death like he had with 386 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:53,679 Speaker 2: Steve Jones. Malcolm was, to put it bluntly, a thief, 387 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:57,560 Speaker 2: just like Jonesy, only instead of stealing cars and guitars, 388 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 2: Malcolm stole the essence of people from cooler than he 389 00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 2: could ever hope to be, people like John call Malcolm's 390 00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:07,040 Speaker 2: muse or whatever. But one thing was for sure. Whatever 391 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:11,840 Speaker 2: John did, Malcolm wanted to replicate it. When Malcolm changed 392 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:13,800 Speaker 2: the name of his store from leed It Rock to 393 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:16,600 Speaker 2: Sex and began to peddle all that bondage gear and 394 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 2: skin tight rubber shirts, the more provocative and outrageous the better. 395 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:23,720 Speaker 2: That wasn't an original idea. That was all from watching 396 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:25,960 Speaker 2: John come in and out of the store dressed to 397 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:30,199 Speaker 2: his own provocative and outrageous way. John's looks at defiance. 398 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:33,359 Speaker 2: It reaked of nonconformity, the middle fingering aimed at the 399 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:38,720 Speaker 2: status quo. But Malcolm McLaren an agitator. Malcolm McLaren was 400 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:43,080 Speaker 2: an opportunist. And Malcolm McLaren didn't create the sex Pistols. 401 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,240 Speaker 2: What a load of shit. Malcolm did what he always did. 402 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 2: Something happened and he reacted to it. The sex Pistols existed. 403 00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:52,400 Speaker 2: Malcolm just found a way to make money off of them. 404 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,960 Speaker 2: He was their manager, whatever that meant. Having come straight 405 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 2: off that train wreck of attempting to manage the New 406 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:00,560 Speaker 2: York Dolls, jonesy Ben fitted. 407 00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 1: From that little stint. 408 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:04,440 Speaker 2: He got Sylvain Sylvanian's white les Paul, the one with 409 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:07,480 Speaker 2: stickers of pinup girls on it. Malcolm brought that back 410 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:08,120 Speaker 2: from New York. 411 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:09,040 Speaker 1: It was a gift. 412 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,480 Speaker 2: John didn't get gifts. John got fuck all. Same for 413 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:15,480 Speaker 2: Glenn Matlock and Paul Cook the Pistols rhythm section. 414 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:17,119 Speaker 1: Not that they were complaining. 415 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,000 Speaker 2: They just seemed happy to be in the band that 416 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,000 Speaker 2: played regular gigs and got noticed. Didn't matter to them 417 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:25,360 Speaker 2: if they were called the Strand or the sex Pistols. Well, okay, 418 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:27,440 Speaker 2: Glenn was a bit of a mummy's boy, so being 419 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,639 Speaker 2: in a group called the sex Pistols did rattle his 420 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:32,720 Speaker 2: cage quite a bit. That amused John to no end. 421 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:35,359 Speaker 2: It was a better name than Cutie Jones and his 422 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:37,960 Speaker 2: sex Pistols, which was what Malcolm had originally christened the 423 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,480 Speaker 2: band back when Jonesy sang lead for a hot minute. 424 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,560 Speaker 1: But they all knew that Jonesy couldn't be the lead singer. 425 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:46,679 Speaker 2: He needed to focus on what he did best, playing 426 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:48,760 Speaker 2: is les Paul like he wanted to snap its neck 427 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:52,520 Speaker 2: in two and Jonesy said it himself. His guitar style 428 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:54,879 Speaker 2: was rooted in not knowing how to play. It was 429 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:59,960 Speaker 2: all anger and frustration, just like Johnny Rotten's incredible thing. 430 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:03,919 Speaker 2: People write Johnny Rotten off as just some fuck up punk. 431 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:08,280 Speaker 2: He's one of the greatest singers of all time. The 432 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,480 Speaker 2: legend goes that Vivian Westwood suggested John Lyden as a 433 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:13,639 Speaker 2: lead singer because she'd seen him at the Sex Store 434 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:16,400 Speaker 2: a lot, and he had that rebellious image and attitude. 435 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:16,719 Speaker 1: They were looking for. 436 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,159 Speaker 2: The legend further goes that what she said, check out 437 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:23,439 Speaker 2: this guy named John, she actually wasn't talking about John Lyden, 438 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:28,199 Speaker 2: but instead his friend John Beverly aka Sid Vicious. But 439 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:32,920 Speaker 2: we'll get to him later. One thing was for sure, though, 440 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,080 Speaker 2: But Malcolm and the band audition Johnny. The tension was 441 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:39,600 Speaker 2: ripe from the jump. Malcolm said, I'm gonna play Alice 442 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,440 Speaker 2: Cooper's eighteen on the jukebox. I want you to behave 443 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:43,920 Speaker 2: as if you're on stage and sing. 444 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:44,360 Speaker 1: Along to it. 445 00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:46,480 Speaker 2: And if you don't, this blow here next to me, 446 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:50,600 Speaker 2: Steve Jones, He's gonna beat the living daylights out of you. Sure, 447 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:55,360 Speaker 2: Jonesy was bigger, but John fancied himself smarter, smart enough 448 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:57,240 Speaker 2: to keep the lyrics he was writing hidden from the 449 00:24:57,240 --> 00:25:00,520 Speaker 2: other band members. Glenn Mattlock would have and quit on 450 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:02,520 Speaker 2: the spot if he knew what he was getting himself into. 451 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:05,119 Speaker 2: No one was singing about the things Johnny Rotten was 452 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:10,560 Speaker 2: singing about, Inciting anarchy, toppling the monarchy, abortions and bodies 453 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:14,639 Speaker 2: and cheap holidays and other people's misery. John Lynden was 454 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:17,960 Speaker 2: the consummate vocalist, if not the greatest singer in the 455 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:22,840 Speaker 2: traditional sets. His diction and delivery were incredible. He sneered, 456 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:25,840 Speaker 2: he taunted, He rolled his ars like a proper Englishman, 457 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:27,879 Speaker 2: but did it with his tongue firmly in his cheek. 458 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:30,480 Speaker 1: He took the piss out of the whole charade. 459 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:34,720 Speaker 2: Rock and roll bloated, pretentious rubbish. Rock and roll was 460 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:36,000 Speaker 2: a problem. 461 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:37,280 Speaker 1: And John was going to do something about it. 462 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:39,880 Speaker 2: Don't tell that to Johnsy and the rest of the band. 463 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:42,919 Speaker 2: Even though Jonesy pop speed like there were Tic TACs, 464 00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:46,160 Speaker 2: the band didn't play fast like the Promones. Their tempos 465 00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:49,440 Speaker 2: were slower like the Faces, with thick, easy to follow 466 00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:52,520 Speaker 2: riffs blasted from one hundred watt Marshall amp that blistered 467 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:56,399 Speaker 2: your years. People listened. They didn't have a choice, like 468 00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:00,439 Speaker 2: those inmates at the Chelmsford Maximum Security prison. Else but 469 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,040 Speaker 2: the Sex Pistols would go full Johnny Cash and play 470 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 2: a gig in prison. The Clash no way. The Clash 471 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:09,520 Speaker 2: fought the law, and the law won. Man. According to 472 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,679 Speaker 2: John Lydon, the Clash weren't punk. The Clash were a 473 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:15,440 Speaker 2: couple of trendy Carl Mark slogans in a slick image, 474 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:17,320 Speaker 2: and maybe they were a punk at least in the 475 00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:19,639 Speaker 2: early days, but they weren't like the Pistols. 476 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:20,760 Speaker 1: Nobody was. 477 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,000 Speaker 2: This was the reputation that the Sex Pistols gained early on. 478 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:27,800 Speaker 2: They were loud, they were dangerous. They didn't know what 479 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:29,800 Speaker 2: they wanted, but they knew how to get it. Other 480 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:32,040 Speaker 2: bands invited them to open their shows because they brought 481 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:34,880 Speaker 2: that element of batshit crazy drama that you just couldn't buy, 482 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,320 Speaker 2: like Eddie and the Hot Rods. But pub rock band 483 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:41,480 Speaker 2: playing a label showcase at the Marquee Club, they got 484 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:44,800 Speaker 2: more than they bargained for. John put his microphone stand 485 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,480 Speaker 2: right through one of the hot Rod's monitor speakers. Though, 486 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,720 Speaker 2: while John was busy destroying other band's equipment, Jonesy was 487 00:26:50,720 --> 00:26:52,159 Speaker 2: busy fucking their girlfriends. 488 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 1: No band was safe from the Pistols antics. 489 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:58,440 Speaker 2: Fights broke out regularly at their gigs, an extension of 490 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:01,879 Speaker 2: the anger on stage. Sometimes the brawls were between kids 491 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:04,960 Speaker 2: hopped up on cheap and fetamine sulfate and even cheaper beer. 492 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:08,760 Speaker 2: Sometimes it was the band themselves, like John and Glenn 493 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 2: always at each other's throats, Glenn that closet abba fan. 494 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:16,159 Speaker 2: John couldn't fucking handle it, that tension. He made the 495 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:18,880 Speaker 2: band what it was in both the Next Devolution and 496 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 2: the total destruction of rock and roll. And they also 497 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:25,080 Speaker 2: just sounded incredible, like a jumbo jet landing in your 498 00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:28,680 Speaker 2: living room. To quote Johnsy, they were firing on all 499 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:33,520 Speaker 2: cylinders and it wasn't just other bands and punk kids noticed. 500 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:38,719 Speaker 2: In October of nineteen seventy six, EMI came calling, not 501 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:41,600 Speaker 2: only the most old fashioned of all British record labels, 502 00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:44,800 Speaker 2: but the largest label in the world. They signed the 503 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,920 Speaker 2: band for a two year contract. Malcolm did his part, 504 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:52,040 Speaker 2: he got paid, negotiated a forty thousand pounds signing bonus. 505 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:55,560 Speaker 2: John could hardly believe the irony, how easy it was 506 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:59,520 Speaker 2: to accomplish that goal, to be that subversive. If only 507 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,920 Speaker 2: EMI knew what rotten business John had in store. Now 508 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:05,280 Speaker 2: that the Pistols were part of the machine, the next 509 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:31,000 Speaker 2: step was simple. Like the fuse, watch it Burn. The 510 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:34,960 Speaker 2: Sex Pistol's debut single, Anarchy in the UK, was released 511 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,560 Speaker 2: by EMI Records on November twenty sixth, nineteen seventy six. 512 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:41,280 Speaker 2: But it was difficult to find Anarchy in the UK 513 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:44,600 Speaker 2: and record stores throughout Great Britain, and not because it 514 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:48,760 Speaker 2: was flying off the shelves. Some employees had EMI record 515 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:51,600 Speaker 2: pressing plants actually refused to touch cop as the record. 516 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:56,040 Speaker 2: The name alone was scandalous. The Sex Pistols was obscene, 517 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,440 Speaker 2: unforgivably profane, and then add to that the content to 518 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 2: the music, it's lyrics and the mayhem the group was 519 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:06,360 Speaker 2: inspiring throughout the country. Org Is on the EMI line 520 00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:10,000 Speaker 2: shutder to think. The reluctance to come in physical contact 521 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:12,400 Speaker 2: with little slabs of vinyl with that name on the 522 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:16,280 Speaker 2: label led to delays in production and distribution. But not 523 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:19,440 Speaker 2: even a week after the single's release on December first, 524 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 2: the Pistol has got the opportunity to do a bit 525 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:26,000 Speaker 2: of promotion on Today, a regional television program on London's 526 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:30,280 Speaker 2: Thames Television. It was Kissman Queen were originally booked to 527 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:32,720 Speaker 2: appear in the show, I had to pull out last 528 00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:36,200 Speaker 2: minute so that Freddie Mercury could undergo emergency dental surgery 529 00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,120 Speaker 2: and their appearance on the show may have gone well 530 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:42,880 Speaker 2: if not for a few important factors. For one, the 531 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:46,880 Speaker 2: band was drunk. Jonesy alone chugged two or three bottles 532 00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 2: of blue non backstage in the green room. The second 533 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:53,800 Speaker 2: factor was Today's host, Bill Grundy, was a good thirty 534 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:56,680 Speaker 2: years older than the Pistols and was a walking, talking 535 00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:01,320 Speaker 2: representation of the old garden tweed suits. His thick sideburned, 536 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:05,320 Speaker 2: scotch knee, upper lip stiff. He was upper class, a 537 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,200 Speaker 2: fat cat. He looked down on the Pistols generation as 538 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:12,320 Speaker 2: lazy saws, all of them filthy, vacand vermin. Was no future. 539 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,520 Speaker 2: They were the bottom feeders, sewer dwellers. Grundy hated them 540 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:19,840 Speaker 2: before he even asked his first question. He hated John 541 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:23,400 Speaker 2: his spiky orange hair like a thorny briar patch. He 542 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:27,640 Speaker 2: hated Jonesy brazenly sitting there wearing that T shirt, the 543 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:29,800 Speaker 2: one that simply had a full sized photo of a 544 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:31,560 Speaker 2: naked pair of women's breasts. 545 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:33,120 Speaker 1: And he hated the circus. 546 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:36,520 Speaker 2: They brought with them four additional punks standing behind where 547 00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:38,920 Speaker 2: the band was seated. One of them wore a Nazi 548 00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:42,040 Speaker 2: swastik on his arm, and another, a girl named Susie, 549 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:45,240 Speaker 2: looked like she'd been plucked right out of a clockwork orange. 550 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:47,680 Speaker 1: The whole thing was perverse. 551 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:50,160 Speaker 2: Grundy had to knock back a few drinks of his 552 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:52,320 Speaker 2: own just to deal with it, and there wouldn't be 553 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:55,360 Speaker 2: enough drinks to drown out what happened next. No one, 554 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:58,480 Speaker 2: not the Pistols, not built Grundy, and certainly not the 555 00:30:58,520 --> 00:30:59,440 Speaker 2: good people of England. 556 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:00,760 Speaker 1: Ever, forget it. 557 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:05,840 Speaker 3: They are punk rockers, the new craze. They tell me 558 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:10,520 Speaker 3: they're heroes, not the nice, clean Rolling Stones. They are 559 00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:13,440 Speaker 3: a group called the Sex Crystals. I'm told that that 560 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:17,959 Speaker 3: group have received forty pounds from a record company. Doesn't 561 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:23,200 Speaker 3: that seem slightly opposed to their anti materialistic view of life? 562 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 3: Know the motel aria? Really? Oh yeah, well tell me more? 563 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:30,239 Speaker 3: Then we fucking spent it, ain't we? I don't know, 564 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:34,120 Speaker 3: have you? Yeah? It's all gone really good? Lord? Now 565 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 3: I want to know one thing. What are you serious? 566 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 3: Or are you just trying to make me laugh? No? 567 00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:45,680 Speaker 3: It's gone gone. No, I mean about what you're doing. Yeah, Beethoven, Mozart, 568 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:49,800 Speaker 3: bark and bronze helos. Ain't they really? What what do 569 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,520 Speaker 3: you say, sir? They're wonderful people, are they? 570 00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:52,880 Speaker 2: Oh? 571 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:56,320 Speaker 3: Yes, they really turn us on? Suppose they turn other 572 00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,120 Speaker 3: people on? Well, that's just their tough shit. It's what 573 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:04,920 Speaker 3: a rude word? Next question? No? No, what was the 574 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:09,719 Speaker 3: rude word? Shit? Was it really good? Heavens? You frightened 575 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:12,200 Speaker 3: me to death? What about you girls behind? Are you 576 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:16,760 Speaker 3: worried or just enjoying themselves? Enjoying myself? Are you. Yeah, 577 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:18,560 Speaker 3: that's what I thought. You do it. I've always wanted 578 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:20,280 Speaker 3: to meet you, did you really? 579 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:21,320 Speaker 2: Yeah? 580 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:25,800 Speaker 3: Well we'll meet afterwards, shallity? You? Dirty? Soad, dirty your mind, 581 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,520 Speaker 3: keep going cheap, keep going, go on, you've got another 582 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:33,080 Speaker 3: five seconds, say something outrageous. It's dirty, bastard. Go on again, 583 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,760 Speaker 3: dirty fucker? What a clever boy? What a fucking rotter. 584 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:39,560 Speaker 3: Well that's it for tonight. I'll be seeing you soon. 585 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:42,040 Speaker 3: I hope I'll not be seeing the likes of you again. 586 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:44,040 Speaker 3: For me though, Good night. 587 00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:50,600 Speaker 2: Malcolm McLaren nearly shit his pants, and for good reason. Sure, 588 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:53,560 Speaker 2: Bill Grundy was a closed minded asshole and an egged 589 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:56,040 Speaker 2: the guy's on, but they had taken it too far. 590 00:32:56,680 --> 00:33:00,479 Speaker 2: Cursing on live television. You have to understand in nineteen 591 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:05,840 Speaker 2: seventy six, that was a huge deal, absolute scandal. Overnight, 592 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:08,680 Speaker 2: the sex Pistols were the subject of conversation in every 593 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:12,560 Speaker 2: household in Great Britain. They were instantly famous, and this 594 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,760 Speaker 2: is important. They became famous not for their music before 595 00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:19,480 Speaker 2: what they said live on the air. Thanks to their 596 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:22,920 Speaker 2: appearance on Grundy's show. Most of the band's December tour 597 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:26,920 Speaker 2: dates were canceled, City and town councils held emergency meetings 598 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:29,720 Speaker 2: and voted to ban the Pistols from any further appearances, 599 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:33,600 Speaker 2: and those weren't the only meetings being held. EMI's chairman, 600 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:36,520 Speaker 2: Sir John Reid, a man who rumor had it dined 601 00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:39,720 Speaker 2: with the Queen herself, sat down with the label stakeholders 602 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:43,120 Speaker 2: to discuss the future of their newest act. Bottom line, 603 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:47,640 Speaker 2: there was no future. The band's actions were inexcusable and 604 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:51,080 Speaker 2: the punks were done. Sir John Reid cut them loose 605 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:54,520 Speaker 2: with the stroke of a pen, and the Pistols took 606 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:55,560 Speaker 2: it all in stride. 607 00:33:56,000 --> 00:33:56,720 Speaker 1: Fuck e am I. 608 00:33:57,280 --> 00:33:59,280 Speaker 2: The only thing that the label was good for was 609 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:02,200 Speaker 2: fodder for a new your song. John Lyden and the 610 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:05,800 Speaker 2: band had successfully disrupted the system, and they walked away 611 00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:09,080 Speaker 2: with a forty thousand pounds signing bonus. That was a 612 00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:12,359 Speaker 2: win as far as they were concerned, but it wasn't over. 613 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,080 Speaker 2: Far from it. There were more labels to infiltrate, more 614 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:20,480 Speaker 2: idolist to destroy, a monarchy, to overturn an unlimited supply 615 00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:24,640 Speaker 2: of chaos and anarchy. The Sex Pistols wouldn't be truly 616 00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:26,759 Speaker 2: happy until they left the whole. 617 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:31,000 Speaker 1: Fucking world in Disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan. 618 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:56,600 Speaker 2: In This episode of Disgraceland is to be continued. Disgraceland 619 00:34:56,640 --> 00:34:59,799 Speaker 2: was created by Yours Truly and is produced in partnership. 620 00:34:59,239 --> 00:34:59,840 Speaker 1: With Double L. 621 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:02,799 Speaker 2: Credits for this episode can be found on the show 622 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 2: notes page at disgracelampod dot com. 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Visit disgracelampod dot com slash membership for details, 631 00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:38,520 Speaker 2: Rate and review the show, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, 632 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:42,560 Speaker 2: Twitter and Facebook at disgracelampod and on YouTube at YouTube 633 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:46,680 Speaker 2: dot com slash at disgracelampod Rock a Roller. 634 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:50,600 Speaker 1: He then