“There was a police wagon involved”: The day the Sex Pistols “horrified” Abba
Back in the 1970s, pop music reigned supreme over Europe, with colossal outfits like Abba representing the pinnacle of mainstream pop. At the same time, however, a new generation of artists was emerging within the abrasive scene of punk rock, existing in absolute defiance of the mainstream, and aiming to blaze a trail for politically-charged, grassroots expression. It goes without saying, therefore, that mainstream pop acts felt somewhat threatened by the emergence of groups like the Sex Pistols.
Although countless different groups emerged during the UK’s first wave of punk during the mid-1970s, the Sex Pistols were perhaps the most essential. Pulled together by band manager and clothes salesman Malcolm McLaren in 1975, their abrasive music, confrontational performances, and outrageous public behaviour alerted young people up and down the nation to the revolutionary music scene brewing in London.
On the other hand, the violent reputation garnered by the Pistols, particularly after the infamous ‘The Filth and the Fury’ incident, during which the band swore on national television, hindered their performing career. A plethora of venues across the UK refused to book the band, and any attempted tours were thwarted by venue managers and local authorities turning the band away. So, the band were left with only one option: tour somewhere else.
In 1977, Scandinavia was chosen as the destination for the Sex Pistols’ tour, following their difficulty in touring the UK. With stops planned in Norway and Denmark, the 12-date tour would culminate in an extensive eight-show run in Stockholm, Sweden. Let loose in the Swedish capital, the Pistols certainly aimed to live up to the anarchy of their music, but their time in Scandinavia brought with it a brush with the archetypal representatives of mainstream pop, Abba.
Bizarrely, the Pistols were actually fans of the Swedish group. In fact, original bassist Glen Matlock based his riff on ‘Pretty Vacant’ on Abba’s ‘SOS’. The Eurovision titans were also a particular favourite of Sid Vicious’s, but that appreciation did not go both ways when the two groups crossed paths. As John Lydon recalled to The Irish Independent, “We’d been drinking all day in Scandinavia because flights were cancelled, but Sid couldn’t handle alcohol.
“As soon as he’d seen Abba, all in matching white fur coats, looking like polar bears, he went running over,” the frontman shared. “‘Abba!’ Then he vomited.” As with anything Vicious did during those years, it’s difficult to tell whether running over to Abba and then spewing cheap lager was his idea of a joke or whether it was a genuine reaction. Either way, as Lydon remembered, “They were horrified. I think we got carted off. There was a police wagon involved.”
Even in Scandinavia, therefore, it seemed as though the Sex Pistols could not escape their infamous image, which prevented them from touring at home. Still, Abba was not the only pop sensation Vicious managed to upset during his time with the band.
That same year, while recording Nevermind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols, the band ran into pop-rock stars Queen. However, when the bassist made a snarky comment to Freddie Mercury, the frontman retaliated by referring to the Pistol as ‘Simon Ferocious’. Perhaps Abba would have done the same had they not encountered the insides of Vicious’s stomach lining.
