“That iconic thing”: the morbid reason why Roger Waters thinks Sex Pistols are timeless
The Sex Pistols hit the music scene with a boom. How could they not? The poorly dressed, grimey-looking punk rockers were unlike anything the musical world had ever seen prior. Swearing on TV, smoking on stage and fighting their fans… what kind of behaviour was this? Well, whatever it was, it shifted the attitude of many musicians, as people suddenly had permission to perform outlandishly, with the Sex Pistols proving you could do that and still be a success.
You could argue that the clues were there that the Sex Pistols would be successful. Prior to them, many other bands and artists who shared a similar ethos were managing to find success in pockets of the music industry, both in the UK and overseas. There was clearly a hunger for the punk movement; we just needed the right band to spearhead it.
The Ramones had already caused a scene in New York. They played to chaotic crowds, the distortion on their instruments turned up as loud as it would go, and their songs were thrashy and messy. The band was a breath of fresh air for the underground scene and are considered by many to be the original punks. Despite being at the forefront of a new movement, the band was heavily inspired by rock.
“When I was 16, I saw The Who,” said Joey Ramone when discussing his musical influences. “It was the first time they played America. It was a Murray the K show at the RKO theatre on 59th street [in New York City] — like 30 bands and The Who and Cream for the first time in America. Cream were great, but The Who blew my mind. The character and the visuals, Townshend, Keith Moon. It was the best thing I’d ever seen […] When I perform, I want to blow people’s minds like that.”
Iggy Pop was also turning heads thanks to his controversial performative style. The singer was inspired by Jim Morrison and his hostile approach towards audiences. This inspired him to try and do the same thing, which he championed when dominating the UK pub rock scene in the 1970s.
“I loved the performance. Part of me was like, ‘Wow, this is great. He’s really pissing people off, and he’s lurching around, making these guys angry.’ People were rushing the stage, and Morrison’s going, ‘Fuck you. You blank, blank, blank.’ You can fill in your sexual comments yourself,” said Pop. “The other half of it was that I thought, ‘If they’ve got a hit record out and they can get away with this, then I have no fucking excuse not to get out on stage with my band.’ It was sort of the case of, ‘Hey, I can do that.’ There really was some of that in there.”
You could argue that, given these trends in music at the time, the Sex Pistols were always destined to be a success. They had the musical stylings of the Ramones and the stage presence of Iggy Pop, surely that’s the makings for a timeless group of artists? Many would agree, as the band’s music still resonates with people to this day; however, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd would disagree. He believes the band became famous because of the trends in music at the time, but that their legendary status is owed to a more morbid reason: Sid Vicious’s death.
“The Sex Pistols were just trying to make noise,” he said in an interview when scorning the punk legends’ music. “It was so clearly contrived. You know, they were managed by a bloke who ran a shop selling silly clothes!”
He concluded, coldly, “And then one of them died, so you got that iconic thing that lives on. If somebody dies, that’s always good. Except for him, obviously, and his mom and dad, and [his girlfriend] Nancy; but for everybody else, it’s brilliant.”
