Sex Pistols

Antagonistic and anarchic, the Sex Pistols were at the centre of the punk explosion of the late 1970s, lighting up a grey Britain with a snarling blitz of raw, unhinged, rebellious rock'n'roll. Inspired by the raucous DIY attitude of American bands like The Ramones, Iggy and the Stooges and the New York Dolls, the gang of young hoodlums who hung out at Vivien Westwood's clothes shop Sex, were orchestrated into the UK's most controversial band by impresario Malcolm McLaren. Dressed by Westwood in bondage gear and safety pinned t-shirts with short spiky hair, they shot to nationwide notoriety during an infamous television interview with Bill Grundy in which the band repeatedly swore. Front page headlines "The Filth and the Fury" were replaced with moral outrage when the band released the sneering single God Save The Queen (complete with Jamie Reid's iconic art work of Queen Elizabeth II with a safety pin through her nose) to coincide with the Silver Jubilee celebrations. Their debut album Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (1977) became an instant classic whose influence still resonates. Banned from nearly every venue in the UK, the band ended in shambles on an ill-fated tour to America with Lydon's great barb to the audience - "Ever feel like you've been cheated?"