The Sex Pistols have topped the U.K. streaming charts with “God Save the Queen,” 45 years after the initial release of the song.
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The reemergence of the Pistols’ song, off the punk band’s sole album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols in 1977, has come in perfect timing as 2022 marks Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebration, and the band is back in the spotlight with the recent Hulu series Pistol, directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting) and inspired by guitarist Steve Jones’ 2016 memoir, Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol.
Re-released on June 3, “God Save the Queen” is now topping the charts in the U.K. and is inching up to the Top 5 of the Official U.K. singles chart, while 45 years earlier the BBC and International Broadcasting Authority refused to play the song on the radio. Celebrating their recent signing to Virgin and the release of the song, the band attempted to perform “God Save the Queen” on a boat called Queen Elizabeth along the River Thames on June 7, 1977, during the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebration.
The band, along with their manager Malcolm McLaren, were arrested, but the brush with the law didn’t harm the legacy of the single since sales of “God Save The Queen” shot up directly after the incident.
Though the earliest formation of The Sex Pistols lasted a mere three years, from 1975 through 1978 with later reunions in 1996 and throughout the 2000s, the fascination with the punk pioneers is still strong despite founding member and singer John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) denouncing the use of the band’s music in the recent series and its accompanying reissue of the Pistols’ The Original Recordings compilation.
Lydon recently spoke about the band’s iconic song around the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebration and his respect for the monarch despite the Pistols’ original fascist regime lyrics.
“It’s anti-royalist, but it’s not anti-human,” said Lydon. “I’ve got to tell the world this. Everyone presumes that I’m against the royal family as human beings. I’m not. I’m actually really, really proud of the queen for surviving and doing so well. I applaud her for that and that’s a fantastic achievement. I’m not a curmudgeon about that.”
Photo: UMe
