How Sex Pistols Transformed the British National Anthem Into a Banned Punk Classic

When the Sex Pistols released “God Save The Queen” in 1977, the punk pioneers were already one of the most controversial acts in history. If Elvis Presley’s hips had made you clutch your pearls, then wait until you get a load of these sneering and swearing punks.

A New National Anthem

The band released “God Save The Queen” during the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Here, Johnny Rotten (John Lydon) doesn’t hide his thoughts on the monarchy. “God save the Queen, the fascist regime / It made you a moron, potential H-bomb,” he sings.

To further the revolt, the Sex Pistols had repurposed the title of Britain’s national anthem. Though the BBC banned the song, it still reached No. 2 on the U.K. singles chart.

Don’t be told what you want to want,
And don’t be told what you want to need.
There’s no future, no future,
No future for you.

Regarding the song’s intent, Lydon said, “You don’t write ‘God Save The Queen’ because you hate the English race; you write a song like that because you love them, and you’re fed up with them being mistreated.”

Never Mind

“God Save The Queen” arrived in the spring. But the following fall, when the band released their debut album, Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols, they were already imploding under the weight of their own chaos. In 1978, Sex Pistols’ manager Malcolm McLaren said, “The management is bored with managing the successful rock ’n’ roll band. The group is bored with being a successful rock ’n’ roll band. Burning venues and destroying record companies is more creative than making it.”

Still, the Sex Pistols’ lone studio album forever changed rock history. Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana, Oasis, Green Day, and many others have cited the band as a major influence. And if the whole point of punk was to upset the status quo, then “God Save The Queen” stands as the touchstone for how to write a protest anthem.

God save the Queen,
’Cause tourists are money.
And our figurehead,
Is not what she seems.

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