Sex Pistols: The Inside Story

The Sex Pistols’ story is one of opportunity and outrage; arising from the chaotic slums of the punk movement, Jonny Rotten and Sid Vicious typified the anarchy and anger of their generation like none-other. In little over three years the Sex Pistols had transformed popular music and paved the way the likes of the Ramones and The Clash to gain recognition and acceptance in their wake.

In a revolutionary flurry the band mocked and shunned the British establishment and the music industry, wreaking havoc through the system from the inside. Their contract with EMI was terminated in little over a month; they were signed and sacked by A&M in seven days; their jubilee single ‘God Save the Queen’ took pop-shots at the British regime and hit #1 despite being banned; their foul-mouthed appearance with Bill Grundy on live television shocked the nation. In doing so the Sex Pistols liberated the anger of a down-trodden generation.

The Inside Story – the nearest the Sex Pistols came to telling their own story – was first put together at the height of the punk rock explosion. The authors had unique and continuous access to the band, to their families and friends, to Malcolm McLaren and all the members of McLaren’s Glitterbest office. Now having been translated into several languages, Sex Pistols: The Inside Story has itself became part of the legend.

‘Easily the best book about punk. The only one to articulate the mania of that moment.’
– Simon Frith, New Statesman

‘Here at last is a truly solid and perceptive study of a group whose sensation reeking activities have so often resulted in perverted and overly biased viewpoints … Superb editing work … a constant fluidity which like any “good read” draws one instinctively into the action … Sheer revelatory potency … stands in a category rare in the rock ‘n’ roll stakes: the in-depth biography.’
– Nick Kent, NME

‘Absolutely astonishing … a real work of history … This book shows how much we live in a present continually overtaken by events. A shattered present … The Sex Pistols as expressed in this book illuminate the last quarter of our century.’
– Maurice Achard, Les Nouvelles Litteraires