Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks (2002)

Track List

Chapters

1)Introduction 2)Pretty Vacant 3)Submission 4)Anarchy In The UK 5)EMI Unlimited Edition 6)Liar 7)Holidays In The Sun 8)Bodies 9)God Save The Queen 10)Problems Bonus Interviews

1)Anarchy Basics 2)EMI Unlimited Edition 3)More Studio Bollocks 4)"New York" Live In Stockholm 5)Bill Price 6)Jamie Reid 7)Sid 8)Rotten Razored 9)The Police And The Headmistress 10)"Seventeen" Live In Stockholm 11)Hello Freddie 12)Play In A Dy The Steve Jones Way 13)The End

A great lesson in Sex Pistology

This is a great DVD. Even long time Sex Pistols fans might get a new tidbit of information that they had never known. For the first time maybe in their lives, the members of the Pistols are very candid and maybe even a bit nostalgic, even though none of them are seen together and they are all interviewed seperately. Steve loves Johnny, but that doesn't mean he wants to hang out with him, Johnny is proud of all the members, and Glenn shows no hard feelings. Paul had the least amount to say, but what he said was direct and to the point. Sid Vicious gets very little time. He is seen in the live footage and Johnny talks about him in a short bonus feature. The only idiot on the entire DVD is Malcolm, but that's really no big surprise. He always has and always will be a tool.

We finally learn who played what on the album itself. Glen did play the bass guitar on Anarchy, and Steve played two seperate guitar tracks, one track serving as the bass.

They even tracked down the guy who did the artwork for the Pistols.

I think of all those in the band Steve has the most intelligent insight. He admitted that if they had kept Glen and did not do the TV show where they cursed on the air, the Pistols would have lasted longer and recorded more albums.

I came to my own conclusion that Glen was not fired for 'constantly washing his feet', but because he was the most competant musician of the group. Glen tried to teach STeve how to play what he called 'Beatle chords' and Steve refused to play them and just stuck with the major chords in bar form.

If I have anything negetive to say about the DVD, don't be taken in by the 'Play guitar in a day the Steve Jones Way'. Steve does demonstrate how to play a few riffs, and on his original Les Paul with the pinup girls. But would it have killed the camera man to have the camera straight on the guitar and not film the riffs at a 45 degree angle? I know how to play the songs anyway, I've had the original tab book for years, but the camera angle on the guitar on this sequence is terrible.

The boys are alive and well though and getting ready to do some shows soon (November 2007). On the DVD Paul actually looks pretty good and resembles any number of one hit wonder musicians from the 80's. Glen looks like a rather dapper chap and if you didn't know him, you'd think he was a sales manager and not a musician. Steve Jones looks more like a retired wrestler than a punk guitarist, and Johnny..... Well Johnny has aged some. His earlobes are dangling almost comically. As if he had been wearing 5 pound earrings for ten years, and it is obvious he has never cared about his hair, from his glory days until today. I don't know who painted the blue stripe, but Johnny is Johnny.

And saints be praised. There is not one film cell that contains any image of Nancy Spungen. November 4, 2007

This is the best Sex Pistols documentary but...

It didn't go through the whole carrier and it mainly talked about their start and their relationships together which is great but didn't talk about the times and the chronological history of the pistols, their American tour and eventual break up.

You must to watch this along with "The Filth and the Fury" if you want to get the whole picture. One thing I really liked about this is you didn't have Johnny Lydon speaking about the history of the Sex Pistols with anger and spite of earlier interviews which distorted the truth, it was more like he was fondly reminiscing factually about being in the Sex Pistols and giving up his ego and telling of his faults.

Another great thing it was just clips of performances, photos and one on one interviews with the band, producers, techincians and record company executives, no dramatics or no other bands or fans talking about them which would muddle the documentary. It's stripped down to the important stuff.

A must see for any fan.
September 23, 2007

Even better than "The Filth and the Fury", I agree!

I felt pleasantly surprised after watching this. I gained a new respect for the band, and seeing how they created this unique album added a new dimension to the film. I enjoyed the many special features possibly more than the documentary itself.

The band members are in great form and are as candid as you'll ever see them. Glen Matlock and Steve Jones provide many insights, and watching them perform their riffs today is a great pleasure, but it's Johnny Rotten who steals the show with his dark clarity. Amazing words!

It's a fairly low-budget effort, but it's the best Sex Pistols DVD that you can find, and an excellent documentary about the making of legendary music. April 15, 2006

Better Than "The Filth and The Fury"

For several reasons:

1) It's shorter, appropriate to a career as short as the Pistols was.

2) It's less pretentious.

3) It's less burdened by the need to undo "The Great Rock n'Roll Swindle", which was more or less "Fury's" entire purpose. In this we actually get to hear McClaren bubble harmlessly about how he was a "mis-manager" from the beginning.

4) It drives home the point that John Lydon is completely full of offal, and himself. Case in point: in his autobio, Lydon claims that Glenn Matlock directly said to him that he wanted the band to be like the Bay City Rollers: "That's a direct quote from him to me." In this DVD, he says "Turns out, years later, the Bay City Rollers was NOT what Glenn had in mind. That's unfortunate. In a way, I suppose we were both duped." So the "direct quote" appears not to have been instead a complete untruth, yet somehow Johnny's still the victim. When is this fool going to outgrow his adolescence?

5) It nicely affirms my suspicions that the only Pistol you'd ever want to have a beer with is Steve Jones. I suspect that's why he's a DJ on Indie 103 today, and Lydon is...on Judge Judy?

6) It's actually about the MUSIC of the Sex Pistols, as opposed to their place in the sociopoliticoculturoeconomic history of Britain.

7) Very Little Sid. Which is good, because honestly, who cares? March 16, 2006

Entertaining and Surprisingly Intelligent Documentary

I bought this DVD on a whim, and am glad that I did. The disc brings the mayhem of 1976-77 to life, but in a very matter-of-fact way. The band and the people who helped create "Never Mind the Bollocks" are direct and often quite funny. Moreover, while they're not exactly sentimental or nostalgic, they do recognize they created something that, despite countless imitators, remains quite unprecedented. February 8, 2006

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