Saturday, November 26, 2011

Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK -- 26th November 1976

On the 26th of November 1976 the Sex Pistols released their debut single, Anarchy in the UK, on EMI.


Although there would be all sorts of picture sleeves later, it was originally released with a plain paper sleeve, as seen here.




At the time the band line-up was Johnny Rotten on vocals, Steve Jones on guitar, Glen Matlock on bass, and Paul Cook on drums, a line-up many think was their best, myself included.

Although the Pistols had been around since 1975, building a reputation for themselves through live appearances, it's fair to say that nobody was prepared for what happened when they finally committed themselves to vinyl. It's impossible to imagine Punk Rock without the Pistols, although it was probably going to happen anyway. It just would have been different.

The barbarians were at the gate, and nothing would ever be the same again.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Richard Hell - Another World EP -- 18th November 1976

On the 18th of November 1976 Richard Hell - later to be Richard Hell and the Voidoids - released the three-track 45rpm 7" Another World EP on Ork Records in the US.




This contained, on the A-side, (I Could Live With You In) Another World, which was a very unpunk-like six minutes long, and it's probably as well that this has more or less sunk without a trace.



More importantly, however, was what was on the flipside of the record. There were two tracks, (I Belong To The) Blank Generation and You Gotta Lose. The first of those, Blank Generation, was to go on to inspire the Sex Pistols' Pretty Vacant, amongst other things, and remains a firm favourite of this blog, after all those years. It was a song that spoke to us, and suggested that something interesting was going on. 




YouTube doesn't seem to have a copy of the third track, or at least not by Hell. There's is a version by Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, from when Hell was with them, which I include here for the sake of completeness  but not for any other reason. If you do listen to it, don't come back complaining to me...



Stiff Records released this in the UK, more than once, as well.