3/13/2012

The Sex Pistols -- "Holidays in the Sun"

At this point in history, I think we can truly start to never mind the bollocks and simply acknowledge that The Sex Pistols were a pretty good rock band.  Yes, they gave some ghastly shocks to the already-moldering rock establishment (and to other establishments, as well), and the side show theatricals on their first and only US tour did rip the band apart in short order.  But what strikes me these days about their one and only album proper is that it is a pretty heavily produced album, which means that in some ways it is not so out of keeping with a lot of other albums that were being made at the time.  On vinyl, these first-generation punks bands (especially those of the British variety) rarely sounded as raw and direct as they did live.  We've got bootlegs to prove that.  It was the attitude -- and the accompanying lifestyles -- that proved shocking. 

The band had a very limited range compared with, say, The Clash.  The Pistols had one song formula, more or less, but it was a pretty effective one.  At the time, this kind of thing was needed, a necessary corrective to the bombastic and heavy-handed approach of, say, Pink Floyd, which I think of as being the arch-nemesis of punk, and it's undeniable that the music of the Sex Pistols and comparable bands of the time is more straight-ahead, more primal, the guitar solos held back and the keyboards entirely at bay.  That didn't stop Bill Price from layering things on in the sound booth, though, and listening to Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols -- especially the opening and perhaps the best track -- you have to admit that things worked out pretty well in the studio.

Musically, "Holidays in the Sun" doesn't have much to distinguish it from many of the other tracks on Never Mind the Bollocks, but it's a great way to open the album, especially with the jackbooted march that kicks off the song.  Is that the fascists of the National Front, or is it the sound of studio execs in the halls of EMI?  In context, I suppose it's the East German army, soldiers keeping watch over the wall.  "Holidays in the Sun" has the Pistols' standard set of traditional rock guitar riffs adapted from the style of the New York Dolls, but the highlight is Johnny Rotten's half-serious, half in-jest vocal performance.  What is he saying about the Berlin Wall?  When the wall did come down, John Lydon didn't bother to show up.  Pink Floyd, of course, was all over the place.