April 7, 2008

Something Else #7: Sex Pistols

Last Sunday in the REM discussion, Jere posted:
A Sex Pistols set of shows would be good for an off day. ... Maybe on an off day when the Sox need a good kick in the arse.
That day sounds like today, so here are four Pistols shows:

April 3, 1976, London. This is the earliest circulating recording of the band. There are cuts in the tape. Audience recording. As you might imagine, audience recordings of the band are not of the finest audio quality, but these are all decent.

January 10, 1977, Dallas, TX. "Welcome To The Rodeo". Audience recording.

January 5, 1978, Atlanta, GA. "Kill The Hippies". Soundboard recording.

January 9, 1978, Baton Rouge, LA. Audience recording. This guy was there:
when the pistols hit the stage it was as though a bomb went off. the pistols were covered with talcum powder, (for some un-godly reason), and it hovered around them like smokey halos. ... drinks and spit hit the stage, while coins and bottles pelted the backwall ... when they kicked into 'god save the queen', i thought the building would take off. it was like a 747 of rock and roll, all the hype was out the door. how did these guys get so good? they shouldn't have been. ... it was a hurricane of a rock show, the likes of which i had never seen ... in a week and a day they broke up.
Bonus: Probably the best mash-up I have ever heard: "Ray of Gob", which combines "Pretty Vacant", "God Save The Queen" and Madonna's "Ray of Light".

4 comments:

allan said...

April 3, 1976 (London, UK)
Did You No Wrong / No Lip / Seventeen / New York / Whatcha Gonna Do About It / (I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone / Submission / Satellite / No Feelings / Pretty Vacant / No Fun / Substitute / Problems / Understanding

January 10, 1977 (Welcome to the Rodeo"; Dallas, TX)
God Save The Queen / I Wanna Be Me / Seventeen / New York / EMI / Bodies / No Feelings / Problems / Pretty Vacant / Anarchy in the UK / No Fun

January 5, 1978 (Kill The Hippies"; Atlanta, GA)
God Save the Queen / I Wanna Be Me / Seventeen / New York / Bodies / Submission / Holidays In The Sun / EMI / No Feelings / Problems / Pretty Vacant / Anarchy In The UK / No Fun / Liar

January 9, 1978 (Baton Rouge, LA)
God Save The Queen / I Wanna Be Me / Seventeen / New York / EMI / Bodies / Belsen Was A Gas / Submission / Holidays In The Sun / No Feelings / Problems / Pretty Vacant / Anarchy In The UK / No Fun / Liar

***

Ray of Gob, from Mark Vidler

***

Bonus: In an odd coincidence, during Jon Lester's last start, Jere referred to him as "Wicked Lester" -- the name of the band, formed by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, that evolved into Kiss. The next morning, I found a bittorrent of Wicked Lester demos.
November 1971 - July 1972 Studio Sessions
Love Her All I Can / Sweet Ophelia / Keep Me Waiting / (What's Happening) In The Darkness / I Wanna Shout / Too Many Mondays / She / Molly / Shout It Out Loud / Simple Type / She / Too Many Mondays / When The Bell Rings / Molly

allan said...

Love the exaggerated rolling Rs on the God Save The Queen sample!

Ray of Gob - Extended

Jere said...

Nice job on this... Bodies is my fave

nixon33 said...

i guess primal scream ripped that "kill all hippies" slogan for their Exterminator release around the turn of the century.
Mr. Lydon is one sharp bastard.
if you've not seen the doc "the filth and the fury", please do!
i think ebert had a heavy hand in making that doc, and hes a massive pistols fan, who knew!

funny how they took digs at the NY Dolls in some of their songs, meanwhile Matlock was influenced by the dolls, and Steve Jones blatantly ripped off J. Thunders' guitar sound and stage moves!
Speaking of the Dolls, Morrisey was the president of their fanclub when he was a young lad and even wrote a biography on them...

anyway, lets fookin win today, yeah?