My analysis of the Sex Pistols

God Save The Queen, The Sex Pistols (1977)

"God Save the Queen" is a song by the English punk rock band The Sex Pistols. The members of this band belong to the working class and come from the suburbs of London. The song was released as the band's second single and was featured on their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. On Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee on 27 May 1977, the band attempted to play the song from a boat named The Queen Elizabeth on the River Thames, outside the Palace of Westminster. Nevertheless, the band had to stop playing and after a scuffle, eleven people, including several members of the band's entourage, were arrested when the boat docked. The trash record's lyrics, as well as the cover, were controversial at the time, and this was banned by the BBC for what it called "gross bad taste."

Jonny Rotten, the singer of the band, said in an interview: "You don't write a song like 'God Save The Queen' because you hate the English race. You write a song like that because you love them, and you're fed up of seeing them mistreated."

So how did this song symbolize the breakdown of the British society of the late 70s?

It would be interesting to focus on three different collapses: the end of deference, of establishment, and of a general understanding of society.

 

I.                    The end of deference

A.      A shocking caricature of the Queen

The single was released on 27 May 1977, and was regarded by much of the general public to be an assault on Queen Elizabeth II and the monarchy. The title is taken directly from "God Save the Queen," the national anthem of the United Kingdom.

The first cover of the single showed a picture of The Queen with a safety pin through her lip, serving to anger the establishment even more. The second cover was designed by Jamie Reid, who went to Croydon College of Art with Malcolm McLaren. The lettering was designed to look like a ransom note on the official portrait of the Queen. The colours are those of the Union Jack and red lines seem to come out from her head as if she was a demonic figure. The safety pin has been replaced by a kind of gag. Even though, we cannot see her eyes and mouth, everyone can recognise Elizabeth II because it was the picture used on the £10 notes.

But just to see the band is enough to understand the caricature. The song is more yelled than sang and it is to show their anger. When Jonny Rotten is insisting on some words as in “we love our Queen” (v.16), he is underlining his own irony. Rotten embodies a “spastic pantomime villain when he is singing with evil for real” wrote Jon Savage, in his book Time Travel (p.14).

The song is a big parody of the Queen. The idea to mock the British monarchy is to represent the Queen as she is in fact. The Queen is seen as a caricature of her own society. She seems to live in a fairy tale as “she is not a human being” (v.6). In “God save your mad parade” (v.23), it implies all the very archaic traditions as all the formalities and so the Jubilee Day which was the key moment to celebrate her reign. All these formalities are seen as useless and out of time.

A lot of young people felt alienated by the stifling rule of the old-fashioned royal monarchy. The Queen (Queen Elizabeth) was their symbol. But a month after this was released; some members of the band were attacked by men who supported the British monarchy. Johnny Rotten's hand was permanently damaged. So, what was the message addressed to her?

B.    The end of the general support for an old hierarchy

At the time this song was highly controversial, firstly for its equation of the Queen with a "fascist regime," (v.2). The word “fascist” denotes the form of hierarchy, the rule of law and the concept of personal property according to Wilson in Our Times.

Although many believe it was created because of the Jubilee, the band denies it, Paul Cook saying that, "It wasn't written specifically for the Queen's Jubilee. We weren't aware of it at the time. It wasn't a contrived effort to go out and shock everyone." His intentions were apparently to evoke sympathy for the English working class, and a general resentment for the monarchy.

In addition, in the first verses it says “God save the queen, she ain’t no human being.”(v.6). The Queen is not seen as a person but as a national entity and this idea is underlined with the word “figurehead”. It is not the person who is directly attacked but the royal system. This is why we cannot see Elizabeth’s face but we recognise her crown. “She is not what she seems” (v.21) means that she looks nice but the system is rotten. This is a reason the song was thought of as offensive and caused uproar amongst the high officials in England.

The chorus says “God Save the Queen, We mean it man, We love our queen, God saves.” These lines show that they want England to succeed but that can only be achieved through a new system of government. They seem to be praying to God because they have no other choice as nobody is listening to the Youth. It leads to the criticism of the establishment and the clash between the system and the youth.

II.                  The end of establishment

A.      The non understanding of the system: an elite in politics & in society

This song is about rebelling against British politics. When it is said “don’t be told what you want [...] what you need”, the “you” repeated several times in all the song refers to the youth of the time. In “We love our Queen”, “We” and “Our” means us the British, so the youth of Britain. Via this direct approach, the listener feels automatically concerned by the lyrics. The verses are really short as the sentences: this way the lyrics strike more.

The first metaphor says “We’re the flowers in the dustbin” which means they are the only good things in a group of terrible things i.e. a society made of a small elite. Very quickly, the Sex Pistols became the symbol of “us against them”.

Furthermore, what they throw into relief has been made true. The song reached number one on the NME charts in the United Kingdom, but quickly moved up the British charts and was at number two at one point before being banned from the radio because it was thought of as a stab at the Queen.

The band claimed it was not directed at her but merely a warning to all of England that if they keep living the way they are they will fall and not be able to keep living the way they do. The Sex Pistols stand on the direction of England in “God Save the Queen” and side with youth, especially the Poor, against the system. But why do they stand with them?

B.       “No future for YOU and ME”:

Regarding to the social background they belong to, the members of the band come from poor areas. For example, Sid Vicious’ mother was a junky. It seems that they come from a dark past, so they are looking for the future.

But from 1973 with the oil crisis, the country is falling down. There is no job, unemployment has reach one million and there is no place to settle down for people who have no money. Young have to fight others in this financial crisis: it is an old system stuck in different crises, high taxes and labour disputes. It is also the time of economical humiliation when the IMF injected some money to British economy during Callaghan’s government.

On the picture, the Queen is muzzled. She is forced to stay quiet and is taken hostage just as Youth feels being taken hostage in society.

The phrase "no future", the song's closing refrain, became emblematic of the punk rock movement. It expressed the anger young people felt toward the establishment. This shows that the time may have passed to fix England and they will not have a future because the time to act has past. The chorus of this song is sung with anger and annoyance because the singer is fed up with the government.

This is why the first verses show rebellion and independence. It says “There is no future, In England’s dreaming.”(v.8). The country is in a mere illusion. The Sex Pistols sang this because they wanted to express the fact that if England does not change there will not be anymore triumph for the country.

In “When there’s no future, how can there be sin” (v.23): the question is that with no possible future prospects, rioting becomes legitimate. The other metaphor of the song is “We’re the poison in your human machine” (v.30) which means they are the reason England has gone downhill. The chaos made of the basses and of Jonny Rotten’s strident voice surrounding this record symbolises the chaos in society. So one can wonder if the Sex Pistols were the only way to protest against establishment and if rioting was the solution to the problem.

III.                May the counter culture give the solution?

A.      Things are changing: the counter-culture is spreading

In the song, when Jonny Rotten sings: “they make you a moron” (v.3): he is alluding to censorship but it should not be forgotten that deference has always existed: it can be found many caricatures of Kings before that as it was the case with Queen Victoria and her ministers.

Besides, the end of the 70s were a time of new developments in arts, novels, music etc. There was a cultural rejection of establishment and all the values inside establishment. It was the beginning of a new culture. Jon Savage novels can easily illustrate the idea.

The whole of the second half of the century, a lot of protest songs appeared, some of them in Northern Ireland where there were many troubles. The punk band Stiff Little Fingers is a good example. In fact lot of punk groups grew up. Feeling of no future: being young in the 70s meant there was no place. It is the counter culture appearance as a reaction towards society in crisis. Many of them had ideologies but were not always sincere. Was the Sex Pistols completely sincere in their criticism?

B.       Protest of commercialism: hypocrisy?

In fact, The Sex Pistols had the desire to make the leading elite recognise the gap between “have and have not”. When Rotten sings “The tourists are money” (v.19): they are no people but just the money they pay to visit the United Kingdom. This is a criticism of commercialism. By saying that the regime was “fascist”, their desire was to attack and defame the “fascist” world of privilege.

But when “God Save the Queen” was released the song was received as an attack and it is what made it so popular to the punk crowd because they loved the defiant lyrics that went against the norm. A.N. Wilson adds in Our Times that it was a “high accolade of banning it” from any media. It is also the time where “Punk chic” appears and so when the punk movement becomes fashionable. Ironically, with fame, the ideas of being anti commercialism disappeared. 

Likewise, before the group signed to Virgin, a small number of first copies of "God Save the Queen" are now among the most valuable records ever pressed in the UK, with a resale value of between £500 to £13,000 a copy, depending on condition of the disc. If you look at the shop online of the official website of the Sex Pistols, the copy of the flag of the queen with the safety pin is sold for £100 today. So one can wonder if the Sex Pistols have ever believed in this idealology.

Conclusion

After the “sex, drugs and rock n roll” aim of the Swinging 60s, it seems that rock bands became more mature and bitter. The Sex Pistols’ originality was that they were shocking but had wit as quick as shooting pistols. They were dealing about a collapsing country they loved where there is no more landmarks, no any “future”.

In one hand, the band has achieved its aim: they are now known as an icon of the genre. Of the punk rock songs that showed rebellion, none had the impact that “God Save the Queen” had because of its controversial lyrics and the controversy it caused. “No future” became an anthem for the Punk movement in England. “God Save the Queen” is a song that to this day is regarded as one of the most ground-breaking and bold songs in history. The effect of this song change rock forever and paved the way for almost all punk bands since then. Q Magazine ranked it third in their list of "100 Songs That Changed The World" in 2003. In 2010, the New Statesman listed it as one of the "Top 20 Political Songs".

On the other hand, it did not achieve its goal as the political and social situation was worse two years later with Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister. But she was attractive as the Sex Pistols as she seemed to issue a cry of rage. She embodied the opposition to Callaghan as the Sex Pistols embodied the opposition of establishment.

Moreover, by criticising the society, it seems that the system is no longer respected. The counter culture has left long scars which will reappear in the 80s. It didn’t help the situation as it left a general negativism. Youth can no longer believe what the government officially says.

One can make a parallel with rap and other protest songs of nowadays. They are now very common and it is not surprising to see people sing these tunes. For example the band Anti-Flag with their tune Power To The Peaceful, is very similar to the Sex Pistols. This song was played in 2003 to protests against the system in general but most of all of the entrance of Great Britain in Iraq War. There are still problems to protest against.