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Saturday August 1975 John Lydon entered Sex a store run by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren. There he met Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock and the original Pistols line up was formed. Jones and Cook had been trying to set up their own band. McLaren a one time rock impresario (he briefly managed the New York Dolls) hired Cook and Jones and set about remaking it he called them The Sex Pistols. He added Matlock to the line up and was in the process of seeking a lead singer when on that Saturday found him. (What did Sid think?)
" I first met John in McLaren's shop. He came in with green hair. I thought he had a really interesting face. I liked his look. He had his "I Hate Pink Floyd" T-shirt on, and it was held togather by safety pins. John had something special, but when he started talking he was a real asshole - but smart."
Steve Jones
Rotten No Irish No Blacks No Dogs
Although Malcolm McLaren was happy with the line up the same could not be said of the rest to the band. For Jones, Cook and Lydon wanted the Pistols to sound like nothing else ever heard before. Both lyrics and music were to express a generations contempt for society as it existed then. So no nice catchy tunes with sugar coated lyrics, instead there would be musical anger and anarchy espoused to the establishment. Wheather that establishment was represented by a fat T.V. presenter or a bunch of rebellious hippie rock stars who'd become the establishment. For Matlock this was to be a problem. Of the four he was the only member who could really play an instrument at that stage. That in itself was not the problem, it was his musical taste that offended the others.When Lydon handed Matlock the lyrics for God Save the Queen Matlock was shocked. He felt that the lyrics to the song were fascist and that anything that attacked the Queen could never be popular. The existing line up was never going to last." John wasn't getting along with Glen, and McLaren didn't want him in the band, so one day McLaren told Glen to walk.
" I was relieved. I didn't mind Glen leaving at all. It was after the Grundy thing, so at this point it didn't fucking matter; nobody gave a fuck about the music anyway. But then, I thought, who were we going to get? Sid had been coming to our gigs. John said, "Lets get this guy Sid. Sid looked great, but he couldn't play. I thought, Oh, no! This is going to be a headache. It became a circus. Sid was up John's alley - he was the same type of guy - that cocky art student with a smart-ass attitude. When he first came round I thought, Oh no! Here we go again. Not another one! I could deal with John and now there were two of him."
Steve Jones
Rotten No Irish No Blacks No Dogs
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