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The explosive story of the Sex Pistols is now so familiar that the essence of what they represented has been lost in a fog of nostalgia and rock'n'roll cliche. In 1976 the rise of the Sex Pistols was regarded in apocalyptic terms, and the punks as visitors from an unwanted future bringing chaos and confusion. John Scanlan considers the Sex Pistols as the first successful art project of their manager, Malcolm McLaren, a vision born out of radical politics, boredom and his deep and unrelenting talent for perverse opportunism.
About the author
John Scanlan is a writer and cultural historian based in Manchester, UK. His previous books for Reaktion include
Easy Riders, Rolling Stones: On the Road in America, from Delta Blues to '70s Rock,
Memory: Encounters with the Strange and the Familiar and
Van Halen: Exuberant California, Zen Rock'n'roll.
Summary
John Scanlan considers the Sex Pistols as the first successful art project of their manager, Malcolm McLaren, a vision born out of radical politics, boredom and his deep and unrelenting talent for perverse opportunism.
