"According to many, the finest and most important debut of all-time. Yes, The Album Club's first episode truly is a modern classic. Of course, this was made easier by the subject matter; "Never Mind The Bollocks" rocked, inspired and dressed a gazillion artists. Snotty, irreverent and loud. Or, to put it another way, amazing".
I first heard this album when I was staying with your great-grandparents Fred and Mary in Winchcombe. I don't remember a whole lot about that time. I was probably focused on figuring out how to date a local girl who had a fairly ridiculous new wave hairstyle. I had a large set of headphones covered in orange foam ear pads. The name of the game was managing the power supply provided by the relatively expensive AA batteries you needed to lug around for your brick-sized Walkman. I remember walking around the little idyllic village, listening to this album at high volume. When you were travelling, of course everything had to be on cassette. Your great grandparents must have been in their early sixties by that point. They were retired. They would go for drives out in the countryside, read, chat with the neighbours and watch the telly.
Anyway, I made a few mates my age, local kids. I knocked around with them during those weeks and drank cider in the field behind the pub. There was a punk shop in Cheltenham. Safety pins, jacket studs, bondage pants and pins: I thought all that stuff was too over the top, too costumey. I was more attuned to that So-Cal skater style of fashion. Vans, a shaved head, flannel shirts and ripped jeans.
When mum (your grandmother) went back to the UK the following summer, I asked her to get a few punk records for me. She came back with a Culture Club album. Mum had been assured by the guy in the record store in London that this was what all the kids were listening to. The album's cover art had the same kind of bold colour scheme but that was where the similarities ended. Anyway, John Lydon continued to be an interesting provocateur long after the Sex Pistols broke up. He formed Public Image Limited. We saw them at the Enmore a few years ago. An excellent show.
Listen to this podcast for a closer analysis:
https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-1-the-sex-pistols-never-mind-the-bollocks/id1104893274?i=1000367044911&mt=2
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