Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols is the only studio album by English punk rock band the Sex Pistols, released on 28 October 1977 through Virgin Records in the UK and on 11 November 1977 through Warner Bros. Records in the US. As a result of the Sex Pistols' volatile internal relationships, the band's lineup saw changes during the recording of the album. Original bass guitarist Glen Matlock left the band early in the recording process, and while he is credited as a co-writer on all but two of the tracks, he only performed bass and backing vocals on one track, "Anarchy in the U.K." Recording sessions continued with a new bass player, Sid Vicious, who is credited on two of the songs written by the band after he joined. While Vicious's bass playing appeared on two tracks, his lack of skill on the instrument meant that many of the tracks were recorded with guitarist Steve Jones playing bass instead. Drummer Paul Cook, Jones and singer Johnny Rotten appear on every track. The various recording sessions were led alternately by Chris Thomas or Bill Price, and sometimes both together, but as the songs on the final albums often combined mixes from different sessions, or were poorly documented who was present in the recording booth at the time, each song is jointly credited to both producers.
By the time of its release, the Sex Pistols were already controversial, having spoken profanity on live TV, been fired from two record labels, and been banned from playing live in some parts of Britain. The album title added to that controversy, with some people finding the word "bollocks" offensive. Many record stores refused to carry it and some record charts refused to list its title, showing just a blank space instead. Due in part to its notoriety, and in spite of many sales bans at major retailers, the album debuted at number one on the UK Album Charts. It achieved advance orders of 125,000 copies after a week of its release and went gold only a few weeks later, on 17 November. It remained a best-seller for nearly a year, spending 48 weeks in the top 75. The album has also been certified platinum by the RIAA. It has seen several reissues, the latest in 2017.
The album has influenced many bands and musicians, and the industry in general. In particular, the album's raw energy, and Johnny Rotten's sneering delivery and "half-singing", are often considered game changing. It is frequently listed as the most influential punk album, and one of the greatest and most important albums of all time. In 1987, Rolling Stone magazine named the album the second best of the previous 20 years, behind only the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The same magazine ranked it 73rd on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2020. In 2006, it was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 greatest albums ever.
Production
Writing
John Lydon, Steve Jones and Paul Cook wrote the album's 12 tracks between August of 1975 and June of 1976, with Glen Matlock acting as a co-writer on most of the tracks, written before his departure in February of 1977, and Sid Vicious co-writing the two written after his entry into the group.
The first track written by the group was 'Pretty Vacant,' and by their November 6th, 1975 concert at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design they had written 'Seventeen', which closed their set. The next day the group performed at The Holborn Central School of Art and debuted 'Pretty Vacant' and 'Submission'. On the 21st, they debuted the song 'New York'. By February 1976, the group had gained traction and debuted the song 'Problems' for their second encore on February 14. Their setlists at this time were becoming more filled with their material and less reliant on covers, as their earlier shows had been. By April 3rd, they were playing 'No Feelings' in concert, and on July 20, debuted 'Anarchy In the U.K', which was seemingly influenced by Vivienne Westwood and Jamie Reid, the latter of which had begun creating publicity material for the group that Spring. By August 14th the group were performing 'Liar' live.
Recording
On 8 October 1976, EMI signed the group into a two-year contract. For EMI, they recorded 'Anarchy In the U.K' and began sessions for the newly written 'God Save The Queen' that month. On 26 November 1976, the group's first single was released to great commercial success. But due to the nature of the material and the band's image, they caused heavy controversy, and were dropped from the label on 6 January 1977.