Here’s the Sex Pistols, coincided with the
25th-anniversary jubilee of Queen Elizabeth’s
ascension to the throne, a time of extreme
nationalism in Great Britain. It was also a
time of great economic and social unrest. So
rather than join in celebrating the Queen, the
Pistols—especially frontman Johnny Rotten—
chose to illuminate the problems of the country. Starting with, of course, the Queen. Their
two greatest songs, “God Save the Queen”
and “Anarchy in the U.K.,” were anthems of
all-out rebellion, tongue-in-cheek broadsides
railing against the hallowed institutions of a
fast-decaying former power.
Steve Jones possessed the two greatest
attributes of a punk guitarist: limited training combined with a massive will to play.
Merely three months after officially taking
up guitar, he played the first Sex Pistols gig.
With no time to learn, Jones developed a
style based on the power-chord stylings of
his two heroes—Mick Ronson and Faces-era
Ron Wood. The Pistols played their first gig in
September 1975, with Jones wielding the Les
Paul Custom, which sported ’40s pinup decals
that were considered risqué anywhere outside
a mechanic’s garage calendar.
In addition to his white Custom, Jones relied
on one other crucial piece of gear: a silver-
face Fender Twin Reverb. Jones plugged
straight into the Twin for the duration of the
Pistols short first chapter, and all the way
until their 1996 return. The only variation in
the setup was the occasional use of an MXR
Flanger on “Anarchy in the UK.” Jones’ tone
was all about overdrive and crunch, and the
only way to achieve that using a Twin Reverb
and no pedals is to turn the amp all the way
up—a loud, loud proposition. Like the clas-
sic Marshalls, a Fender Twin is a 100-watt
amp. Its compact size often fools people
into thinking it’s a club amp when, in reality,
a Fender Twin can play a large-sized hall. At
full volume, the four 6L6 tubes in a Twin rat-
tle walls and windows with a thick overdrive.
For larger gigs, Jones sometimes added
another Twin, a 2x12 Music Man, or a Super
Reverb—all turned up to 10.
On the bass side of the Pistols’ landscape,
there was an interesting yin-yang between
the clean, proficient style of original bassist
Glenn Matlock and the barely-there proto-grunge of his replacement, the notorious
Sid Vicious. During his time with the Pistols,
Matlock played both a Rickenbacker 4001
and a sunburst Fender Precision. Matlock
used Fender Bassmans with 4x12 Fender
cabinets. Not the loudest rig in the world.
Vicious, perhaps the ultimate non-playing
punk musician, picked up the bass only days
before his first gig with the Pistols. He never
achieved what we would call proficiency on
the instrument, but he gained icon status
through his look, his attitude, and his flameout lifestyle of drugs and violence. Joining
the group during the recording session for
their one and only album, Vicious used a
rig similar to his idol, Dee Dee Ramone: a
white Fender Precision bass and Ampeg SVT
(although, possibly at Jones behest, Vicious
was limited to a single 4x12 cab).
The sound of the Sex Pistols influenced not only
future punks, but rockers and metal players as
well. Guns N’ Roses based much of their sound
and persona on the Pistols. And bands from
Motörhead to Pearl Jam, Rancid, Blink- 182, and
a zillion others cite them as a major influence
despite the fact that the Pistols flamed out in
1978. When they reunited in the late ’90s, they
had better gear than the early days, but the
sound and the fury was exactly the same.
