Nick Hoad

Where to start with this one? I don’t think there’s much point talking in detail about any track individually because, lyrics aside, they’re all quite similar. Certain songs, such as God Save The Queen and EMI seem strangely prescient in 2022. Others, like New York and Bodies, have aged very poorly indeed. Just like Back In Black before it, all the songs feature the same few chords, the same relentlessly high energy, and the same distinctive vocal idiosyncrasies. In this case, Johnny Rotten showcases “half-singing”, a technique which Wikipedia describes as game-changing, but which just… doesn’t sound good. He fluctuates between not bothering to sing at all, which is all well and good, and attempting to find a pitch that’s in key, which is very much not. The exact subject matter of the lyrics varies from song to song, but there is a general through-line of being belligerently anti-establishment and stubbornly non-conformist, gleefully sticking it to the man. Otherwise known as punk. I can get behind many of the messages, but the presentation and final product aren’t to my taste.

All this being said, I have to say I actually really admire Never Mind The Bollocks, or at least what seems to have been the writing process behind it. It seems as though it was made very very quickly, with minimal thought and perfectionism behind it, and I know how much of a backhanded compliment that sounds like. It feels like each track took no more than two hours to write and record, and as a result the anger in every song feels genuine and authentic. It reminds me to an extent of an EP that’s been floating around in my brain for some time, waiting to be made, in which each track will be a quickly-made tirade against whichever trivial matter was annoying me at the time.

Behind all the shouting and posturing of the album, there’s also an enviable level of self-confidence. There’s a quality I don’t often hear in any genre, where it feels as though the music has achieved its own goals perfectly. It’s difficult to explain, but it is *exactly* what it wants to be, no more and no less. The same could be said for the band itself as well, of course.

All of which is a surprisingly strong defence of an album I don’t even particularly like. I’m not sure what compelled me to do so, instead of just writing it off as a relic of the 70s, unsuited to modern ears, but something about its infectious energy must have worked its way into my subconscious and subsequently leaked into the bit of my brain where words live.

Favourite Track: God Save The Queen

Next Time: Primal Scream – Screamadelica