Introduction
1976 December 02: Immediate Post Grundy Reaction (Daily Mirror). The Pistols went NATIONAL the morning after the infamous ‘Today’ interview - moral outrage was splashed across tabloid front pages. The Daily Mirror’s response was its classic ‘The Filth and the Fury’ headline: displayed below is the paper’s less arresting - possibly earlier, ‘TV Fury over Rock Cult Filth’ - as purchased in South Wales. ‘Kings of the Punk Cult’ was the Mirror’s inside feature - with an introduction redolent of Bill Grundy, punk weapons of choice (apparently collected at a London concert) was the illustration - look more like punk fashion items to me!
From various interviews, it appears everyone in the Pistol’s camp acknowledges the aftermath of the Grundy interview set the band on an inevitable trajectory ... but imagine, in a parallel universe - if Queen didn’t call in sick and the Pistols didn’t appear on TV, how the band might have progressed. Anarchy Tour plays all venues and ‘Anarchy in the UK’ achieves top 10. Through 1977 the Pistols continue to tour UK to great acclaim ... some controversy - yes, but no universal UK Ban. No EMI sacking ... and Bollocks (or its equivalent) out in summer 77. The Grundy encounter was PIVOTAL in the Pistol’s history - without it, we can imagine more Pistols songs / albums. The tribulations of 1977 severely abraded the band’s energy - they could have been so much more than they were, if only ...
Dave Smitham |
