On Sky arts 1 they often show this gig from the filthy lucre tour and his sound is pretty full. But it doesn't compare with his old studio sound which was always a step ahead of most British punk guitarists, sonically, to me. His sound was like being kicked and clubbed simultaneously in the face. The others' were like having your balls tweaked hard !Of all the worship meted out to musicians, actors, producers, directors, politicians, historical figures and the like, the one I intensely detest with every fibre of my being is Sid Vicious worship. I've seen lengthy documentaries, books etc and there's even a movie out but I'm always left asking "why ?". People nowadays complain about this modern X factor/Big brother/Top model type phenomena where people become famous for doing nothing. Well, that started a long time ago with the likes of Sid Vicious. He couldn't sing, he could barely play bass, his writing was as good as burnt straw.......I don't have the right to call another human being a waste of space but from a purely musical and even social point of view, he was as close as one can get ! I suppose however, he was iconic in terms of his image. I'll give him credit for that. He was definitely one of the enduring images of 1977.
But don't be giving me no Sid records for Christmas !!Absolutely. When the "Classic albums" series covered "Bollocks", Steve Jones admits that it was the biggest mistake they made and John Lydon also admits that that was a big error. It seems that Malcolm McLaren was playing band members off against each other {although after the implausability of "The great rock'n'roll swindle", I don't believe anything Malcolm McLaren says or rather, said}. Not only was Matlock a good bassist, he was a really good writer. John Lydon says he wanted the Pistols' music to be unlistenable, which I long felt was pretty pointless. They used to constantly get at Matlock because of his 'Beatle~y' melodies and musicality but he gave their music a shape and form that has made it endure to this day. Even John Lydon admits that he and Matlock, when they were getting on could really write good stuff together. Matlock basically came up with most of the music but it needed Jones to brutalize it as only he could and Paul Cook to drive it and pound it relentlessly.
The Sex Pistols were actually really musical ! And despite their complaints about bloated, over technical rock dinosaurs, in the studio, they played the game same as Yes or Genesis !!
