As John Lydon said recently, all he's doing as far as this re-release is concerned is "collecting the royalties", which is fair enough at his time of life. It was for Auntie Betty's Silver Jubilee, back in 1977, that The Sex Pistols first released God Save The Queen. On sales figures it went to number one, but the chart's compilers fiddled the figures to feature the song at number two instead, causing as much furore as the single's anti-royalist, anarchist lyrics already had.
This time round, you'd think they'd be old hat. Who wants to hear about a bunch of rebellious fortysomethings anyway? Well, no. God Save The Queen was always a terrific piece of punk music and sounds as fresh and confrontational now as it did then.
They weren't the first punk band, they aren't the best punk band, but that doesn't matter. In a sterile world where all the mainstream political parties are still monarchist through being unable to consider alternatives, it is relevant. In a culture whose pop chart is dominated week after week by karaoke bands and "pop idols" making millions from vacuous lyrics and gut-churning production, it is a breath of fresh air. Again. Welcome back.
more