The Guardian once listed an unreleased Sex Pistols single as one of the rarest records in Britain. Discogs.com‘s online marketplace has verified the sale, in November, of one of those unreleased singles for $14,690 USD. This is far from the first time a copy of that record has fetched an exorbitant sum.
March of 1977 was an eventful month for the Sex Pistols. Founding bassist Glen Matlock had just quit at the end of February (reports that he’d been fired for being a Beatles fan were pretty hilarious, but were also total bullshit), and he was quickly “replaced” with non-bassist Sid Vicious. The band were signed to Herb Alpert’s A&M records after being dismissed from their previous contract with EMI “in view of the adverse publicity generated.” Recording of their first A&M single, “God Save the Queen,” had already begun while Vicious was still just beginning to learn how to play bass, so he wasn’t on the sessions, but it hardly mattered, as A&M would swiftly follow EMI in dropping the Sex Pistols, this time without even releasing a single song (the band got to keep all the money both times, a happenstance chronicled in their song “EMI” and The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle). 25,000 copies of the hastily recorded and manufactured 7” had been pressed, and almost all were destroyed.
Per John Scanlan, writing in Sex Pistols: Poison in the Machine:
During the first week of March, as Vicious busied himself learning how to play bass guitar and play the Pistols set, the rest of the band continued recording. The main aim of these sessions was to nail ‘God Save the Queen,’ which was due to be rush-released as their first A&M single, but other songs—‘Did You No Wrong’ and ‘No Feelings’—were also recorded, with Steve Jones playing both bass and guitar. The following week, the Pistols signed with A&M at the offices of their music publishing arm, Rondor Music, so as not to send shockwaves through the regular A&M Records staff, who were located elsewhere in London…
In an attempt to generate early publicity for their forthcoming single ‘God Save the Queen,’ the signing was restaged the following day outside Buckingham Palace. The following week’s sounds, dated 19 March, carried a cover story on the signing in which [UK A&M chief] Derek Green stated his conviction that the Pistols would ‘effect some major changes in rock music,’ which A&M wexcited to be involved with. Unfortunately for all involved, but the time the magazine had hit the streets, the Pistols had once again been sacked by their record label.
The day after the restaged signing, Rotten, Vicious, and their friend Jah Wobble had appeared drunk and disorderly at The Speakeasy, the London club where music industry figures and musicians went to relax. Wobble and Vicious had confronted the Old Grey Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris and one of his studio crew, George Nicholson, about the absence of the Sex Pistols on their show. According to subsequent reports, Rotten stayed out of the ensuing violence, but Vicious and Wobble landed Harris and Nicholson in hospital, where they had to be treated for minor cuts and bruises. As soon as word of this latest spectacle reached Derek Green at A&M he quickly decided he was wrong to think that he could manage the chaos that seemed to follow the Pistols everywhere, and dropped the band immediately. The company then destroyed as many copies of ‘God Save the Queen’ as it could find (only a few hundred copies had been circulated prior to its official release).
The song would eventually be released by Virgin records, coincidental with said Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebration. An attempt to generate publicity by the band performing the song from a boat named the Queen Elizabeth on the River Thames to disrupt the celebration ended in the arrest of pretty much everyone involved. The song would peak at #2, being kept out of the top spot by a Rod Stewart song I’m not sure I’ve ever even heard. Reports that the single did in fact outsell Mr. Stewart’s and that the BBC intentionally kept the more controversial song out of #1 so as not to offend the Queen are disputed, but generally accepted as true.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Filthy lucre ain’t nothin’ new: there are Sex Pistols credit cards now.
Sex Pistols: Recording of ‘God Save the Queen’ goes on sale for $16,000
BASS IN YOUR FACE: Excellent footage of the Sex Pistols’ notorious San Antonio gig