— “Say something outrageous...” New Musical Express, 11 Dec. 1976. Reprint – History of Rock 1976.
— “The start of a wave.” Melody Maker, 6 Nov. 1976. Reprint – History of Rock 1976.
— “Rubbish.” Melody Maker, 20 Nov. 1976. Reprint – History of Rock 1976.

— Three linked features from Melody Maker (6 Nov., 20 Nov. 1976) and New Musical Express (11 Dec. 1976).

— Main story reproduces the notorious Thames TV Today interview of Dec. 1, 1976, where Bill Grundy provoked the Sex Pistols that shocked Britain and brought punk into national focus.

— The accompanying *Melody Maker* reports detail the band’s first major UK tour plans, including a prospective joint package with the Ramones, Talking Heads, and Chris Spedding, and the chaotic collapse and relaunch with The Damned, The Clash, and Heartbreakers. EMI’s Nick Mobbs hails the Pistols as the vanguard of a youth wave.

— Planned London showcase for Anarchy in the UK (Nov. 1976); 20-date UK tour (Nov.–Dec. 1976) including Hammersmith Palais, Roxy Theatre Harlesden (Boxing Day), and provincial halls in Norwich, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Sheffield, and more.

Double page spread, three artciles over 4 pages | Reprint History of Rock 1976
–– Melody Maker 6th November 1976
–– Melody Maker, 20th November 1976
–– New Musical Express, 11 December 1976

The Sex Pistols appear on Today, an early-evening news show. An unexpurgated transcript appears in NME.

The interview that started the controversy took place on Wednesday December 1 on Thames TV’s early current-affairs programme Today.

The actual interview lasted one minute 40 seconds, after a short introduction by Grundy and a 40-second clip of the Pistols on stage. Our recording started a few seconds after Grundy’s introduction as he faced the four members of the band seated in the studio. Standing behind the Pistols was a group of fans.

Grundy (to camera) Chains round the necks and that’s just the fellas, innit? Eh? I mean, is it just the fellas? Yeah? They are punk rockers. The new craze, they tell me. Their heroes? Not the nice, clean Rolling Stones... you see they are as drunk as I am... they are clean by comparison. They’re a group called the Sex Pistols, and I am surrounded by all of them...

(A film clip of London Weekend’s documentary on punk broadcast the previous Sunday came on the screen)

Grundy I am told that that group (hits his knee with sheaf of papers) have received £40,000 from a record company. Doesn’t that seem, er, to be slightly opposed to their anti-materialistic view of life?

Jones What a fucking rotter: when Queen cancelled the last minute, stand-ins the Sex Pistols and their Bromley Contingent entourage give Today presenter Bill Grundy more than he bargained for.

Grundy Are you serious or are you just making me – trying to make me – laugh?

Grundy (turning to those standing behind the band) What about you girls behind?

Grundy Well keep going, chief, keep going. Go on, you’ve got another five seconds. Say something outrageous.

Grundy Well, that’s it for tonight. The other rocker, Eamonn, and I’m saying nothing else about him, will be back tomorrow. I’ll be seeing you soon. I hope I’m not seeing you [the band] again. From me, though, goodnight.

Melody Maker 6th November 1976

The start of a wave

The first major British tour for the Sex Pistols tour is planned.

Siouxsie Sioux (née Susan Ballion) in 1976: to appear alongside the Pistols, Ramones and Talking Heads at a big London date?

A big punk rock concert starring the Sex Pistols is being planned for London later this month. The show celebrates the release of the band’s debut single, Anarchy in the UK, on November 19. The show will also feature Chris Spedding & The Vibrators, whose Pogo Dancing single is available from November 12, together with Suzi & The Banshees [sic] and, from New York, the Ramones and Talking Heads.

"I think a lot of kids watch them and think, ‘Yeah, I could do that, let’s form a group"

The venue has yet to be decided, though there were plans to stage the show at the Talk of the Town, London’s traditional cabaret club. This idea was dropped after difficulties over the licensing laws.

The show will be the prelude to the Pistols’ first major British tour, exclusively reported in the MM last week. The concerts will be co-headlined by the Pistols and the Ramones – who made their British debut at London’s Roundhouse earlier this year. Spedding and Talking Heads will also be on the tour.

The 20-date tour, from November 30 to December 21, visits all of Britain’s major cities.

Among the dates will be a show at London’s Hammersmith Palais.

The concerts come as the climax to a triumphant three months for the Sex Pistols, Britain’s top punk band. They were one of the big successes at the punk rock festival in London two months ago, and in October they signed a recording contract with EMI.

In this week’s Melody Maker, Nick Mobbs of EMI, the man who signed the Pistols, claims: I genuinely think that they’re the start of a wave. I think they’re the rare breed of artist; they’re total entertainment and in a lot of ways uncompromising in what they want to do.

Mobbs is one of the top A&R directors featured in the MM’s Dialogue, which this week discusses the state of British rock.

The time is right for an act that kids of 16 to 18 can actually identify with, says Mobbs. The key point is that the group are very young. There’s other groups giving entertainment, but this group are only 19-year-olds and because they’re young they’ll grow and their audience will grow with them.

In the same way that the Rolling Stones were known as symbols of rebellion when they started, so are the Sex Pistols. The Stones are now the elite of the rock’n’roll establishment and the Sex Pistols are the new people knocking at the door.

To a lot of kids the Stones and groups from that era don't mean a thing. They’re too old for a start, all over 30, and the kids want some young people they can identify with.

A lot of people criticise the Sex Pistols for not playing well, but they’ve only been together for about eight months. I think a lot of kids watch them and think, ‘Yeah, I could get up there and do that, let’s form a group’.

Again, that hasn’t happened for a long time because groups are too good; the musicianship has been so high that kids of 16 have been put off. But already, there are about 12 groups in London directly inspired by the Sex Pistols.

114 | History of Rock 1976

Punks are at war! The special punk package tour in December, co-starring Britain’s Sex Pistols and New York’s Ramones, has collapsed.

The Ramones, Talking Heads and Chris Spedding & The Vibrators have pulled out – leaving the Pistols to soldier on alone. But the whole tour has been revamped and the Pistols are now joined by the Heartbreakers – the band formed by ex-New York Doll Johnny Thunders – The Damned and The Clash.

Highlight of the new tour will be the first-ever concert at a new major London venue, the Roxy Theatre, Harlesden, on Boxing Day.

Ramones manager Danny Fields claimed this week that the tour was never really on – but Pistols’ manager Malcolm McLaren has slammed that statement as a load of rubbish.

Fields told MM this week: As of last Sunday night only three dates had been confirmed of the 20 or so the Sex Pistols’ management had told us about. Fred Bannister, who was promoting the tour and who was a major factor in persuading Phonogram to back it financially, had pulled out – and when he quit,

We weren’t too concerned about violence. Perhaps Phonogram were, and I know promoters are always worried about violence. But I don’t see what Phonogram are worried about – we’d be in the thick of it, not them. Phonogram said they were not in business to set up tours, and any decision by them would not have affected the shows. Promoter Bannister was unavailable for comment. But Malcolm McLaren, the Pistols’ manager, said: All that about the tour is rubbish. It’s just that Phonogram wouldn’t cough up any money to promote the tour. The Ramones felt they weren’t getting any publicity, but that’s not my fault. Anyway, if the Pistols were touring America with the Ramones and we only got one line I wouldn’t blow the whole thing out. It’s ridiculous.

"The Ramones felt they weren’t getting any publicity, but that’s not my fault

Talking Heads are out because they were part of the deal we made with the Ramones.

McLaren claimed that Spedding had pulled out because he wanted to play his own dates, but neither Spedding nor his record company, RAK, would comment.

McLaren has revamped the tour for the Sex Pistols, which now starts on December 3 at Norwich University.

Further dates: Derby Kings Hall (December 4), Newcastle City Hall (5), Leeds Polytechnic (8), Manchester Electric Circus (9), Lancaster University (10), Liverpool Stadium (11), Cardiff Top Rank (12), Bristol Colston Hall (13), Glasgow Apollo (15), Dundee Caird Hall (16), Sheffield City Hall (17), Southend Kursaal (18), Guildford Civic Hall (19), Birmingham Town Hall (20), Bournemouth Village Bowl (21), London Roxy Theatre (26).

The Damned have pulled out of their tour with the Flamin’ Groovies. The Groovies failed to arrive at London’s Roundhouse on Sunday, leaving The Damned and The Troggs, who were also on the bill, without a PA. A spokesman for The Damned told MM this week: We agreed to play the tour to give some modern credibility to it. But we are not interested now in supporting or bailing out living legends.

Phonogram refused to comment. Roundhouse concert promoter John Curd, however, said the Groovies told him they were suffering from flu. He dropped the admission price for the concert, which started three hours late with a replacement PA, from £1.70 to £1.20.

The Ramones in Santa Monica, California, August 1976: (l-r) Dee Dee, Tommy, Joey and Johnny Ramone, GETTY IMAGES

Melody Maker 6th November 1976
Melody Maker, 20th November 1976
New Musical Express, 11 December 1976