Short description:

This unique book demonstrates the central importance of visual media to the significance of British Punk rock pioneers the Sex Pistols, beginning with their nation-shocking television interview with Bill Grundy in December 1976.

Long description:

This unique book demonstrates the central importance of visual media to the significance of British Punk rock pioneers the Sex Pistols, beginning with their nation-shocking television interview with Bill Grundy in December 1976.

Supported by an examination of surrounding documentary and fictional texts, The Sex Pistols on Screen centres on four key film and television/streaming depictions with and about the four-man group across four decades, namely The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle (Temple, 1980), Sid and Nancy (Cox, 1986), The Filth and the Fury (Temple, 2000), and Pistol (Boyle, 2022). Though promising an oppositional stance, these works consistently demonstrate how the mainstream media disarm and commodify any genuine sense of mid-1970s anarchy. In addition, their differing personal perspectives exemplify the subjectivity and self-interested advocacy of all historical interpretation. Nonetheless, they still provide a sense of the empowering hit delivered by the Sex Pistols’ pugnacious music and galvanic live performances.

Accessible yet academically rigorous, The Sex Pistols on Screen is a significant study of the visual media’s importance in forging, reworking and reviving both the history and reputation of this seminal band. It will appeal both to the general reader and students of film, television, media and cultural and popular music studies.

"This is such a welcome new book! The impact of the Sex Pistols and punk rock in film has been scandalously short of scrutiny until this point, and Stephen Glynn has done a remarkable job, making a highly readable and exquisitely detailed account of their extraordinary handful of films. It would be fitting if Glynn's well-researched and engaging book reignited interested in them, and to help cement the legacy of one of the most influential bands (if not actually the most influential band) of all time."

- Professor K.J.Donnelly, University of Southampton

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction: Through My Eyes  Part 1: Documentary Strand  2. No Future for You: False Film Starts  3. We’re Not All There: The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle (1980)  4. We Mean It, Man: The Filth and the Fury (2000) – Plus Other Documentaries  Part 2: Biopic Strand  5. Something Else: The Sex Pistols in Fiction Film Roles  6. All Crimes Are Paid: Sid and Nancy (1986)  7. I Wanna See Some History: Pistol (2022)  8. Conclusion: Problems