Sex Pistols
As angry dervishes, the Sex Pistols terrified not only the British middle classes during the heyday of punk. Nothing was sacred to them, even the Queen was mercilessly shaved by Johnny Rotten. The Pistols story ended in 1978, at the height of their success. Rotten & Co. had long since secured their place in rock history. The real, authentic fire had long since burned out – but after Sid Vicious’ death, the remaining band members came together again in 1996.
At a press conference, Rotten explains the background to the astonished journalists: “There is one thing we all wanted to come back for and that is your money.” The new punk generation likes it, the world tour is a success and reportedly earns the Pistols 20 million US dollars. Which is why the spectacle of the increasingly caricatural punk zombies was repeated in 2002 and 2007 for the superfluous Rock’n’Roll Swindle. With his support for right-wing populist Nigel Farage, Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, Rotten, the former voice of the working class, catapulted himself into obscurity in the late 1910s.
