10:00 p.m., July 4, 2022
“Our thing is not music, it’s chaos! » From this sensational statement in the columns of the essential music magazine NME, the Sex Pistols made a profession of faith. They only recorded one album in 1977 before breaking up. But Never Mind the Bollocks became legendary with hymns such asAnarchy in the UK et God Save the Queen. Chaos is the miniseries directed by Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) who shows it with energy and humor.
The Invention of Punk
A joyful mess that Malcolm McLaren, the group’s manager, recovers in his own way, who tries to shape the four musicians without always succeeding. “As individuals, they were very strange people, explains Danny Boyle. Their value is the impact their music has had on society. » Like the famous slogan « Punk’s not dead »borrowed from the British group The Exploited, the autobiography of Steve Jones (Lonely Boy – Ma vie de Sex Pistolseditions E/P/A), guitarist and founding member of the band, served as the starting point for a portrait of a perspectiveless British youth in the dreary mid-1970s. A time that Boyle, of the same generation as him , know well : “Steve and I come from a similar background, although my family was far more loving than his. I owe a lot to the punk aesthetic and wanted to tell that story. »
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Back then we didn’t have a plan, we just wanted to rock ‘n’ roll
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A choice approved by Steve Jones himself. “Danny understands well what happenedtells us the 66-year-old musician, who now lives in Los Angeles. At the time, we didn’t have a plan, we just wanted to play rock’n’roll. We were a rock band with a good image, great lyrics and a good sound. It was then that the media fell on us. We didn’t invent the term “punk”, I don’t even know what it means! If you really want to put people in boxes, I’d say it’s kids with spiky hair. »
He got involved by talking to screenwriter Craig Pearce (also co-writer of the recent Elvis) as well as with comedian Toby Wallace, who plays his role on screen: “He wanted to study my attitudes in order to pass for a real Londoner. I gave him some tips and some guitar lessons. » Much stranger was his meeting with the one who was to play him as a child, the series not evading the sexual assaults he suffered from his stepfather. Another little-known part of his life brought to light: his tumultuous relationship with a young American musician who emigrated to London, Chrissie Hynde, the future leader of the Pretenders.
Sex, alcohol and drugs
Like the group’s meteoric career, the production of the series was not easy. Singer and lyricist John Lydon, the notorious Johnny Rotten, tried (unsuccessfully) to ban the use of his songs. “I was disappointed that he didn’t want to get involved, comments Steve Jones. It’s all the more unfortunate that the series portrays him very well. »
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In his lively and spontaneous staging, Danny Boyle uses the 4/3 format to allow the integration of many archive images. Sex, alcohol and drugs, the famous triptych of rock, are obviously very present in Pistol, notably through the forfeiture of bassist Sid Vicious. Surprising for a production stamped Disney? “Incredible, yes! laughs Danny Boyle. The only thing we weren’t allowed to show was a vintage t-shirt created by Vivienne Westwood, which showed one of the seven dwarfs fisting Snow White! Seeing it again, I was shocked too, but that was exactly punk! »
In Los Angeles, Steve Jones is today a little less punk than in London. “I’m glad to still be alive”, he smiles. He says he listens to that 1960s rock that he hated yesterday: Steely Dan, the Who, the Kinks too. But he does not forget to play on his status: “I’m a living legend, it allows me to have a good table at the restaurant! »
Pistols ***, by Danny Boyle, with Toby Wallace, Sydney Chandler, Thomas Brodie-Sangster. 6 episodes of 50 minutes. Available Wednesday.
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