The pioneers of punk rock do not quite burn AtlantaAs the four musicians straggled toward the plane at London's Heathrow
Airport last week, it was clear from their appearance that they were
not just another Top 40 act. They spat in the air, hurled four-letter
words at the photographers and with malevolent
glares set off shivers in their fellow travelers. Said one woman
passenger in disbelief: “What are we flying with —a load of animals?”
No, just the Sex Pistols living up to their bad-boy reputation as the
prophets of British punk rock.Two nights later in Atlanta, Lead Singer Johnny Rotten opened the first
concert on their first tour of the U.S. by announcing: “You can all
stop staring at us and just relax and have some fun.” Sure enough, the
Pistols' American debut was a tame, almost respectable happening.
Johnny did not throw empty beer bottles at the audience. All he did was
blow his nose a lot. Guitarist Steve Jones did not vomit, though in the
past he has proved he has the stomach for it. Nor did Bassist Sid
Vicious sputter forth more than a few four-letter words. Sid did manage
to draw cheers when he removed his shirt and revealed the torso of a
90-lb. weakling. BothVicious and Rotten sported hairdos that looked as if they had been
blow-dried in a wind tunnel or plugged into a preamp.The Pistols' unwonted decorum may have been imposed by the presence out
front of the Atlanta vice squad. After all, the Pistols had caused a
scandal on British TV a year ago with their vile language. They had
been fired by two record companies, locked out by most of Britain's
major rock clubs and concert halls, reviled for a song calling the
Queen a moron during the Silver Jubilee celebration and castigated
nearly everywhere for their world-class grossness. Just two weeks ago,
in fact, their entry into the U.S. had been temporarily denied—and
four concerts canceled—because members of the group had minor criminal
records. But no repro-vals were necessary at the Great South East Music
Hall , which is located in an Atlanta shopping center.
Vicious' worst offense offstage came from his penchant for flagrant
free enterprise. He cheekily charged reporters for interviews, asking
what he thought the traffic would bear but settling for as little as
$2.Their calculated insults and obscenities are part of the image of the
Pistols as a pioneering force in the movement known variously as punk
rock or new wave. In Britain, punk is the voice
of working-class kids who cannot find jobs and care not a whit for the
traditions of their homeland. In the U.S. the movement is more purely
musical: groups like the Ramones, Talking Heads, Television and Richard
Hell and the Voidoids have rejected the rococo sophistication of much
1970s rock and turned back to basic buzz and blast.
