Talking about The Sex Pistols ahead of FX’s upcoming series Pistol, Billie Joe Armstrong said that the band proved punk wasn’t mainstream.
The Sex Pistols redefined what it meant to be a punk rock band, and Billie Joe Armstrong agrees. Ahead of the premiere of FX’s upcoming series Pistol, the Green Day frontman weighed in on the impact the Pistols had on him and Green Day’s music to Rolling Stone.
Recalling his memories of listening to Never Mind The Bollocks, Armstrong claimed that growing up, he thought The Sex Pistols’ music was ‘just perfect.’
“The Sex Pistols killed punk before it had the opportunity to go mainstream back then. What they had proved is that punk rock was not meant for the masses,” he said.
According to Armstrong, the Pistols music helped a new generation reconnect with the gritty, rebellious, devil-may-care aesthetic that punk is often associated with. Less of showmanship, and more of making music for the heck of it.
“If you’re picking up the guitar to play punk rock music, it’s not for fame. You do this because it’s something that matters to you and it’s something that’s underground, and that was my early experience of being in a punk band with Green Day.
“And obviously with Green Day it was a different trajectory altogether, but I gotta say I didn’t predict that for us.” he said, before adding that The Sex Pistols’ success and larger impact gave him hope for the future of punk rock.
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“It gives you faith that music is not just there to be manufactured and corporate and consumerist. It’s there because people are investing into their lives and reflecting the way that they feel about the world and the way they feel about themselves.” he added.
It’s interesting for Armstrong to have weighed in on the matter, however, since Green Day and The Sex Pistols were feuding for quite some time in the 90s. But then again, it makes perfect sense – because Johnny Rotten isn’t a fan of the series in the first place.
While on the Pistols’ ‘Filthy Lucre Tour’ in 1996, Johnny Rotten commented that a huge motivation – besides the lucrative nature of their reunion tour, of course – was to establish themselves as the persistent and one true voice of punk rock.
After make a joke about Green Day in an MTV interview, Lydon claimed that the former were ‘imitators’, even though he didn’t name them outright.
“And you settled for that, and you think that that’s what it’s all about, Alfie. Well it ain’t. It’s a little bit more. It’s called content, which is something none of those wanky third-rate outfits have.” he had said.
“There ain’t no trashy little love songs in this outfit. Every single lyric is a killing nail in the coffin of what you call the establishment. Like what you work for – MTV? Bye bye. I think I’ve said my piece. Now fuck off!” he had added.
Of course, news of Lydon’s outburst reached Green Day, prompting Armstrong to joke that perhaps The Sex Pistols were threatened by Green Day’s popularity.
“It’s funny, because if it wasn’t for the Sex Pistols there may not have been Green Day, but if it wasn’t for Green Day, the Sex Pistols wouldn’t have done their big reunion tour. To each his own.” he told SPIN in an interview at the time.
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Check out the trailer for Pistol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KhxwG0eCiE&ab_channel=FXNetworks
