Glen Matlock is getting his own say on punk history, with a new documentary set to revisit the rise of the Sex Pistols from his perspective.
Per Rolling Stone, the film – titled I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol – draws from the founding bassist’s 1990 memoir of the same name and traces the early days of the band, from their formation through to the chaos that defined their short-lived reign.
Directed by Nick Mead and Andre Relis, the documentary leans on archival footage and fresh interviews with the likes of Matlock, bandmates Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Billy Idol, and more, to tell the story of one of music’s most mythologised bands from the inside.
Unlike previous retellings, this one centres on Matlock – a founding member who co-wrote the bulk of the band’s landmark 1977 album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols but was fired before they recorded it – and aims to reframe his role in shaping their sound and legacy.
“The film has a whole host of peers and contemporaries who help me get across my side of the story,” he said of the project. “Now, the band has reformed in different guises since then, but now back in the fold, I feel more than a little vindicated.
“As I went through the process of writing about those early days, a state of cathartic self-confidence emerged and helped me deal with what was what and where that might lead. For anybody interested in the birth of British punk and its effect on the then-wider music scene, I’d suggest it’s essential viewing, but then I would say that!”
Previously tellings of the Sex Pistols story include the 2022 FX series Pistol, which portrayed Matlock as privileged and disconnected from the genuine punk movement. It also showed Jones firing him in the bathroom of a pub, at the urging of manager Malcolm McLaren.
According to Matlock, however, that was a mischaracterisation. He’s always claimed he made the decision to leave the band, tired of endless fights with John Lydon and McLaren. “I told Danny Boyle what really happened and he totally ignored me,” Matlock told Rolling Stone in 2025. “Maybe it’s not a big deal, but it’s important to me. It comes across as a quasi-documentary, and people won’t know any better.”
The documentary will be available to buy or rent on digital streaming platforms on May 26th. You can preorder from May 12th on Apple TV – see here for details.
